SRV builds the tallest residential skyscraper in Helsinki

Majakka is located in the Kalasatama district right on the Gulf of Finland. Scanclimber delivered a mid-speed twin cage construction hoist into this congested installation location in Kalasatama.

Finland’s first skyscraper

The Kalasatama district is one of the most outstanding cityscapes in Helsinki. A complex of eight skyscrapers and a shopping mall are under construction in Kalasatama. One of the towers is called Majakka and it is Finland’s highest skyscraper and also the second tallest building in the Nordic countries. The 35-storey building stands at a height of 134 meter. Thanks to its location, even the lower floors enjoy a stunning sea view. The Majakka tower has elevator access from REDI square and to Kalasatama metro station. Traffic at the Kalasatama district is very heavy, including 500 trains passing daily and the arterial Itäväylä road eastwards of Helsinki.

Scanclimber is proud to have played an important role in this large, complex and challenging construction project.

The Project

Construction started in 2016. The project builder was a Finnish company, SRV Rakennus Oy.

A mid-speed Scanclimber Wega SC2537-65H construction hoist was installed at this worksite to transport personnel, tools and material between the 35 floors.

Challenges

Building structure, congested location, hoist base issues and limited site space made hoist installation a challenge.

• Building design changes after the 20^th floor with an angled structure which increases the distance from the mast vertical axis as seen in the pictures above.
• The hoist installation façade of the tower is very close to the road, making it challenging to operate at ground level.
• The minimal ground space required an innovative solution to keep the personnel and material transportation process smoothly efficient.
• The roadside location required additional safety measures due to the heavy traffic adjacent to the work site.

Solution

• After brainstorming and taking the challenges into account, Scanclimber’s R&D team came up with a customized solution for this project.
• In the upper part of the building, where building structure changes, long anchors (9.2 m) were designed from the 21^st floor up. Long anchors made the hoist installation possible on the angled structure.
• An SC2537-65H twin mid-speed hoist provided enough payload capacity and speed (54m/min) to make logistics flow in Kalasatama’s congested space.
• The hoist was delivered with intelligence and call memory. The intelligent hoist optimized the runs up and down because it remembered the calls from different floors, thus shortening hoist waiting times and increasing site productivity.
• A twin cage hoist (two hoists on one mast) saved space on the tight Kalasatama worksite and ensured enough capacity for arriving materials. This decreased material congestion at ground level.
• The arriving goods could be directly loaded from vehicles into either of the hoists with 2.6-meter-wide side doors. This again reduced the need to store the material at ground level and made the site logistics smoother.
• The ground level station was isolated from the close proximity traffic with safety walls.

Conclusion

Using Scanclimber mid-speed hoists enabled the builders to keep the project on schedule. Careful planning, schedule discipline and good site management gained SRV and Majakka “The Construction Site of the Year 2017” award by the Finnish construction industry journal “Rakennuslehti”.