Heavy lifting and transportation firm Mammoet has won the contract to support Groupe Construction Pomerleau-Canam (GCPC) with the renovation of the new roof for Montreal’s Olympic stadium.
GCPC is a consortium of companies comprising Pomerleau and Canam Group. It was awarded the contract to replace the existing roof with a new fixed structure, which will have transparent glass to allow natural light to fill the stadium.
Mammoet, with GCPC’s other partners, will provide mobile cranes to support with the demolition of the old roof, and will undertake a significant engineering project utilizing its most prestigious equipment to help lift and install the new canopy.
Much of this operation will be managed through Mammoet’s Canada East subsidiary, which employs close to 500 heavy lifting and transport experts across Ontario and Quebec. In fact, significant numbers of its operational workforce and crane equipment fleet are currently on site, removing outgoing roof panels.
The new roof will be built inside the stadium on temporary supports. Once complete, Mammoet will use its Mega Jack 5200 system to lift the structure 50 meters in the air, and into place.
The Mega Jack is a large jacking system that uses beams loaded at ground level to lift some of the world’s heaviest loads. Six Mega Jack towers will be used to perform the lift.
Besides the Mega Jack system, strand jacks will be used to stabilize the roof as it is raised.
Mammoet has also designed special final adjustment devices to sit on the top of each lifting tower. Taking the form of miniature skidding tracks, these allow precision positioning of the roof once it is at the required height.
The roof will stay raised on the jacking systems for a period of two months. This is to allow final installation work to happen, such as attaching with cables to the stadium’s famous 550 feet inclined tower (La Tour de Montréal).
“We are thrilled that Mammoet can play a key role in the renovation of this iconic stadium,” said Justin Hope, project manager at Mammoet. “We lift heavy objects all the time, but making sure that our solution aligns with how the roof will be finally connected adds a unique dimension. This is why we came up with a custom engineering solution to perform the job”.
