Dubai is becoming increasingly famous for its luxurious hotels. The Shangri-La, now under construction on the metropolitan Sheik Zayed road, will be one of the tallest in the emirate. It will form part of the Al Jaber Complex, a 200m high, 44 storey twin tower residential, commercial and hotel complex.
A joint venture between locally-based Al Habtoor Engineering and South Africa’s Murray & Roberts is the main contractor on the Al Jaber Complex. The JV is using three Potain tower cranes – an MD 365 L16, an MD 345 L12 and an H30/30 unit – for all on-site lifting duties. They were supplied by the regional Potain distributor Noumad Fouad Trading (NFT).
By July the MD 365 was working with an under hook height of 170m, which will rise to a maximum 210m on project completion in a few months time, and a jib length of 60m.
The MD 365 can be configured to a maximum working radius of 75m, where the maximum tip load is 3.2t. Maximum lifting capacity is 16t.
The project’s MD 345 was working with an under hook height of 190m in July, rising to an eventual 220m. Jib length is 35m. The MD 345 can have a maximum radius of 75m, where the tip load is 3.1t, and a maximum lifting capacity of 12t.
Both the MD 365 and MD 345 cranes are working on the main twin towers of the project, with support braces being attached to the edifice every 10 mast sections, which equates to every 50m.
A third Potain tower crane, an H30/30 working with an under hook height of 40m and a jib length of 50m, is being used on the complex’s adjacent five-storey car park.
According to Faris Jundi, deputy project manager for the contracting JV, the two Potain MD cranes were chosen because they are simple and easy to erect. ‘Our operators are also very impressed with the new cab design which affords better visibility than other models,’ he said.
The MD cranes are being used to lift rebar and pre-cast slab elements which have a maximum weight of 12t. ‘Occasionally we’ve used the cranes to hoist a concrete bucket, but the majority of concrete is poured on site via a placing boom,’ says Jundi.
The MD 365 has Potain’s new rounded style Vision cab which has convex windows to improve visibility. It also has air conditioning, which helps when working in such a hot country.
The Al Jaber Complex will have 43 levels above ground plus two underground parking floors. The building has a footprint of 2,310m2.
It has been estimated that 16,000t of steel will be used on the project and 55,000m3 of concrete. The construction process involves in-situ concreting of four central cores, which will contain a total of 16 elevators, and perimeter columns and slabs. All interior slabs (floors) are being constructed with pre-cast elements.
A self-climbing formwork system is being used to form the cores, with concrete being poured every day and the formwork system hydraulically jacked up one floor every four days. The cores vary in thickness from 800mm on lower levels, to 400mm and 200mm on the upper floors.
The project began in May 2001 and completion has been scheduled for early 2003.
The building’s owner and developer is Al Jaber Investments, project manager is Mace International and architect and engineer is the Noor Group.
