Marr Contracting awarded Sydney Metro contract
Marr Contracting Pty Ltd (The Men from Marr’s) has installed two M2480D Heavy Lift Luffers (HLL) after being awarded the heavy lift contract for construction of the new Sydney Metro Crows Nest Station.
Marr’s were engaged by construction partner, A W Edwards, after working with Sydney Metro during the front-end design of the project.
Marr’s engineering team were approached by Sydney Metro to develop a craneage methodology for the project after successfully delivering craneage solutions for a number of other Sydney Metro projects – including the Sydney Yard Access Bridge (SYAB) and station redevelopment at Central Station, and new station developments at Martin Place and Barangaroo. The goal for this project was to align the craneage methodology with the precast and modular construction methodology driven by Sydney Metro’s overall project delivery schedule.
“Our early engagement on this project has supported Sydney Metro’s desire to design and construct the new station by adopting a designed for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) construction approach. It’s essentially about taking a wholistic view to align the craneage with the preferred construction method, and then using this to secure the construction program with a safer, more-efficient and cost-effective solution,” said Marr’s Managing Director, Simon Marr.
Using two of Marr’s M2480DHLLs, the bespoke craneage solution addresses the challenge of how to provide the heavy lifting capacity the project needs, within the small space of the station box construction site. The solution also addresses other logistical challenges of the project – including handling large precast elements weighing up to 100 tonnes – all while working adjacent to one of Sydney’s busiest arterial roadways.
Highlighting the efficiency of the solution in terms of both lift capacity and radius, Mr Marr said, “The challenges associated with this project are largely to do with its location and where its construction schedule sits within the greater Sydney Metro project. Being able to work closely with the Sydney Metro team and have access to their engineering team during the design works was essential to developing a solution that took buildability, time and safety into consideration.
“The process took 18 months to complete, resulting in Sydney Metro issuing a considered and evaluated design for the Crows Nest Station construction tenderers, with a suitable craneage solution built into it. This meant that the project could transfer easily from contract award to construction in a short time frame,” Mr Marr said.
The Men from Marr’s will continue to support A W Edwards in the construction of the A$370 million project which will include the construction of the new station including two entrances and underground platforms being delivered as part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project.
The Men from Marr’s and A W Edwards have a long-standing working relationship having worked together across two generations of the family-owned business on the construction of numerous projects, most recently including numerous data centres in Sydney.
Construction on Sydney Metro Crows Nest station commenced in January 2021. Metro services are expected to be operational by 2024, with Marr’s scope of work at Crows Nest complete in 2022.
