THE MAIN CONTRACTOR
Bouygues-Thai Limited is employed as the Contractor for the main
building works, constructing the concrete and steel structure and
internal partitions. In addition, they act as the final coordinator
of shop drawings using 3D modeling (often referred to as BIM,
Building Information Modeling). This program identifies clashes
between Structure, Façade, M&E Works and Architecture which are
impossible to build.
Worldwide the Bouygues Group has been and is involved in
numerous high profile award winning projects including Stade de
France, Pont de Normandie, Channel Tunnel, Shangri La Palace,
George V Hotel, and the Royal Monceau Hotel. In Asia the group has
just completed the Sports Hub in Singapore and the Kai Tak Cruise
Terminal in Hong Kong.
Operating in Thailand for 25 years, Bouygues-Thai built most
of Muang Thong Thani, Impact and Challenger exhibition and
convention halls and most recently the Novotel. Their experience
also includes several residential high-rises in Bangkok’s CBD.
Employing more than 2,000 staff in Thailand, for MahaNakhon there
are 81 staff and 410 workers on site at the moment. In order to
reduce employee transportation a local labour camp has been built
in the next soi with the assistance and support of Father Paul, from
the Roman Catholic Mission of Thailand.
For Bouygues-Thai the delivery of the lift motor rooms to the
lift contractor is the first key deliverable. This will provide the
tradespeople with use of the lifts for the performance of their work
thereafter, and takes place in the core of the building. The floor slabs
have to be delivered at regular intervals according to prescribed
milestone dates so that the façade contractor can proceed with
the installation of the glass especially to the pixelated areas. And
obviously topping out of the structure is Bouygues-Thai’s most
important visible deliverable.
MahaNakhon is unique in its design concept being both a pixelated
building and 314m high. Vertical transportation is a major concern
to move workers and materials (especially pumping the concrete),
fluidly up the building. It requires a lot of preplanning and allocation
of time slots for the various activities. Managing the logistics and
construction methods is therefore the major challenge for the project.
The condition of the concrete on arrival on site is paramount, and so
Bouygues-Thai’s batching plant in the soi behind MahaNakhon can
negate problems arising from traffic jams and undue transportation
time affecting the concrete quality.
The pixilation gives rise to 33% of the slab being in cantilever.
This means Bouygues-Thai use a combination of high strength
concrete, post tensioning and design considerations with essential
methodological construction techniques to secure the performance
criteria for the building. Even though the building is irregularly
shaped due to its pixilation Bouygues-Thai are currently achieving a
4 days per floor cycle for the main slab so that the targeted completion
enabling the deadline for the main tower can be achieved.