The challenge:
Building the largest Vedic temple in the world in India without fixing the cranes to the temple structure
The players:
Gammon India
The process:
The new $75 million Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (ToVP) currently taking shape on the banks of the Ganges in the holy town of Mayapur, West Bengal, India. When finished the ToVP will be the largest Vedic temple in the world. The ToVP is an ambitious project representing the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) — or the Hare Krishna movement — now globally recognized as an authentic spiritual tradition. Combining modern technology, ancient science, timeless wisdom and lively culture, the Temple promises to be a popular spiritual destination.
Terex Cranes has supplied, through its dealer Harsadhan International in India, customer Gammon India with two Terex CTT 331-16 flat-top tower cranes — one freestanding with a height under hook of 304 feet the other using a special single tie-in collar to achieve an under hook height of 394 feet.
The two Terex cranes have another year or so on site before work at the temple is finally complete, and in particular its main centerpiece dome which will stand at a height of 371 feet — 6.5 feet taller than London’s St Paul’s Cathedral and 131 feet higher than the Taj Mahal.
Construction of the ToVP had certain restrictions making it more difficult to complete the contract. The main challenge was that the cranes were not allowed to be fixed to the temple structure. This meant specifying one freestanding crane and one with a collar which is fixed into the ground using ground anchors. The pre-tensioning equipment for the collar has been specifically designed in-house by Goverdhan Bhutada, Head of Plant, Gammon India. Tower cranes with collars tend to be used when constructing curved structures such as cooling towers but rarely on regular shaped buildings.
As well as being unable to tie the cranes into the structure and having to design the collar and pre-tensioning cables, the site was difficult to reach being surrounded by water on three sides — Mayapur is on the Ganges river the confluence point with the river Jalangi. Many of the materials and equipment used has been transported by water boats which are often used to move items in this part of India.
The Terex CTT 331-16 with HD23 tower was chosen because of its impressive 304 feet free standing height which can be extended to 394 feet when fitted with just one collar. The collar is located at a height of 230 feet allowing the crane a further 164 feet to climb before reaching its maximum operating height.
The free standing crane uses four slightly larger 25-square-foot HD23 26.6 tower section at the base. Above these 11, 24.5-square-foo cross-section towers were used. All are 20 feet long, the smaller sections weighting 10,633 pounds including ladders, platforms and assembly equipment.
Both cranes have 230-foot jibs capable of lifting 3.9 tons at the end of the jib. The CTT-331-16 has a maximum jib length of 246 feet and can lift up to 17.6 tons at a maximum radius of 73 feet. On site the cranes have been lifting rebar, concrete, stainless steel formwork panels which form the shape of the dome and finally a Kalasa which will be at the dome’s pinnacle.
“Given the specific tower crane requirements and restrictions, the great 305-foot free-standing height of Terex CTT 331 enabled us to complete the contract,” said Lucia Canali, Application Engineering Manager, Tower Cranes. “Both cranes have performed faultlessly since the start of the contract and the contract should be finished on schedule.”
