Mr. Sandeep Mathur
India CE Brand Leader,
CASE India
CASE Construction Equipment sells and supports a full line of construction equipment worldwide, including the No. 1 loader/backhoes, excavators, motor graders, wheel loaders, and more. Through CASE dealers, customers have access to a true professional partner with world-class equipment and aftermarket support, industry-leading warranties and flexible financing. Mr. Sandeep Mathur, India CE Brand Leader, CASE India, in conversation with CE&CR, shares his views on loaders’ demand, trends, production in India, and more.
Civil Engineering and Construction Review: Tell us about the key developments and trends beingwitnessed in the loader market.
Sandeep Mathur: The market for loaders is linked very closely to activity levels in the construction and infrastructure sector. Currently, the government has announced multitudes of projects for the construction sector to fasten the sector’s speed. According to Off-Highway Research Report on Backhoe loaders, the demand for BHL is expected to recover to 42,000 units during 2021-2023. It will continue to remain the largest selling construction equipment. The recently announced economic stimulus related to the construction sector will help in bolstering the demand further. Additionally, easy clearances of projects and fast project completion will help bring back this sector on track and increase equipment demand. We are hopeful that post this pandemic, we will see more growth in this specific sector of equipment.
CE&CR: The automotive industry is seeing an increasing number of explorations in the ‘nano’ or ‘mini’ segment. So can we expect the same from the loader industry in India?
Sandeep Mathur: Backhoe loaders are used in various industries such as construction, agriculture, mining, and other infrastructure activities. And mini equipment, due to their compact design, enables several construction activities even in narrow places, including landscaping, breaking asphalt, light transportation of building materials, powering building equipment, small demolitions, digging holes, excavation, and paving roads. Population growth and rapid urbanization are further leading to the growth of the compact construction industry. Compact construction equipment has the key advantage of being low-cost, lightweight, and easy to transport and run.
As far as the loader industry is concerned, Off-highway research predicted that there will be a 13 per cent growth in 2021, 12 per cent in 2022 and 11 per cent in 2023 to reach 42,000 units. Additionally, as the number of projects related to highways, roads and reconstruction by the government is increasing, it can be presumed that the loader industry will see a fair share of demand for the mini equipment as well.
CE&CR: What is your vision for loaders for 2020-21? Express your views about the future of the backhoeloader segment.
Sandeep Mathur: Backhoe loader is the most popular construction equipment sold in India. They are efficient machines that are built to take on multiple tasks in different terrains and conditions. Off-Highway Research forecasted backhoe loader demand to decline 32 per cent to 27,000 units in 2020, primarily due to the lockdown caused by Covid-19 but is expected to recover to 42,000 units during 2021-2023. Hence, it will continue to remain the largest selling construction equipment.
Additionally, we see a lot of demand and positive projections coming from the government’s end for the BHL segment. NHAI has identified 1,500 km of road projects to boost coastal connectivity. This will further boost the sector with immense opportunities.
Additionally, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has hinted towards the announcement of more projects in the Rs.111 lakh crore National Infrastructure Pipeline. MoRTH has set a target to build 12,000 km of highways for this current financial year and has ensured that it will reduce arbitration cases’ build-up. As the road and infrastructure sector’s announcements are increasing, we are hopeful these will help in successfully increasing the market demand for the Backhoe loader segment.
CE&CR: Is there any segment in the construction equipment space that you are planning to explore?Please share your views on that.
Sandeep Mathur: At CASE, we are always working towards new ventures and enhancing our machines for the consumers. Following the same philosophy, we recently launched our CX220C excavator in the market for our customers’ use.
At present, the excavator market is roughly 25,000 units. In India, 20-tonne excavators hold 60 % of the overall size of its market. We introduced our first product in the 22-tonne range, the premium range within the 20-tonne excavator market. The 22-ton excavator is specially designed for the Indian terrain and delivers faster cycle times and higher productivity. The CX220C is available in both Standard & Long Undercarriage. It hosts a range of Fuel Saving features, advanced telematics and robust structures making it a suitable workhorse for tough Indian working conditions. So currently, we’re focusing on our product and the excavator segment in the CE space.
The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, United States. Considered to be an icon of the city and the Pacific Northwest, it has been designated a Seattle landmark. Located in the Lower Queen Anne neighbourhood, it was built in the Seattle Center for the 1962 World’s Fair, which drew over 2.3 million visitors. Nearly 20,000 people a day used its elevators during the event.
The Space Needle was once the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River, standing at 605 ft (184 m). The tower is 138 ft (42 m) wide, weighs 9,550 short tons (8,660 metric tons), and is built to withstand winds of up to 200 mph (320 km/h) and earthquakes of up to 9.0 magnitude, as strong as the 1700 Cascadia earthquake. It also has 25 lightning rods.
The Space Needle features an observation deck 520 ft (160 m) above ground, providing views of the downtown Seattle skyline, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Elliott Bay, and various islands in Puget Sound. Visitors can reach the top of the Space Needle by elevators that travel at 10 mph (16 km/h), completing the ascent in 41 seconds [they are slowed to 5 mph (8.0 km/h) on windy days]. On April 19, 1999, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Board designated the tower a historic landmark.
