Inside Innovation: New solutions for building tall in tight spaces

Constructing tall buildings in tight urban spaces poses several challenges, including the ground level disruption caused by traditional craning. Innovative solutions that not only address these challenges while simultaneously increasing the speed and efficiency of construction are required.

Austrian-based engineering firm Doka GmbH has developed several highrise formwork shifting solutions, including a system of self-climbing table lifts that eliminate traditional crane lifts between level-to-level transitions.

These are being used on the construction of what will be Detroit’s second-tallest building, a 209-metre tower that forms the hub of a new development at the former site of the legendary Hudson’s department store.

A Doka self-climbing Table Lifting System (TLS) spanning a total of 21 metres was specifically designed to lift slab formwork across six levels of the Hudson tower.

The hydraulically-driven TLS not only increases efficiency of material hoisting, but also helps improve safety.

By mak­ing the crane un­ne­ces­sary for both the hor­i­zon­tal and ver­ti­cal re­po­si­tion­ing op­er­a­tions, Doka “shifting devices” sim­pli­fy and op­ti­mize the lo­gis­tics for the en­tire site by do­ing away with un­pro­duc­tive and costly wait­ing times.

“Doka’s personalized Table Lifting System enabled us to operate the construction site without the use of crane lifts between level-to-level transitions, which helped us to optimize construction speed,” said Brian Gulick, superintendent with project builder Barton Malow.

Doka engineers at the company’s Austrian head office worked with their American counterparts to analyze potential suspension points of the climbing systems for the core and slabs and to detect and prevent possible clashes onsite by re-co-ordinating the schedule in advance.

This early collaboration resulted in solutions tailored to meet the specific demands of the local construction environment in Detroit and allowed the project to stay on schedule.

While Doka systems have been on major infrastructure projects such as bridges and tunnels, it is the application of the company’s formwork shifting technology that has helped unlock the development potential within Canada’s busiest cities.

In downtown Toronto, the first of two towers of the three-million-square-foot CIBC Square, next door to Scotiabank Arena, opened in 2021. It’s been called the “most advanced tower ever constructed in Canada.” Doka systems were a key part of the project.

The 49-storey, 1.5-million-square-foot building was constructed using Doka’s self-climbing gantry that climbed 1.6 storeys at a time while suspending the core walls.

It was difficult to access climbing systems and platforms at different stages. A 7.1 metre custom Doka Super Climber SCP (self-climbing platform) was the solution for the 6.83 metre lifts required for the core walls.

The Doka Super Climber raised the entire core formwork hydraulically independently of the crane. During construction, the cycle time varied, depending on the area. Low-rise used a seven-day cycle time, mid-rise a five-day cycle time, and highrise a four-day cycle time.

The Super Climber ap- proach was also used in downtown Winnipeg for the construction of a 42-storey condominium that featured a design of changing core geometry and steel/precast members.

This helped overcome several site challenges, including limited crane time and lay down area for staging materials, and a location that was cold and windy.

“Super Climber allowed the core and placing boom to climb completely automatically,” Doka Canada said.

The system used eight single stroke cylinders to move the core with forms, concrete placing boom, and multiple levels of working platforms up to the next casting step.

An integrated protection screen of foam insulted trapezoidal metal sheet maintained temperature during the winter months.

In Vancouver, a unique waffle patterned slab edge and non-repeating column layout was designed by IBI/HB Architects for the 54-storey One Burrard Place residential project completed in 2022.

This called on Doka’s climbing platforms that attached to rolling tracks on rollback brackets in order to reposition the columns horizontally for each pour.

The development of these innovative lifting and positioning devices go beyond the capabilities of traditional craning and result in the creation of stunning new buildings in tight urban settings.

John Bleasby is a Coldwater, Ont.-based freelance writer. Send comments and Inside Innovation column ideas to editor@dailycommercialnews.com.