Gulf Construction Online - Liebherr cranes are busy in Abu Dhabi

UAE Focus

The Liebherr crane at the site of Al Muneera.

Liebherr cranes are busy in Abu Dhabi

01 December 2011

LIEBHERR cranes are being put to good use across several major projects in Abu Dhabi.

Five Liebherr cranes, including a mobile unit and an EC-B flat-top tower crane, are performing lifting duties for the 150-m-high Oceanscape twin towers being built by Al Shafar General Contracting (ASGC) for Dubai-based developer Damac on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi. AGSC is also building another tower for Damac at Reem Island, called Marina Bay.

Lying 600 m off the coast of Abu Dhabi and covering around 6.5 million sq m, Reem Island will have at least 22,000 residential units when complete.

Construction of Oceanscape towers, launched last June, is expected to take almost two years to complete.

The mixed-use development features residential, commercial and retail units within two futuristically designed 32-storey water-edge towers, with the four Liebherr tower cranes positioned to cover all areas of construction.

The tower cranes include two 8-tonne 112 EC-Hs, one 120 HC and one 110 EC-B. All the tower cranes are fixed with foundation anchors. In addition, one of the 120 HCs and one of the 112EC-Hs are of the internal climbing type for 150 m. The remaining two are external climbing for 150 m.

Other contracts awarded to ASGC and featuring Liebherr cranes include the 34-storey Al Wifaq Tower-1 and the 150-m-high Marina Bay, both in Reem Island, and hospital projects for Ambulatory Healthcare Services in Abu Dhabi.

Meanwhile, a Liebherr LTM1500-8.1 mobile crane recently helped put the finishing touches for the Al Muneera development in Al Raha Beach in Abu Dhabi with a night-time lift of garden steel structures onto its three-storey-high landscaped garden.

Developed by Aldar Properties and nearing completion, Al Muneera forms part of Khor Al Raha, one of 11 precincts within the larger Al Raha waterfront development.

Comprising two areas, an island and mainland divided by a canal, Al Muneera features 14-storey apartment blocks surrounded by landscape terrace gardens, together with three-, four-, and five-bedroomed townhouses and villas along the canal and waterfront. A 14-storey office tower links the mainland site to the island via a pedestrian bridge which arrives at Al Raha beachfront.

During the night-time lift, main contractor Al Futtaim-Carillion relied on the LTM1500-8.1 mobile crane from Al Faris’ rental fleet.

Configured with a 26.5-m main boom, a 84-m luffing jib, 135-tonne counterweight and an 80-m radius, the crane lifted seven-tonne steel structural elements to the project’s three-storey-high landscaped garden areas.

Al Faris is considered to be one of the region’s largest rental fleets for mobile cranes with a fleet of more than 360 units including all-terrain and rough-terrain cranes.

It has, today, virtually standardised on Liebherr telescopic cranes with almost 200 models in its fleet.