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| D&G’s 100th Potain tower crane works on Perth’s tallest building  In Australia, construction of the tallest office block in Perth's Central Business District is underway with help from three tower cranes from Potain. All the luffing jib cranes on the project were supplied by local Manitowoc dealer D&G Hoist and Crane Hire. The third to arrive on site was also the 100th Potain bought by D&G in its 10-year history. The first cranes on site, two Potain MR 295 H20 luffing jib cranes with 150LCC50 hoist winches, were erected in October 2008. They were joined in January of this year by a third Potain luffing jib crane, an MR 615. Main contractor Brookfield Multiplex, which is building the $1 billion City Square Tower, purchased the two MR 295 cranes from D&G and also rented the MR 615 from the company. Once completed the building will be the new headquarters for mining giant BHP Billiton, which is relocating from Melbourne. Gino DeCesare, managing director of D&G, explained that the high profile job site necessitated a special tower crane. "This high profile site has special requirements, so we purchased a new Potain crane designed exactly for these types of buildings in markets such as the United States, South Korea and Australia," he said. "If you need a tower crane to fit into an existing congested downtown space with the ability to lift large structural components, your choices are limited. Of the cranes available, the Potain MR 615 is the pick of the bunch." The layout of the site required three tower cranes, with one of them a larger capacity crane. The site schematics and construction process meant the larger crane had to sit 50 m back from the street. With this position, the MR 615 was perfectly suited with a maximum capacity of 16 t, and an 8.25 t capacity at a 60 m radius. Gino DeCesare said these attributes, plus others, made the MR 615 the ideal choice for the job. "It's a big luffer. And the single fall hoist rope has a speed of 200 m per minute with a load rating at that speed of 2 t and a luffing speed of 1 min 48 sec from maximum to minimum radius," he said. "As we see it, these specifications are better than the other cranes we considered." The MR 615 was also chosen for its electric motor which is quieter and more suitable for city areas, compared with the noisier diesel engines on other cranes. Other benefits include easier transportation, lower transport costs, taller erection heights and a freestanding height of 57.3 m when fitted with the 60 m jib. D&G said it saved on transport cost with the MR 615 both in the initial delivery from Europe and when considering the costs of moving the crane from site to site over its lifetime. The company is able to fit five of the crane's mast sections into a 40-foot container. The mast design also offers savings with a 2.45 m x 2.45 m cross-section and 5 m length, with the capability to fold flat. Features that not all competitor cranes can match. According to DeCesare, this is another example of Potain's superior engineering. "We noticed that the engineers at Manitowoc perform a lot of research on steel grades," he said. "The major benefit of the company's steel selection process is the tall free-standing heights they can achieve. On this site we are going go up to 57.3 m before the crane is tied to the building and climbed." The purchase of the MR 615 was a significant investment for D&G and one of the company's largest. But DeCesare explained that accepting the cyclical nature of construction and the need to meet significant peaks and troughs is a key part of D&G's purchasing strategy, as was purchasing cranes that sell more easily in a downturn. "We know that Potain cranes are well regarded on all continents and can be sold more easily in the United States, Europe and Asia," he said "Many of the others don't command anywhere near the same level of international awareness, acceptance or demand. And they represent more dollars. We get equal or more performance than other cranes for less cost. We mitigate our risk, because Potain is the world's largest tower crane manufacturer, and we can resell one anywhere in the world." The City Square Tower is due for completion in 2012. It will be 256 m high with a footprint of 1,800 m2 on a 1.2 hectare site. Total floor area will be 60,000 m2. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Construction News :: home page |