UPDATE:
Together, Sky Climber and SafwayAtlantic took home awards for “A BMU Fit for Queens” in the Suspended Access Project of the Year and the Commercial Collaborative Project of the Year at the 2021 SAIA Annual Convention in Cleveland. Sky Climber would like to extend a sincere Thank You to the Scaffold and Access Industry Association for the award recognition and November cover story for this project at Queens Plaza Park in New York City. Click HERE to download a copy of the full article as it appeared in SA Magazine.
Queens Plaza Park is a new residential tower in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York. Now the second-tallest building in Queens, the concave form of the tower curves gently toward the historic Long Island City Clock Tower, creating a visual expression of the present embracing the past.
There are many unique features to Queens Plaza Park, including its curving glass facade, its height, roof elements and exterior features, all of which made the development of its building maintenance unit challenging. However, through teamwork and collaboration, SafwayAtlantic and Sky Climber produced and installed a one-of-a-kind BMU for this tower.
The resulting machine, though based on a Sky Climber T5 BMU design, is custom. Whereas telescoping BMU’s typically extend 40 to 100 feet, this unit measures nearly 139 feet long fully extended with a whopping 112-foot reach by at five-piece telescoping jib. The impressive reach means this machine can lower a platform over every section of the façade without out ever moving from its its perch atop the roof. Additionally, an embedded track system allows the maintenance platform to remain closely tethered to the edifice with specialized torpedoes that navigate elements along the tower’s surface.
The combined goal was to design, engineer, fabricate, and install a system that provides comprehensive access to the façade of Queens Plaza Park. Together with the owner and the construction manager, SafwayAtlantic and Sky Climber have accomplished this goal and delivered a building maintenance system that is truly fit for Queens.