Construction work on the Al Jazeera Tower – an exclusive five-star hotel in in Doha – is progressing at a rapid pace to ensure its completion in time for the Asian Games in December this year.

The $41 million hotel building, which has a footprint area just 30 by 30 m, will have two basement floors, a ground floor and 36 floors. Work on the project which started in March last year, had progressed to the 10 floor by the start of February.
To achieve its deadlines, the building contractor Larsen & Toubro Qatar has purpose-ordered several new pieces of equipment including a new Alimak Scando 650 passenger and material hoist as well as a Liebherr tower crane to speed up construction.

Alimak Scando
Throughout the construction of this project, the high-speed Alimak Scando 650 FC11 24/32 passenger and material hoist, supplied by Alimak’s local distributor Inma Company, is playing a key role in ensuring speedy movement of people and materials.
“We use it primarily for moving construction material up to the different floors,” says D Loganathan, plant and machinery manager of Larsen and Toubro. “All sorts of material for the finishing work, such as bricks, cement and marble, among others is lifted up by the hoist. The safety aspect is very important to us and the main reason for choosing the Alimak was our overall safety concerns. We appreciate for instance, the sensor system that warns for overload.”
According to Loganathan, the frequency converter system of the hoist is also important as the hoist adapts its speed according to the load. The VFC frequency control motor drives the system through a high efficiency gearbox. The Scando 650 can operate at speeds of upto 65 m/minute.
“Another interesting feature for us, is the fact that we ourselves can add more modules of the free-standing mast without any problem” he adds.
The Alimak ALCII, a microprocessor-based fully collective control system, manages the control of the Scando 650. Capable of controlling up to six hoists, it brings the efficiency and ease of use normally associated with hotel lifts to the construction site.
“The landing programme is very good, allowing us to to decide what floors we use. For instance, we are not using some of the upper floors right now, as we are waiting for the slabs to be poured first,” explains Loganathan.
The Scando offers a payload of 2,400 kg at the present configuration and the system has a standard maximum lifting height of 250 m. The cab at the Al Jazeera tower is 1.5 by 3.2 m and has a three-door configuration with the third door for loading sideways. A pallet fork has not been used yet due to a very cramped jobsite.

Liebherr
Turning to the Liebherr tower crane, he says: “The jobsite is very cramped – the building footprint being just 30 by 30 m – which is why an internally located floor climbing crane saves valuable space. We have chosen the Liebherr self-climbing unit as it also saves on erection costs and a lot of time-consuming operations on the ground.”
The crane has a cross-section of just 1.9 m and is therefore particularly suited for operations in narrow shafts on the compact site. The crane is being lifted 12 m every two weeks. The Liebherr 132 EC-H 8, also delivered by local Liebherr cranes dealer Inma Company, will have a final hook height of 178 m.
 “We are in the fast track operating on a one floor per week pace,” says Loganathan. “Without the new Liebherr crane, we would not have been able to meet our deadlines” he adds.
“The main reason for choosing the Liebherr is its outstanding performance which we know from experience. A 25-year-old Liebherr unit also working on this site is still performing well with minimum breakdowns. It is virtually maintenance free” claims Loganathan.
“We have 250 people working at the site. The construction work is going on continuously 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The only problem we have right now is that sometimes there is a shortage of concrete and other building material due to the extreme demand,” points out Loganathan.
The Alimak Scando 650 is a product from the Alimak HEK Group, a leading supplier of mast climbing equipment and value-added reliable services for both temporary and permanent installations and flexible vertical access solutions for people and materials in the construction and general industry.
The Liebherr 132 EC-H is a premium product offering from the Liebherr-Werk Biberach of Germany, renowned for its range of construction equipment.
The owner of the Al Jazeera Tower is Sheikh Jassim bin Nasser Al Thani and Retaj Marketing & Project Management. MZ & Partners is the consultant.