Lendlease improved its approach to designing and constructing air traffic control towers for the Australian Department of Defence through a two-pronged design solution which significantly reduced the need to work at height and in confined spaces. The solution involves prefabricating the concrete to form the main tower structure and pre-assembling structural steel at ground level to form the main structure of the tower cabin.
Lendlease also developed a gasket and flowable grout solution to replace the traditional dry pack grout method. This removed the need for internal access scaffold and formwork, eliminating the need to work in confined spaces within the tower lift and service core.
The design methodology has been applied across the project, and has improved safety outcomes and productivity.
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On screen text
Lendlease - Safe Work and Return to Work Awards 2017
My name is Lachlan Tipler, Construction Manager for Lendlease. I'm responsible for the overall delivery of the ATC Amberley project.
Landlease had been contracted to undertake this new air traffic control facility at Amberley and also eight locations across Australia.
So the three key safe initiatives that we developed on this project is the assembly method for the structural steel for the top of the tower, the gasket system that we came up with for the structural grout for the precast, and the design of the structural precast elements.
So the key safety focus on this project in respect to the tower was the risk of falls from heights, and also the confined space work that we would be faced with in constructing the concrete tower.
We developed a gasket system that allowed us to fill those horizontal joints with the structural grout, a pourable grout, that was all able to be undertaken from the external faces of the concrete tower, so it eliminated the need for any workers to have to be internal to those confined spaces.
It's been very successful, the outcome is what we expected. The careful selection of the size of gasket, so that the flowable grout didn't leak.
So the other important safety factor on the project challenge with assembly, the build of the structural steel component to form the structural cabin element of the top of the precast concrete tower. There are a lot of challenges in assembling that because of the nature of the shape of it.
The solution that we developed was to come up with a method that allowed us to build the structural steel element in its entirety at ground level and then pick that structural element up and place it as one piece at the top of the tower.
What I find rewarding about my role is towards the end of the project, you look back, you see what you've achieved, and it's extremely satisfying when you sit back and reflect on all of the design challenges that you worked with, the solutions that you came up with, and the end result, and a result that's right.
Also knowing that you handed it over during the delivery process it was always safe. Everyone was kept safe, every day, that was forefront.RUN TIME: 2min 45sec