Architecture
The architecture of the Space Needle is the result of a compromise between the designs of two men, Edward E. Carlson and John Graham, Jr. The two leading ideas for the World Fair involved businessman Edward E. Carlson’s sketch of a giant balloon tethered to the ground (the gently sloping base) and architect John Graham’s concept of a flying saucer (the halo that houses the restaurant and observation deck). Victor Steinbrueck introduced the hourglass profile of the tower. The Space Needle was built to withstand wind speeds of 200 mph (320 km/h), double the requirements in the building code of 1962. The 6.8 Mw Nisqually earthquake jolted the Needle enough in 2001 for water to slosh out of the toilets in the restrooms. The Space Needle will not sustain serious structural damage during earthquakes of magnitudes below 9.1.
Also made to withstand Category 5 hurricane-force winds, the Space Needle sways only 1 in (25 mm) per 10 mph (16 km/h) of wind speed.
For decades, the hovering disk of the Space Needle was home to two restaurants 500 ft (150 m) above the ground: the Space Needle Restaurant, which was originally named Eye of the Needle, and Emerald Suite. These were closed in 2000 to make way for SkyCity, a larger restaurant that features Pacific Northwest cuisine. SkyCity rotates 360 degrees in exactly forty-seven minutes. In 1993, the elevators were replaced with new computerized versions. The new elevators descend at a rate of 10 mph (16 km/h).
On December 31, 1999, a powerful beam of light was unveiled for the first time. Called the Legacy Light or Skybeam, it is powered by lamps that total 85 million candela shining skyward from the top of the Space Needle to honour national holidays and special occasions in Seattle. The concept of this beam was derived from the official 1962 World’s Fair poster, which depicted such a light source although none was incorporated into the original design. It is somewhat controversial because of the light pollution it creates. Originally planned to be turned on 75 nights per year, it has generally been used fewer than a dozen times per year. It did remain lit for eleven days in a row from September 11, 2001, to September 22, 2001, in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
A 1962 Seattle World’s Fair poster showed a grand spiral entryway leading to the elevator that was ultimately omitted from final building plans. The stairway was eventually added as part of the Pavilion and Spacebase remodel in June 2000. The main stairwell has 848 steps from the basement to the top of the observation deck. At approximately 605 ft (184 m), the Space Needle was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River at the time it was built by Howard S. Wright Construction Co., but is now dwarfed by other structures along the Seattle skyline, among them the Columbia Center, at 967 ft (295 m). Unlike many other similar structures, such as the CN Tower in Toronto, the Space Needle is not used for broadcasting purposes.
Construction
The earthquake stability of the Space Needle was ensured when a hole was dug 30 ft (9.1 m) deep and 120 ft (37 m) across, and 467 concrete trucks took one full day to fill it. The foundation weighs 5,850 short tons (5,310 metric tons) (including 250 short tons or 230 metric tons of reinforcing steel), the same as the aboveground structure. The structure is bolted to the foundation with 72 bolts, each one 30 ft (9.1 m) long.
With time an issue, the construction team worked around the clock. The domed top, housing the top five levels (including the restaurants and observation deck), was perfectly balanced so that the restaurant could rotate with the help of one tiny electric motor, originally 0.8 kilowatts (1.1 hp), later replaced with a 1.1 kilowatts (1.5 hp) motor. With paint colours named Orbital Olive for the body, Astronaut White for the legs, Re-entry Red for the saucer, and Galaxy Gold for the roof, the Space Needle was finished in less than one year. It was completed in April 1962 at a cost of $4.5 million. The last elevator car was installed the day before the Fair opened on April 21. During the course of the Fair nearly 20,000 people a day rode the elevators to the Observation Deck.
Upon completion, the Space Needle was the tallest building in the western United States, replacing the Smith Tower in downtown Seattle as the tallest building west of the Mississippi since 1914.
In 1982, the SkyLine level was added at the height of 100 ft (30 m). While this level had been part of the original plans for the Space Needle, it was not built until this time. Today, the SkyLine Banquet Facility can accommodate groups of 20–360 people.
Renovations were completed in 2000 at a cost ($21 million) approximately the same in inflated dollars as the original construction price. Renovations between 1999 and 2000 included the SkyCity restaurant, SpaceBase retail store, Skybeaminstallation, Observation Deck overhaul, lighting additions and repainting.
A renovation of the top of the Space Needle began in the summer of 2017, to add an all-glass floor to the restaurant, and replace the observation platform windows with floor-to-ceiling glass panels to more closely match the 1962 original concept sketches, as well as upgrades and updates to the internal systems. Called the Century Project, the work was scheduled to finish by June 2018, at a cost of $100 million in private funds. The designer is Olson Kundig Architects and the general contractor is Hoffman Construction Company. The rotating restaurant’s motor was replaced, the elevator capacity was increased by adding elevators, or double -stacking them, and the energy efficiency of the building was improved with the aim of achieving LEED Silver Certification. The temporary scaffold’s 28,000-pound (13,000 kg), 44,650-square-foot (4,148 m2 ) platform under the top structure was assembled on the ground, and then lifted by cables 500 ft (150 m) from the ground to the underside of the structure, controlled by 12 operators standing on the platform as it was raised. The platform was made by Safway Services, a company specializing in unique construction scaffolding.
