Serving buildings for decades at a time, building maintenance units provide a long-term facade access solution for even the most complex architectural forms, from the most simple to the most complex. CoxGomyl’s building maintenance units (BMUs) are chosen all over the world for their reliability and efficiency. Over the years a replacement may be required when an original building maintenance unit hasn’t been properly maintained and is beyond economical repair or when the BMU has reached the end of its service life. CoxGomyl offer replacement building maintenance systems designed to provide reliable facade access.
Working with building owners and building managers, CoxGomyl provide innovative replacement facade access solutions to keep established buildings around the world pristine. When a building maintenance unit has reached the end of its design life or is beyond economical repair due to insufficient maintenance, the most logical solution is to seek a replacement with the capability to meet the modern needs of the building. CoxGomyl utilise the latest technological advances to deliver discreet, modern replacement BMUs. Features such as remote monitoring allow for more efficient troubleshooting and minimal downtime when compared to older equipment.
A number of methods can be employed to successfully deliver a replacement building maintenance unit:
Below we take a look at some of the details of the various installation methods that we have recently used to replace a facade access system.
This project required two CoxGomyl replacement BMUs with luffing functionality. One is located on the 8th floor terrace and the second is located on the roof.
Installation via Street Crane
A small E-type BMU was lifted to the 8th floor with an 80 ton street crane. A challenge during the design and manufacturing phase was that the team had to work with an existing garage that was located on the terrace and coordinate all garage dimensions to make sure the BMU would fit inside during the parking position.
Installation via elevators
For the BMU located on the roof, all components had to be taken through the building using the elevators and roof hatch to deliver them to the roof. After bringing all the components from the loading dock to the floor via the elevators, the installation team set up an aluminium gantry with an electric hoist above the roof hatch to bring all the components from the floor below up to the roof. The installation duration for this project was three weeks to truck all the components from storage to the site, unload, deliver them to the roof and assemble.
The route was sketched out beforehand to show how the components would get to the roof from the loading dock. This requires verifying all critical dimensions such as door openings, elevator dimensions and capacities, roof hatch openings, and final assembly location on the roof.
The Bourke Street project solution comprised of a single CoxGomyl BMU to replace the original EW COX machine. The original machine had been in service for 40 years, well beyond the 25 year design life and was due for replacement.
BMU Installation via goods lift
The BMU level is 135m above ground, which would make a crane a very expensive option and the shutting down of major streets which was not possible, so it was planned from the start to install the BMU via the service elevator.
The goods lift had a weight capacity of 2000kg, and also dimensional restrictions from the lift door and an access corridor.
In the photo shown, there is a splice in the jib. This is an example of how the standard design had to be customised for this particular building. The BMU cradle was too long to fit in the goods lift, so this was lifted to the L3 podium roof with a small crane and then the BMU wire ropes were lowered down the building to pick up the cradle from L3. The machine will soon be handed over to the client for the first glass clean using the new machine.
Get in touch for more information on BMU replacement projects and installation methods.
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