Marr Contracting recently executed a challenging project in Dubai, where the Men from Marr’s – as the company is known – used a record-setting piece of equipment for the first time in the city that is perhaps the least stranger to high-rise building construction.
Skyscrapers and supertalls are scattered around Dubai a dime a dozen, and no one bats an eye lid when another spindly spire of a new high-rise starts shooting up. No one in the general public, that is. Within the emirate’s construction sector, the interest in a project is directly proportional to its complexity and while the looks or height of a project could be the factor that draws the public eye, the difficulties and challenges in the construction process are what draw in the specialists of the sector.
And there can be several such complexities and challenges. The proliferation of high-rises in small spaces adjacent to each other – as can be seen in places such as Downtown Dubai and adjoining areas, or Dubai Marina and JLT – gives rise to some obvious complexities in construction, not the least of which is space restriction and limited access to the job-site.
One such project in Dubai that was executed recently was the ICD Brookfield Place (ICDBP). It was a project that posed several challenges in its execution – from the location in Dubai’s busy financial district to the unique architectural design and many aspects in-between. The building would require some unconventional solutions to build in terms of equipment use and planning – solutions that called for specialists in the field, as the 282-metre, 54-storey skyscraper with a unique design by internationally renowned architects Foster + Partners, was challenging from a construction point-of-view.
Marr Contracting a leader in craneage solutions
When the Multiplex and Ssangyong (MSS) joint venture partners were awarded the main contract to construct the tower, they turned to Marr Contracting for a heavy lifting solution that would become a first for the world’s ‘crane capital’ – aka Dubai.
Marr Contracting is among the global leaders in the design and delivery of heavy lift cranes and complex craneage solutions. With a long and successful track record of working on some of the biggest and most complex lifting projects in the world across several continents, the Australian company has become a by-word for specialist, often custom-built high-capacity tower crane solutions.
The company describes itself as being “big thinkers and problem solvers who love a challenge with a string of ‘world firsts’ to our name”. This includes the design of the world’s largest capacity tower crane, the 330-tonne capacity M2480D heavy lift luffing (HLL) crane.
Marr Contracting boasts of an expertise that spans large-scale construction, mining, oils & gas, power generation, major transport infrastructure, marine and technology projects. Among their most challenging and prestigious projects to date in the wider Middle East is the new $2.8 billion 1915 Canakkale Bridge over the Dardanelles Strait in Turkey, which boast the longest main span of any suspension bridge in the world and in which Marr Contracting completed a world-record lift, placing a 155-tonne piece of upper cross beam into position 318 metres above sea level.
As this project showed, The Men from Marr’s, as the company likes to call itself, is never limited by the equipment available in the market. Simon Marr, Managing Director, Marr Contracting, explains it best when he says: “We don’t just hire cranes – we design them. So, if the right crane for your job doesn’t already exist, we’ll build one.”
With Marr Contracting’s proven track record of innovation in their sector and Multiplex’s history of working together with them on iconic projects in Australia for more than 30 years, it was natural that Multiplex would enlist Marr’s help when faced with the challenge of the ICDBP build.
Significant challenges in ICD Brookfield Place Project
Both Multiplex and Marr knew that the best solution required a different way of thinking about craneage for the UAE’s construction sector. Located in the heart of Dubai’s financial district, the ICDBP project came with significant challenges including:
- A complex architectural design featuring complicated steel elements
- The need for a cranage solution that could support MSS’ construction methodology, which was based around heavy steel elements
- A congested, landlocked site with restricted access and limited space
- An ambitious construction programme.
Construction of the building’s distinctive five-storey-high entrance atrium – consisting of five complex steel A-frame nodes weighing up to 85 tonnes – was critical to the construction programme.
As the landlocked nature of the site meant that there was no space to employ crawler cranes for the installation of the A-frames nodes, the other ‘traditional’ approach would have been to build the structures in smaller pieces using locally available tower cranes. However, onsite fabrication of the nodes would have created increased safety risks, additional scope and temporary works that would have severely impacted the programme. This meant that the ability to lift large, heavy steel components was critical to the construction schedule.
According to Marr Contracting, Multiplex engaged them early in the project and numerous iterations of crane models and sizes were considered during the extensive project planning stage. The original scheme proposed using four smaller M1280D cranes in four locations, which would be relocated around the site to lift the structural elements in smaller pieces and weld in-situ.
After meeting with the construction team from Multiplex and their contracted structural steel fabrication supplier, Eversendai, Marr presented an alternative methodology using only two cranes that would be a first for Dubai’s construction sector.
Marr Contracting’s Integrated lifting solution
Marr’s solution – using a bespoke 96-tonne capacity M860DX and the 330-tonne capacity M2480D heavy lift luffer (HLL) – provided an integrated solution that took into account the heavy lifting requirements from the ground up to the highest point of the building 290-metres above street level.
The M2480D was used to drive construction at the lower levels and install heavy structural steel elements from two locations outside the building’s footprint. This allowed each part of the A-Frame to be welded in a controlled factory environment, delivered to the construction zone and lifted directly into place in a single lift.
In another first for Dubai’s construction sector, Marr mobilised its unique three-beam climbing system which allowed the M860DX to be placed in the building’s high-rise lift core. The M860DX supported the installation, relocation and removal of the M2480D and assisted the installation of steel sections at the top of the building. It also served as the high-speed heavy lift crane for the construction of the entire building, especially after the M2480D had been removed.
The result of Marr’s innovative lifting plan was that the ICD Brookfield Place was completed ahead of schedule. Marr’s solution using fewer, larger capacity tower cranes delivered benefits to the project including:
- Improved safety – fewer lifts, without the need for detailed welding in-situ;
- Quality – detailed welding carried out in a controlled factory environment offered weld quality assurance;
- Reduced complexity – less cranes and lower lifting count, and a crane solution aligned to the construction methodology;
- Cost – no requirement for expensive temporary works;
- Productivity – operable in wind speeds of 20m/second in high winds, Marr’s cranes delivered a 99.99% availability rating across the life of the project; and
- Cost – no requirement for expensive temporary works.
First use of M2480D in UAE
As the first time a heavy lift luffing tower crane of the M2480D’s size had been used on a high-rise construction project in the UAE, the project was also a game changer for the future of similar projects in the region. On completing this project, the M2480D was engaged by Alec on the construction of Dubai’s One Za’abeel.
“The success of this project dispels the myth that lots of cranes on a project is a good thing. The best solution is always the safest and most efficient option – and in this case it was the one that used less cranes to drive productivity with fewer, heavy lifts,” said Simon Marr.
Describing the difference that the project executed by Marr Contracting made, a statement from the project owner said: “[The crane] has de-risked the project a lot. For example, implementing an element [such as the nodes] piece-by-piece would involve a lot of temporary works. The manufacturing of these nodes could have taken weeks or months if we had to do that on site, so the time benefit is significant.”
Project at a glance
Client: Multiplex and Ssangyong (MSS) Joint Venture
Project: ICD Brookfield Place
Location: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Construction
Cranes: 1 x M2480D, 1 x M860DX