Capital Equipment News October 2016

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS

OCTOBER 2016

POTAIN PREVAILS OVER VILLAGE WALK

The five cranes strategically positioned

between the high rise buildings at the

Village Walk give an indication of the

sheer extent of another important building

project under way in Sandton, South Africa.

By mid-July 2016, the building contractors

had already tackled approximately 10%

of the works, which comprises a new

commercial and retail development in

Gauteng’s business hub.

Prominent South African property devel-

oper, Eris Property Group, has contracted a

joint venture between Trencon Construction

and Aveng Grinaker-LTA Building to construct

the two new office towers that make up this

development. One of the complexities on

this project is the immense work involved in

building the two large office towers in one

of the busiest areas of Sandton. Together,

both structures have a large footprint of

16 000 m

in an excavation that challenged

the geotechnical contractors ahead of the

arrival of the construction JV.

The biggest tower has a footprint of 9 000 m

at basement level. Once completed, this

building will comprise seven basements, two

floors of retail space, 13 floors of offices and

a roof structure. It will be occupied by MMI.

This is the second tower to be tackled by the

JV. It flanks the existing Nedbank building, and

calls for the careful planning and coordination

of material handling and lifting activities

considering the tight project schedule. Themain

materials handling tasks are being undertaken

using a Potain MC 125 tower crane.

Ernst Bezuidenhout, Trencon’s senior site

agent, says during the initial stages of the

build, the tower crane had to be erected with

a 30 m jib due to its very close proximity to

the adjacent building. Potain has designed

its tower cranes to accommodate different

combinations of 5 m and 10 m jib sections.

Specifically, the Potain MC 125 can be erect-

ed in a 60 m, 55 m, 50 m, 40 m and 30 m jib

configuration, a major benefit on this partic-

ular project site.

At the end of July, the tower crane was

anchored and jacked to about 54 m, sufficient

height to adequately clear the neighbouring

structures. The crane will be raised five times

over the duration of the contract. The next

jack took place in mid-September when the

crane was raised to a height of 68 m. The

jib was removed using a mobile crane and

extended to 60 m to allow the required reach

for materials handling activities across the

construction site. By August 2017, the crane

will reach its final height of 123 m.

From the outset, the Potain MC 125 has

been servicing the construction requirements

of the main elevator shaft. The tower crane

handles the extensive formwork, concrete

and reinforcement needed to build the

structural elements of the tower. At the

same time, it is tasked with lifting and

placing the 5 t hydraulic boom pump with

its counterweights at the work face. Here,

a preformed steel system, using hydraulic

shutters, that is able to jack two platforms at

a time is being used to build the 13 m by 7 m

elevator shaft, fireman’s lift and fire escape

stairway. Toni Flavio, operations director of

Trencon Construction, says the JV’s supply

chain partners were carefully selected based

on their sound performance in the South

African construction industry. “We look for

an ability to supply us with a top quality

service. This is vital, considering that our

business relationships are based on mutual

trust and performance,” he says.

This is exactly why Trencon Construction

uses SA French for all its tower crane

requirements. The company has been doing

business with the Potain dealer for the past

five years. Flavio says the Potain brand has

always inspired confidence in the company

to build complex high-rise projects. “Building

30-storey structures is a complex activity.

You need to be sure that when you embark

on such a project you have the correct

equipment, as this can make or break a

contract,” he says.

The Potain tower

crane is tasked with

the main materials

handling duties for the

structure.

MATERIALS HANDLING NEWS IN BRIEF

Hiab renews loader crane range

Hiab, part of Cargotec, has renewed its

mid-range loader cranes with 24 new or

updated models. The new cranes are, at

their maximum, 300 kg lighter than Hiab’s

previous ones, which means an equal

amount of extra payload for the customer.

“The updated cranes come with

innovative features that make crane

operation simpler, safer and more

productive. Crane Tip Control minimises

the complexity of coordinating the crane

for the operator and Load Stability System

ensures the safe usage of the crane. Semi-

Automatic Folding makes it possible to park

or activate the crane semi-automatically,

which simplifies one of the most difficult

operations when working with a loader

crane,” says Hans E. Ohlsson, director,

Medium Range Loader Cranes, Hiab.

Liebherr A 934 C on show

From its material handlers programme,

Liebherr will showcase the A 934 C Litronic

at Bauma China 2016 next month. It has an

operating weight of approximately 37 t. It

is powered by a Liebherr diesel engine with

turbocharger and charge-air intercooler, which

complies with Tier 3 / Stage IIIA emission

limits. It is of 7 000cc capacity with an engine

output of 150 of 1 800 rpm. The A 934 C

Litronic material handler has a wide support

base with large pads for maximum stability.

Depending on the working equipment,

extremely heavy loads can be raised by up

to 17 m and moved out to the same working

radius. The tried-and-trusted multi-tine

grapples, wood grapples as well as clamshell

grabs are essential tools for every Liebherr

material handler.

New flat-top tower cranes

from Comansa

Tower crane manufacturer Comansa CM,

part of the Linden Comansa group, has

launched a new series of flat-top tower

cranes. The four new models, with

maximum load capacity of 10 and 12 t, are

already available for global markets, while

two more will be arriving soon, before

the end of the year. The new cranes are

models 16CM185 (10t), 16CM185 (12t),

16CM220 (10t) and the 16CM220 (12t),

all with maximum jib length of 65 m. The

16CM260 and 16CM260 will be launched

soon and will come with jib length of

70 m. All the cranes from the CM1600

Series feature flat-top design, frequency

controlled mechanisms, different options

of hoist speeds and the PowerLift system.

The new CM1600 fills the gap between

the CM1100 Series (with max. loads of 6

and 8 t) and the CM2100 Series (up to 25 t

of maximum load capacity).