Boom Logistics received delivery of its new Liebherr LTM1750-9.1, a 750t capacity crane, to complete this lift in Melbourne’s CBD. It’s the largest capacity crane seen on Melbourne’s streets.
Boom Logistics was recently engaged to lower a tower crane from 55 Southbank, a new Melbourne landmark building which sits between the bustling CBD, the vibrant art precinct of St Kilda Road and the parklands of the Royal Botanic Gardens Boulevard. The tower crane was constructed on the existing commercial office building site to help develop a new 220-room hotel, through the addition of six levels using concrete framed construction methods at the top of the building.
According to Nick Morris, engineering manager for Boom Logistics, the unique aspect of the lift was the location of the job, situated on the corner of City Road and Southbank Boulevard, a busy intersection in Southbank, Victoria.
“Prior to the crane arriving onsite, geotechnical work and core drilling were carried out to ensure the crane was set up in a safe and ideal position for lifting, said Morris.
“A key challenge was ensuring the safety of a sewer line that ran down the centre of Southbank Boulevard. It was decided to sit the crane away from the underground piping, positioning the crane very close to the edge of the building, with just 13m between the face of the building and the centre line of the crane,” he said.
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“The Liebherr LTM1750 is equipped with a V2E 19m lattice extension on the main boom which allows the pivot point of the luffing fly to be placed 19 metres higher than usual. The crane was set-up this way to lift over the 61m building height to perform the job safely,” said Morris.
This is a similar configuration to those used for wind farm maintenance at extreme heights. On this particular lift the extension enabled the boom to luff down safely, without any clearance issues over the top of the building.
The heaviest lift was 15.8t which allowed the slew deck on the tower crane to come down as a single piece. This meant the owner of the tower crane didn’t have to strip the crane down, which reduced time and cost.
The benefit of putting the larger crane in the street was the clearance it provided. No other crane could have managed the job that close to the building.
In addition to removing the tower crane, Boom Logistics completed the lift shaft, installed wall panels and carried out minor steel works.
The LTM 1750-9.1 has the capability to become an 800t crane. It has higher lifting capacities across almost the entire working range, and greater capacity for wind farm applications with the new luffing jib configuration.
The 9-axle machine features the very latest mobile crane technology and includes Liebherr innovations such as VarioBase and ECOmode. With its Y telescopic boom guying and a very wide range of lattice jibs, the LTM 1750-9.1 allows a large number of possible boom system configurations. These enable it to achieve hoist heights of up to 154m and radii up to 112m. The luffing lattice jib can be assembled in 3.5m stages up to a total of 91m height.
“The past 10 years we saw a number of 400t and 500t machines operating in the metropolitan area. That was the peak capability for the time. Advanced technologies now allow us to service CBD projects and its customers with a 750t mobile crane,” said Morris.
This is a major advancement for the construction industry, allowing project managers to take advantage of the latest changes in engineering and architectural design which require large components to be delivered from factory directly to site,” he said.
Boom Logistics engaged with the Crane Industry Council of Australia (CICA), working with Vic Roads to gain access for the crane and obtain the permit approvals which allowed the boom to be fitted to the crane on site. This ensured less time mobilisation to site and quick demobilisation to the yard.
Boom Logistics prepared new designs on the outrigger supports to distribute the loads on the road, supporting local ground conditions. With 22 metres of mat under each outrigger, Boom Logistics used standard crane mats in conjunction with its own engineered mats used for crawler cranes.
Boom Logistics put down compressed foam before they sat the mats down, which is a relatively new concept for Melbourne developments. The compressed foam was used to protect the road from damage while operating on a new asphalted surface, and there were no scuffs, no scratches and no indents.
“The LTM 1750 and the team performed extremely well. The project showcases our ability to mobilise a large crane quickly and safely into the city, and provides value to major construction companies and their projects,” said Tony Spassopoulos, Boom Logistics CEO.
“Because of the complexities involved with the job, Nick Morris and the team worked closely with our customer for several months beforehand so we could align the engineering requirements and road closures to complete the job safely and on time,” he said.
“We now have three 750t mobile cranes in our fleet, servicing our customers in the mining and resources, infrastructure, energy and utilities sectors across Australia,” said Spassopoulos.