Crown Sydney is located within Barangaroo South, one of three presitgious precincts on the foreshore of Darling Harbour, on the western edge of the city’s CBD. The project consists of a six-star hotel and members only casino taking in views of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The tower will accommodate a total of 350 hotel rooms, an additional 80 luxury residential apartments and the podium will contain a mix of restaurants and bars, retail outlets, function rooms as well as a Crown branded VIP gaming experience.
Robert Bird Group have been involved in the project since 2013 and brought global expertise in tall tower projects with a top down jump start construction technique. It is a first for Sydney and a technique that provides significant programme savings.
The Crown project has been advancing rapidly as the Basement excavation has recently been completed and the tower well established above ground. This is a significant milestone of the top-down construction method and allows the super-structure to continue to progress.
The tower is due for completion in 2022.
Key technical challenges
- The primary tower structure consists of a composite slab and beam structure. Due to the long beam spans and thin slab, extensive analysis for footfall vibration was required to ensure the structure achieved code requirements and client expectations.
- Working with the existing structure and developing design solutions that strengthened rather than demolished.
- Extensive co-ordination with the mechanical engineer to develop a strategy that minimised beam penetrations and beam notches.
- Differential shortening analysis with consideration of mega truss, steel structure, concrete structure and existing structural elements
- Design of mega column and mega piles to resist the large concentrated truss loads. Specialised piling rigs were required to construct the 2100mm diameter mega piles required to resist the truss loads.
- Developing a strategy to resist the mega truss uplift forces with the use of special high strength reinforcement.
- To maximise the office floor column grids, HISTAR 460 HD columns were adopted in the design. Column cross sections are relatively small with thick web and flanges, as large as 140mm thick. HD Columns are fabricated and transported from Luxembourg.
Project Metrics
Project Value:
AUD$2 billion
Client:
Crown Resorts Limited
Project Metrics
Architect:
Wilkinson Eyre in association with Bates Smart
Robert Bird Group
Services:
Structural and design collaboration between
UK and Australia