Eight Liebherr tower cranes are working on Phase 3 of the Msheireb project in downtown Doha, Qatar.
Contractor Obayashi Corporation has acquired the Liebherr fleet as part of a rental agreement with the German crane manufacturer’s Qatar distributor United Equipment Group. Seven of the eight cranes have been delivered to the site from Germany, and all of the tower cranes working on Phase 3 of the Msheireb project are Liebherrs.
“We have supplied the total tower crane needs on Phase 1A and 1B, while on Phases 1C and 2 the contractors had their own cranes already in the country, and so they used those,” said Muaz Ayoub, operations manager at United Equipment. “Phase 3 has a substantial amount of precast façade panels and prefabricated steel elements, and so we needed a combination of height, heavy lifting capacity, and a long reach.”
As such, Muaz and his colleagues at United Equipment worked in close collaboration with the contractor to deliver a line-up of Liebherr tower cranes capable of tackling work on the penultimate phase of the Doha project.
“Together with Obayashi, we developed a configuration of 200 EC-H 10 Litronic and 280 EC-H 12 Litronic cranes,” he explained.
With a maximum hook height of 68.1m and a reach of 60m at which it can lift 2.65 tonnes, the Liebherr 200 EC-H 10 has a maximum 10-tonne lift capacity. The 280 EC-H 12, meanwhile, can lift 12 tonnes, has a maximum hook height of 86.8m, and boasts a reach of 75m at which it can lift 2.8 tonnes.
Phase 3 of the downtown Doha project is being conducted in a joint venture between Obayashi and HBK as part of a $686mn contract awarded by Msheireb Properties. Construction of the penultimate phase of the build began during the middle of 2013, and the Liebherr tower cranes were transported to the site in September.
Phase 3 involves the construction of a 310,000m2 built-up area, comprising 14 buildings up to 22 stories in height and four basement levels offering 2,200 parking spaces. The Msheireb Downtown Doha project is scheduled for completion in 2016.
