SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Australian crane company Marr Contracting Pty Ltd (The Men From Marr’s) completed the world’s heaviest tower crane lift this month as part of a milestone moment in Australia’s largest public transport project, Sydney Metro City & Southwest.
The world-record lift saw a 255-tonne section of one of the Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs), named ‘Mum Shirl’, lifted from the exit point of the tunnel it has been digging under the city to connect the new Martin Place and Barangaroo metro stations.
Using the world’s largest capacity tower crane, a specially designed Marr M2480D which can lift up to 330 tonnes, the company lifted the machine’s front ‘shield’ section in a single lift.
For the lift, the M2480D crane was configured with a 55-metre boom and a six fall 330 tonne hook block, allowing it to make the record lift.
In a coup for the John Holland CPB Ghella (JHCPBG) joint venture delivering the tunnel infrastructure for the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project, it’s the first time a tower crane has been used to lift a TBM component of this weight. Through its size, capability and sheer lifting capacity, the crane has proven a game-changer for similar large-scale urban infrastructure projects in Australia and around the world.
Marr Contracting Managing Director Simon Marr said the crane is operating from within the station box adjacent to the retrieval point for the TBM meaning it’s only taking up an area of 4×4 metres, which is 10 times less room than a more traditional crawler crane and gantry set-up.
Marr’s M2480D crane was already on site helping in the construction of the new Sydney Metro Barangaroo Station but was given added duties by John Holland CPB Ghella to include the TBM extraction.
The Men from Marr’s were initially contracted to deliver heavy lifting craneage services for the Northwest Rapid Transit (NRT) consortium – comprising John Holland, CPB Contractors and UGL Rail – on construction of Sydney Metro’s Castle Hill Station in 2016. After the successful completion of that project in October 2018, Marr cranes have been brought in to do the heavy lifting on more stations including Barangaroo and Martin Place.
“We work closely with our clients to understand their challenges and what they require. We listen first and then adapt and implement solutions that add real value back to their projects,” Mr Marr said.
Once the M2480D crane has finished extracting the TBM, it will be reconfigured to continue working on the construction of Barangaroo Station.
Images are available to download here (Photos by James D Morgan/Getty Images)
For more information contact:
Kris McIntyre
Communications Manager
kris.mcintyre@marr.com.au
