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PREFAB RISERS AN AUSTRALIAN HIGH-RISE FIRST

SYDNEY’S LANDMARK BARANGAROO SOUTH DEVELOPMENT IS BENEFITTING FROM THE USE OF PREFABRICATED SERVICES RISERS IN ITS 43-STOREY TOWER CONSTRUCTION, WITH SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS AMONG THE KEY GAINS.

Building services specialist A.G. Coombs has been working with the project’s developer and principal contractor Lend Lease on the introduction of prefabricated services riser methodology.

This is the first time pre-fabricated risers have been used in a high rise building in Australia and is part of Lend Lease’s focus on safety as its number one priority, with the installation of services risers in high rise projects typically regarded as the single biggest health and safety risk for any scheme.

In a conventional set-up, the services risers for a high rise project comprise thousands of parts, installed one at a time by tradespeople working in the shaft. The resulting risks ensue from working-at-height, fall of materials and related slip/trip/fall hazards.

By contrast, it has been calculated that the use of prefabrication at Barangaroo South has eliminated the need for more than 4,000 hours of high risk and complicated site installation work.

The prefabricated risers’ design enables site installation and attachment to reduce site installation activities. Each riser section is secured in the riser shafts with fastenings that can be installed from the floor deck.

The risers are also constructed to accommodate movement between the building structure and the services systems. Service and maintenance platforms and access features are built in to remove the need to construct these in the shafts on-site, and to provide improved safe future access.

Every riser frame is specifically designed and engineer certified for its application to ensure it will safely withstand the additional stresses placed on it during transport and lifting.

It is understood 3D computer aided drafting (CAD) and building information modelling (BIM) software were extensively used to optimise riser design and ensure coordination with other systems and the building fabric. ■


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