Gulf Construction Online - Putzmeister works on Kuwait’s tallest tower

Germany & the Mideast

Putzmeister’s BSA 14000 HP D set up at Al Hamra Tower.

Putzmeister works on Kuwait’s tallest tower

Putzmeister’s concrete pumps are helping Ahmadiah Contracting in the rigorous task of placing concrete for Kuwait’s tallest building, the Al Hamra Tower.

01 March 2009

WORK is well under way on the prestigious 412-m Al Hamra Tower, where the main contractor Ahmadiah Contracting and Trading Company has teamed up with Kuwait-based Putzmeister dealer Ageco and Putzmeister specialists from Germany for concrete pumping and placing for the 77-level high-rise, which will be the tallest tower in Kuwait when completed.

Al Hamra tower is taking shape on the site previous occupied by the Al Hamra and Firdous Cinemas, which were built in the late 50s. The mixed-use complex, which has a total built-up area of 270,000 sq m, has already won two Mipin awards this year for the best tall building and mix-use complex design worldwide.
The project consists of an office building, a shopping mall with nine cinemas and a car-park. Construction work on the tower started in August 2006 on a design-and-build basis, and will be completed in November 2010.
The tower structure is sophisticated and poses many challenges in execution, says a spokesman for Ahmadiah.
“Its composite construction (structural steel and reinforced concrete) required special concrete strengths, which were successfully achieved using Ahmadiah’s own batching plants to record values of 100 N/sq mm. Structural steel plates up to 150 mm were also used, which is not often seen in building construction,” the spokesman points out.
The project will use 200,000 cu m of concrete, 43,000 tonnes of steel reinforcements and 6,000 tonnes of structural steel.
Speaking about the project, Jürgen Kronenberg, press officer, Putzmeister Concrete Pumps, says: “The high strength of concrete necessary for Al Hamra Tower cannot be easily handled by pumps. For conveying concrete to the slabs on top, Ahmadiah is working with two stationary Putzmeister concrete pumps type BSA 14000 HP D. The units are designed for high pumping pressure and connected to two separate conveying pipes including gate valves and diversion valves.”
“Due to the pumping height, the most stressed part of the pipe systems can be operated up to 200 bar concrete pressure. Guiding and carrying the vertical pipe lines is similar to Putzmeister’s high-concrete pumping solution used at Burj Dubai.”
The conveying pipes on top of the building are connected to two stationary concrete placing booms with 32 m vertical reach. “The booms of type Putzmeister MX 32-4 T are set on columns, which are integrated into the hydraulically operated self-climbing formwork manufactured by Peri,” Kronenberg explains.
While setting up the concrete pump, installing the pipe systems and concrete placing booms, Ageco was supported by Putzmeister application and service engineers. These specialists will be available during the construction of Al Hamra Tower if a problem might arise, he points out.
Ageco will have in stock replacement for pumps, pipes and booms if any of them wear out.
Meanwhile, Germany-based Putzmeister (PM) a well-recognised and respected manufacturer of concrete and material placing equipment for the construction industry, will be participating at the Intermat trade fair in Paris next month (April 20 to 25) where it will put on display a number of economical solutions for price-conscious concrete pumping services featuring new ideas and tried-and-tested technology.
Alongside interesting developments in conveying systems and placing booms, the company will offer the option of computer-aided boom control and damping (Ergonic Boom Control – EBC) on its truck-mounted concrete pump range, and of monitoring and controlling the delivery rate and pressure of the concrete pump (Ergonic Pump System – EPS).