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| Manitowoc cranes build large Saudi Arabian university  Over 180 Potain tower cranes, Grove mobile cranes and Manitowoc crawler cranes are helping build the world's largest women-only university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Set over 8 million m2 and costing approximately US$11.5 billion, Princess Nora Bint Abdul Rahman University is one of the largest construction projects in the Middle East. The three main contractors are Saudi Oger Ltd., Saudi Binladin Group and El Seif Engineering and Contracting Co. David Semple, managing director of Manitowoc Cranes in the Middle East, said Manitowoc was honored to provide the majority of the cranes for this major project."The cost, scale and prestige of this project all combine to make it one of the largest projects we have been involved with, both in the Middle East and worldwide," he said. "It is backed by the King of Saudi Arabia and is attracting a lot of attention." Spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Higher Education, PNU was launched by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to help empower women through education and employment. Construction began in February 2009 and is scheduled to end in mid-2011 — although most tower cranes will leave the project toward the end of 2010. The first Potain cranes arrived in April 2009. Some were sold to Saudi Oger while others are working on rental contracts. All were supplied by NFT, the UAE-based Potain dealer that covers that Gulf region. NFT is one of the world's largest towers crane owners and is one of the longest-serving crane suppliers in the Middle East. Cranes from across the Potain range are being used onsite. The most popular models include 17 MD 365s, 16 MDT 368s, 14 MC 310s and 11 MD 345s. Nabil Al Zahlawi, managing partner at NFT, said tower cranes are managing large parts of the construction work. "The main role for the tower cranes is to lift the largest building components. These include precast and hollow core blocks that make up the majority of the university's buildings," he said. "The cranes are almost all working with full jibs, which range from 50 m to 75 m in length. Working heights are currently between 50 m and 60 m, but some cranes will climb to 80 m as the project progresses." The site covers 3 million m2 and is running on a tight construction schedule. To ensure the project stays on track, each building has at least four cranes working on it. With so many cranes operating in close proximity and under such intense workloads, this presents a real challenge. Nabil Al Zahlawi, said product support is a vital element to staying on schedule. "On a project this size and with this work schedule, it is important to have the confidence and capability to fix any problems," he said, "While we have our own technicians permanently on site, we know we can rely on the global support of Manitowoc Crane Care." In addition to the Potain tower cranes, a number of Grove mobile cranes are on site. There are all-terrain and rough-terrain cranes, some owned by contractors on the project and others supplied by rental companies. The majority were supplied through Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo, Manitowoc's dealer for Grove cranes in Saudi Arabia. Deepak Jain, a regional manager for Kanoo's Riyadh office, said the number and type of Grove cranes on the project is constantly changing. "Grove is an excellent brand for this kind of project," he said. "The rough-terrain cranes are rugged and built for working in these conditions. The all-terrain cranes have great mobility with Megatrak suspension and offer excellent lifting ability." Among the all-terrain cranes that have worked on the project thus far are the 130 t GMK5130, the 170 t GMK5170, the 220 t GMK5220 and the 300 t GMK6300. From the rough-terrain crane range the 35 t RT540, 45 t RT650, 55 t RT760 and 120 t RT9130 are all among the models that have worked at the site. In addition to the Grove mobile cranes, there are also some Manitowoc crawler cranes on the project, including the Model 8500 and Model 12000. The university development will take nearly three years to complete. Once finished, the campus will include administration buildings, housing for more than 11,000 people, a 700-bed student hospital, 15 academic facilities, research centers and laboratories. It will have a high-tech transportation system with automatic and computer-controlled vehicles linking the entire campus. write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Construction News :: home page |