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Mast Climbers Cases

Scanclimber® by Tractel® Mast Climbing Work Platforms are suitable for any kind of facade work, installations, bricklaying and the handling of passengers and materials.

In the heart of Frankfurt 2.8 meter high noise cancellation panels were used with Scanclimber MCWPs on renovation project of old office building.

Background

The metropolis of Frankfurt, the largest city in the German federal state of Hesse and financial hub of the country, faces increasing demands for residential buildings. As a direct result of this trend, an office tower in Frankfurt has been remodeled as a residential apartment tower, the Blue Horizon and Scanclimber played a major role in it. This building is a stone’s throw away from the famous exhibition center. It comprises 120 apartments with an approximate living space of 9000 m2. The 19-storey building has some spectacular views as you ascend towards the top floor.

blue horizon down view

The Project

On the face of it, this is a fully-fledged remodeling project, where an old office building is being converted for residential use. However, the job at hand entails numerous steps such as:

  • Removing the old concrete elements
  • Removing the windows
  • Fastening insulation elements: drilling holes and inserting dowels in them.
  • Filling up the gap between the façade’s pilasters using mesh
  • Plastering the walls
  • Tiling the walls.

Challenges

blue horizon project

This is a building remodeling project where an old office structure will be converted to a residential apartment building. The job at hand was to remove the old precast façade elements in one piece and then install dowels, windows and bricks into the façade.

The main challenges in this project are not the building height or vertical access.

  • Removing the old (and heavy) precast concrete elements and storing them on a stable platform
  • Inserting hundreds of insulating elements into the façade by drilling holes while protecting the surroundings from noise pollution
  • Installing new large windows and tiles on to the façade with as few anchoring interferences as possible.

Mitigating noise at construction sites has become increasingly important in current day practices. Activities like drilling result in a considerable amount of noise at a construction site. This aspect wasn’t a major concern in the past as the residents back then accepted construction site noise as unavoidable.

Scanclimber’s solution

blue horizon noice cancelling panels

After a thorough R&D process, Scanclimber has come up with a platform model that tackles the aspect of noise cancellation.

  • Removing old façade elements and storing them on a platform requires heavy payload capacities, which is why Scanclimber’s SC8000 mast climbers were used for this job. A total of 10 MCWPs were used for this project: five SC8000 units and five SC5000 units.
  • The anchoring points were on the beams inside the buildings which were accessed through the window gaps.
  • While installing new windows, the anchors were removed.
  • The MCWPs were installed with wooden panels lined with noise absorbing material. These panels are 2.8 m in height (which is the height of each floor).

Conclusion

blue horizon top

On the face of it, this renovation project may sound rather straightforward in nature, but on closer inspection, one cannot help but notice that height safety and vertical access are not the only challenges concerning high rise buildings. Considering the number of individual tasks this project entailed, calling it tedious is not an understatement. In spite the challenges, such as removing the old façade elements and storing them on the platform, mitigating the noise while carrying out drilling operations and installing new windows, Scanclimber achieved the set objectives with great precision and creative solutions.

Project Facts 
Project timelines March 2017- December 2018
Building height 70 m2
Number of floors 19
Number of apartments 120
Machines used SC8000, SC5000
No. of Units (MCWP) 10 (5 x SC5000, 5 x SC8000)
Special features Noise cancellation panels
Dimensions of the noise cancellation panels 2.8 m height (equal to the height of a floor)
Main contractor UNMUSSIG