RMD Kwikform Hong Kong has developed a specially fabricated Megashor shoring node to facilitate the construction of a key road bridge to service a HK$2,009M development near Choi Wan Road and Jordan Valley.
This ambitious project is to develop a much-needed public rental housing area and associated amenities. Designed to accommodate 35,000 people, construction began in December 2005, and is on course for completion in early 2010.
RMD Kwikform Hong Kong won the contract to supply the formwork and falsework on the construction of two vital vehicular bridges to service the development. This represents a continuation of RMD Kwikform Hong Kong’s successful relationship with Maeda Corporation that has seen them work together previously on infrastructure developments such as the Shatin Road T3 project.
The task at hand was not a straightforward one. The first of the two bridges ran very close to a natural slope, meaning the ground area was not adequate to provide a large enough working platform through a standard120kN Rapidshor shoring construction that you would expect on this type of project. As Rapidshor shoring could not directly support the construction from ground to soffit, an alternate solution was needed.
To overcome this, heavy-duty Megashor towers were constructed to support a specially fabricated steel platform that ran the full 17-metre width of the bridge. Rapidshor shoring was then erected on the steel platform providing the falsework needed to complete the project.
This unique solution required a substantial redesign of the existing standard Megashor node in order to support the loads and above-mentioned arrangement involved. Martin Chan, Senior Sales Engineer at RMD Kwikform Hong Kong explains the application and need for this bespoke solution:
“We considered a number of designs to try and accommodate the problematic natural slope. To maintain the structural integrity, site safety and provide the best solution to the client we had to go one step further than our standard range could offer. The problem was that we had a very small amount of ground space to service a large soffit area, and this is where our engineers had to think outside the box.
We began with a Megashor tower with supporting Superslim Soldier beams, this gave us the height and structural integrity required to create the width and adequately support the 17 metre steel platforms. A specially designed and fabricated node was incorporated into the design that allowed a raking Megashor beam to connect with a vertical leg and support the much wider steel platform. This allowed us to maintain a minimum main tower width but with the ability to provide a suitably wide working platform at the upper level.”
The second of the two bridges was eight metres wide and had to be constructed above an existing road and flyover with no disruption to traffic. This was achieved using seven sets of towers, consisting of Megashor uprights supported by Superslim Soldier crossbeams to span the existing road. These were then craned into place and necessary adjustments made on the Megashor jacks, before the portal beams were placed and the concrete was poured and cured.
The formwork and falsework supplied to Maeda Corporation for construction of the road bridges was a part sale, part hire arrangement, making the project more cost effective for the client. RMD Kwikform Hong Kong completed construction on the two vehicle bridges within programme time during February 2009.
Mr. Akihiko Sasaki, Construction Manager of client Maeda Corporation commented; “Meeting our requirements on this project was not a simple undertaking. We looked for a supplier to come in and present us with a robust solution that would get the job done without compromising the existing infrastructure. It was absolutely essential that the through flow of traffic in that area was not disrupted. RMD Kwikform Hong Kong came to us with the best solution, at the right price. The fact that they were willing to create a falsework component specifically for this build made them the right choice for Maeda Corporation.”
