447 Collins

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<p>Multiplex has pinpointed incomplete grouting as having caused crumbling of precast concrete columns at its $1.2 billion Collins Arch project.</p>
<p>The issue halted work at the Collins Street, Melbourne CBD work site of the CBUS project, nicknamed the Pantscaper.</p>
<p><span>The builder would not say how many columns had been affected or what levels of the 44-level twin-tower project had been affected.</span></p>
<p>The embarrassed super fund, which provides superannuation and income stream accounts to more than 790,000 members, prides itself as being a leading commercial and residential property developer across the country.</p>
<p>The concerns triggered an <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/97069-precast-column-movement-concerns-stops-work-at-cbus-447-collins-street-pantscaper-twin-tower-project" target="_blank">investigation by structural engineers</a>.</p>
<p data-gtm-vis-recent-on-screen-7770372_137="5119" data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-7770372_137="5119" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-7770372_137="4000" data-gtm-vis-has-fired-7770372_137="1">"In limited locations the liquid grouting solution between the column and the floor slab has been found not to have fully penetrated, leading to minor spalling of the precast column edges," Multiplex said on Wednesday.</p>
<p>"The columns in question have since been remediated in accordance with the engineers’ recommendation and a full audit of all precast structural columns is expected to be complete later today."</p>
<p>The builder said there were no structural problems with the building, the design or the precast columns separating floors.</p>
<p>But is acknowledged that "spalling", or crumbling, of the pillars had occurred where pressure built up because the grouting was not evenly spreading the load of the column above.</p>
<p><span>RCP</span><span> was appointed by Cbus Property in 2015 to project manage the redevelopment of </span><span>447 Collins </span><span>Street, Melbourne. The quantity surveyor is Rider Levett Bucknall.</span></p>
<p>It is understood CBUS Property board members were briefed on the issue after the stopwork gained national attention on the Nine Entertainment website.</p>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title">
<span>Mark Ford has been the CBUS Property chair since 2006. Ford</span> is a professional director with extensive property industry experience, including previously being managing director, head of DB Real Estate Australia.</div>
<p>The CBUS Property board includes trade union construction boss Dave Noonan who worked as a builder’s labourer, and managed major union sites at several iconic Melbourne landmarks.</p>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-text">
<p>Noonan’s qualifications now comprise the RG146 for Superannuation.</p>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title">
<span>Chris Kakoufas is the CBUS Property g</span>eneral manager of development.</div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"> </div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title">A CBUS presentation indicated there were<span> unique design considerations for 447 Collins Street due to its complex form, and focuses on the linking of East and West Towers via the skybridge.</span>
</div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span> </span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span><span>"Each tower experiences permanent lateral deflections in different directions due its unique geometry," <span>Rob DiBlasi, Director, 4D Workshop said in 2017 at the <span>Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span><span><span><span> </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span><span><span><span>"This is all about construction...by tieing them together it's an extremely stiff building" said DiBlasi.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span> </span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span>"The architectural aspiration was to maintain an uninterrupted façade across connecting towers," he advised.</span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span> </span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span>"The skybridge structure has been utilized to link the towers and avoid expansion joints. </span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span> </span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span>"Design considerations include individual tower movement during construction and construction tolerance, skybridge and link structure design and detailing, consequential design effects on stability elements, and skybridge construction methodology. </span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span> </span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span>"The linking of towers can be carried out successfully to create a unique continuous and homogenous architectural form," </span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span> </span></div>
<div class="cbp-l-project-desc-title"><span>The presentation advised internal linking forces can be significant and may affect design, detailing and construction.</span></div>
</div>
<p><span><span>Poor grouting was part of the problem at Sydney's troubled Opal Tower, from which residents were </span>evacuated on Christmas Eve.</span></p>
<p><span><span>Along with the poor assembly of beams, there was also insufficient grout – concrete glue made up of water, cement, and sand – at the joints between the hob beams and panels, causing stress in the panels,</span><a href="https://www.afr.com/real-estate/residential/poor-design-and-construction-at-opal-breached-national-codes-and-standards-20190221-h1bjch" target="_blank"> </a>the Opal investigation found<span>.</span></span></p>
<p>Opal Tower also had unique <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://vimeo.com/293076036" target="_blank">construction challenges</a>.</p>
<p><span> </span></p>
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Grouting issues cause of embarrassing crumbling in CBUS's Pantscraper construction project

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<p>Multiplex has halted construction work at CBUS's high-rise jewel, the 447 Collins Street project after possible movement in precast structural columns on the half-built twin-tower project.</p>
<p>The concerns have triggered an urgent investigation by engineers at Collins Arch.</p>
<p>The decision comes after Sydney's Opal Tower issues with precast over the Christmas-New Year period.</p>
<p>The exact nature of the Pantscraper problem was not clear, according to a report by Nine Enertainment, with neither Multiplex nor its consultant engineers 4D Workshop giving more than limited details.</p>
<p>"A small number of minor column settlements have been identified on the 447 Collins Street project currently under construction," the companies said.</p>
<p>"The builder, Multiplex, places the utmost importance on safety and quality and has already commenced a detailed investigation into the cause, with structural design engineers currently inspecting the columns. As a precaution, work has temporarily stopped while that investigation takes place.”</p>
<p>Rob DiBlasi, 4D Workshop director, assured Collins Street pedestrians that the building was safe.</p>
<p>"There’s no issue with the structural integrity of the building," he told The Australian Financial Review.</p>
<p>"There are some minor issues with regard to precast columns."</p>
<p>CBUS has boasted Melbourne's skyline was to be transformed following the construction of a $1 billion luxury high-rise.</p>
<p>Called the "Pantscraper", after its twin towers joined by a sky bridge, Cbus Property's 42-storey mixed-use development comprises 49,000 square metres of premium-grade office space, a five-star W Hotel and 202 residential apartments.</p>
<p>Designed collaboratively by Melbourne-based Woods Bagot and New York-based SHoP Architects, the Pantscraper will dominate the skyline given its unique silhouette.</p>
<p>Three major legal firms, including King &amp; Wood Mallesons, HWL Ebsworth Lawyers, and Gadens have committed to office space.</p>
<p>Completion was anticipated for late 2019.</p>
<p>The current design is the third, after earlier plans for a 100-storey tower and then a 47-storey tower were rejected, in part because of the shadow they would have cast on the nearby Yarra River.</p>
<p>Heritage groups have criticised the proposed park for being smaller than the 2800-square-metre plaza in front of the previous revered brutalist-style building on the site.</p>
<p>Above ground, the two towers meet at level 33. </p>
<p>The possible fault of precast concrete on a $1.2 billion project in the heart of Melbourne's CBD will ignite to calls for reforms to Australia's construction industry.</p>
<p>The state have yet  to implement recommendations of last year's Shergold-Weir Building Confidence report.</p>
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