The pace of urbanization in cities is accelerating. But the demand for new buildings often clashes with the limited building land available. The solution: to create taller and taller buildings, which end up becoming a symbol of status and power in ever-expanding urban centers.
To meet the challenges posed by this situation, JASO together with Titan Cranes, its distributor in Australia, has developed a climbing system that allows a rapid ascent with the greatest safety guarantees.
The Lift Shaft system, also known as a three-beam climbing system, is a major boost for the construction of large skyscrapers in cities where development is becoming increasingly vertical.
Bosko Mujika, technical director, JASO Tower Cranes, and Andrew Coffin, Cost and Engineering manager, Titan, presented the technology at the latest Tower Crane Virtual Conference.
In the Lift Shaft system, the crane is placed within the concrete core of the building and climbs using a three beam climbing system. There is no need to move the collars between different levels, and the hydraulic system has been designed with safety and serviceability in mind.
An example of an application of the Lift Shaft system is the International Towers Sydney project, three commercial skyscrapers located in Barangaroo, Australia. In this case, LendLease contracted Titan to provide the entire lifting scheme for them.
To erect the three towers, which range in height from 168 to 217 meters, multiple cranes were deployed – up to 12 simultaneously.
Titan, as Coffin explained, used a guiding system based on adjustable rollers located in the shaft corners of the elevator accompanied by attachment chocks to transfer the loads from the crane to the building under service conditions. The aim: to adsorb core construction deviations during internal climbing.
The Lift Shaft will undoubtedly contribute to the unstoppable upward expansion of cities, allowing previously unimagined heights to be reached, and overcoming obstacles that have hitherto hindered this new model of urban development.