Grocon Construction

Grocon Construction
3 Albert Coates Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: 03 9631 8833
Fax: 03 9639 9556

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Climbing down Melbourne’s tallest site

ANY watchers of high rise building construction in Melbourne are puzzled by the huge construction crane on top Melbourne’s tallest construction site – the 292m, 92-storey high Eureka Tower. As Melbourne’s tallest building, it has more residential floors than any other apartment building in the world. The building is, in fact, an icon in Australia having been described as a beautiful architectural sculpture.

But it is the crane, which is anchored to the top of the lift well (instead of sitting on top of the conventional tower of a tower crane) that is generating interest. The question is how to get the crane down. The engineers have developed an ingenious plan to get it down.

First, the main construction crane (No. 1) will be used to lift, up onto level 92 (the top of the building) known as the Upper Roof, piece by piece, the dismantling crane (No. 2). Crane No. 2 is re-assembled and used to dismantle crane No. 1, and lower it to the ground, piece by piece.

The next challenge is to get crane No. 2 down. Such dismantling cranes are heavy – particularly the power pack component – and quite large. Crane No. 2 lifts from the ground, the recovery crane (No. 3), to be assembled on level 92, which is considerably smaller than crane No. 2.

And, third, crane No. 3 is then used to dismantle crane No. 2 up on level 92 and then lower it, piece by piece, down to the ground. Crane No. 3 is a small but very powerful unit and is specially designed to be disassembled into sufficiently small pieces, enabling workers to lower each piece down through access hatches to the goods lift on the 88th level.

In engineering terms, it is a complex operation like so many of the aspects associated with the Eureka Tower.

Construction contractor, Grocon has been involved with many projects where difficult crane work has been involved. The company’s plant manager, Bruno Morosinotto, who has been with Grocon for twenty years, acknowledges that this project is one of the most challenging in his career and that includes the not-so-easy MCG site in Melbourne.

Source: Construction Contractor

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