Above: Marr’s M2480D & M1280D working alongside the station box at Sydney Metro’s Castle Hill station PHOTO CREDIT: SYDNEY METRO
Putting a large crawler crane alongside temporary
structures imposes a significant surcharge on those temporary structures to perform a specific lifting activity. This then requires building even more temporary works to support the existing station box or using the temporary works to support and strengthen the box. That’s complex and expensive. The other problem with using a large crawler crane
is that it takes up valuable space in what are already heavily congested sites for TBMs to be removed, disassembled and loaded out. This brings another set of challenges because it requires working around other crane activity, transport movements and interfaces with other workers, which then becomes a risk in terms of safety and schedule. The TBM solution developed for Barangaroo station
was a world first. We’ve since supported Sydney Metro and their construction partners with a simpler, safer approach to 12 planned TBM activities across the project. Leveraging the benefits of our M2480D – which, with
a maximum lifting capacity of 330 tonnes, is the world’s largest capacity luffing tower crane – our solution allows us to manage the lifting operations without impacting the existing temporary works. The net result is less congested, less complex and much safer worksites.
BESPOKE SOLUTIONS FOR UNIQUE CHALLENGES Another example of how adaptable our solutions are is the one developed for Sydney Metro’s The Bays station. The site was so congested that there was no room available for delivery of the TBM due to the surcharge on the load of the station box wall. Working with the John Holland CPB Contractors
Ghella Joint Venture, we built an M2480D on a portal frame over the top of the TBM, allowing the machine to drive under the crane to begin its tunnelling work. It was a simple solution, allowing the contractor to build the TBM in the station box without the crane adversely impacting the project or the programme. Another benefit of considering cranage at the front
end of a project is that it can be built into the design. Station construction requires large precast elements, so it’s about considering how to maximise the weight of those components to enable fewer, heavier lifts.
Designers can also take the capacity of the crane
and apply it to other parts of the project – even down to how reinforcing steel is unloaded. Instead of the traditional method of lifting piece by piece, it’s possible to lift the entire trailer load with a heavy lift crane and place it close to the work front, where it can be distributed faster and easier. All those little productivity gains add up when it
comes to securing the construction programme. And, with a global shortage of skilled labour, it’s
also about how we can take some of that pressure off a project by applying the right cranage solution with heavy lift, high volume construction machines that can deliver real productivity gains.
ADAPTING TO OTHER SECTORS The future of urban transportation lies in major tunnel works beneath the surface and cities around the world are continuing to invest in underground transportation infrastructure. Delivering these mega projects in a cost-effective,
safe way with as little disruption as possible to the communities they serve is a constant challenge that requires innovative thinking across every part of the build process. The solutions developed across Sydney Metro can be
adapted to the design and construction of similar large- scale rail and metro projects. The advantages of this new approach are not limited
to metro projects alone. We have already seen how learnings from Sydney Metro can easily be transferred to other sectors, such as some of the large industrial projects we are currently working on in the UK. Innovation is never a one-way street. It requires
constant learning, knowledge transfer and collaborative thinking. One of the benefits of exporting our technology into markets like the UK is that we have been able to learn from our clients and embrace different approaches in areas where the UK is more advanced than Australia. Ultimately, the willingness to collaborate on the basis
of ‘cranes as a forethought, not an afterthought’ can have a significant impact on ambitious projects. The key is getting the right solution for the challenge – and that will always be one that serves the project, not the crane.
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