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PROJECT APPLICATION
Two Liebherr Flat-Top cranes building
85-storey skyscraper in Mumbai
The Liebherr 202 EC-B 10 Litronic Flat-Top cranes can lift 5.3 t at 40 m.
Two Liebherr 202 EC-B 10 Litronic Flat-Top cranes are being
used to build the two towers of Lokhandwala Minerva in
Mumbai, an 85-storey supertall skyscraper that will be one of
the city’s tallest buildings when it is completed in 2015.
Developed by Lokhandwala Infrastructure, the project is
designed by Architect Hafeez Contractor, with Leslie E Robertson
Associates and J+W Consultants as structural engineers and
construction is being undertaken by Larsen & Toubro (L & T).
Minerva is located in the Mahalaxmi district of Mumbai, an area
that previously housed the city’s Victorian-era cotton mills and
which is now a showpiece area of slum clearance and modern
development projects.
The two cranes were supplied to L&T by Liebherr CMCtec
India Private Ltd and installed on site earlier this year. Both
cranes were manufactured in Germany.
Both cranes are being used in an unusual configuration to suit
the construction sequence. During the planning stages, L&T
considered using two heavy duty flat/ luffing jib cranes to feed
the materials as acute space constraints and logistics are the
biggest challenges on this project.
Further, there is an existing tower newly built next to the site,
and running behind the site is a railway line.
It was determined that the selected tower crane must have high
speed and a lifting capacity of more than 5 mt and that it should
be able to climb within the available lift shaft. According to L&T,
it opted for Liebherr which addressed all the criteria raised for
the Minerva project.
The EC-B series is very familiar to L&T, and working with
Liebherr, specifications and deployment were drawn up, that
used two 202 EC-B10 units with shorter-than-standard jibs.
Standard jibs on this model are 65 m, but L&T opted for two 40
m jibs because of the site constrictions, and one crane has been
started at a height of 42 m and the other at 48 m, to ensure the
two jibs overfly each other.
The 202 EC-B 10, which is a 10 t crane, can lift 5.3 t at 40 m.
Both cranes have been located inside the lift shafts of the
buildings and will climb with the structure, which will reach an
eventual height of 300 m. The crane itself has a maximum hook
height of 63.1 m. The higher of the two units will be working at
320 m when the building tops out.
Minerva has a reinforced concrete frame and floor slabs, and is
being constructed entirely of in situ concrete. Its facade will be
applied masonry and curtain wall, and there are 16 lift shafts.
With 85 storeys above ground, the structure will have only two
levels below ground. Parking levels will be from the 1 st to the
10 th floors, there will be a garden podium on the 11 th floor, while
the 26 th to 83 th floors will be for residential use. There will be
penthouses and a terrace on the 84 th and 85 th floors.
Enquiry No: 10/102
36 THE SINGAPORE ENGINEER October 2012