The space reopened in August 2018 as the Loupe, an indoor observation deck.
Passive House is a highly energy-efficient building standard that also promotes indoor comfort andacoustic insulation.
A building standard that is truly energy efficient, comfortable, affordable and ecological at the same time. Passive House is not a brand name, but a construction concept that can be applied by anyone and that has stood the test of practice.
The design is focused on making best use of the “passive” influences in a building – like sunshine, shading and ventilation – rather than active heating and cooling systems such as air conditioning and central heating. Coupled with very high levels of insulation and airtightness, this makes it possible for a passive home to use 90 per cent less energy than a typical dwelling.
Passive House homes and buildings offer superior indoor comfort due to consistent temperatures and good air quality. They also have the added benefit of reducing both external and internal noise due to the high levels of insulation.
What Is The Requirements For Passive House?
A building must meet several criteria to achieve the passive house standard:
– Space heating: The energy demand for space heating must not exceed 15 kWh/m2 of living space per year or 10 W/m2 at peak demand. This contrasts with the 100 W/m2 needed in a typical house.
– Primary energy: Total energy needed for all domestic applications (heating, hot water and domestic electricity) must not exceed 60 kWh/m2 of living space per year.
– Airtightness: Passive buildings are very airtight and should have no more than 0.6 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals of pressure.
– Thermal comfort: Living areas should be comfortable all year round, with no more than 10 per cent of the hours in a given year exceeding 25°C.
How Do You Build Passive Houses?
To achieve this level of performance, builders use intelligent passive design – for example ensuring the house is oriented and designed to make best use of sun and shade – together with the five passive house principles.
Very high levels of insulation are a key element of passive construction, which keeps heat losses so low that a house can be kept warm either without heating or just by preheating the fresh air entering rooms. Passive buildings feature a continuous insulating envelope like a warm coat around the building, and an airtight layer.
The Passive House Has Got It All
Comfort
The Passive House Standard offers a new level of quality pairing a maximum level of comfort both during cold and warm months with reasonable construction costs – something that is repeatedly confirmed by Passive House residents.
Quality
Quality Passive House buildings are praised for their efficiency due to their high level of insulation and their airtight design. Another important principle is “thermal bridge free design“: the insulation is applied without any “weak spots” around the whole building so as to eliminate cold corners as well as excessive heat losses. This method is another essential principle assuring a high level of quality and comfort in Passive House buildings while preventing damages due to moisture build up.
Ecology/Sustainability
Passive House buildings use extremely little primary energy, leaving sufficient energy resources for all future generations without causing any environmental damage. The additional energy required for their construction (embodied energy) is rather insignificant compared with the energy they save later on. This seems so obvious that there is no immediate need for additional illustrations. It is rather worth mentioning though, that the Passive House standard provides this level of sustainability for anyone wishing to build a new construction or renovating an older one at an affordable price – A contribution to protecting the environment.
Affordability
Are Passive House buildings a good investment? Passive House buildings not only save money over the long term, but are surprisingly affordable to begin with. The investment in higher quality building components required by the Passive House Standard is mitigated by the elimination of expensive heating and cooling systems. Additional financial support increasingly available in many countries makes building a Passive House all the more feasible.
Versatility
Any competent architect can design a Passive House. By combining individual measures any new building anywhere in the world can be designed to reach the Passive House Standard. The versatile Passive House Standard is also increasingly being used for non-residential buildings such as administrative buildings and schools.
Make one space a working area, a studying area, and maybe even more
Have you ever wanted to increase your home’s size to add an extra bedroom or study, or to fulfil your dreams of creating a room where you can dump everything that does not signing spaces in your home with multiple uses can provide you with the optimum solution without extending or increasing the size of your house.
When we’re all forced to stay in these uncertain times, homes are suddenly becoming spaces that do it all—home school and office meets dining and living room. While it might seem chaotic, an openplan area can help foster connections and even create the illusion of more room.
Getting rid of barriers can make a space feel larger while letting elements like light flow more naturally throughout. However, for these spaces to work, they need to be flexible and easily converted – without effort.
From rearranging furniture to knocking down walls, follow these tips from the design pros for maximizing your space to its fullest potential in a way that blends function and form.
Create Distinct Zones
Furniture arrangement is essential for each zone’s design to work well in unison. The biggest challenge is having a balanced look from multiple vantage points. Furniture needs to work for the space from all sides, and therefore, all of the pieces must be evaluated for their design in 360 degrees.
Using rugs and area-specific lighting can help to establish distinct spaces. The furniture not only creates the flow of the space, but each design element associated with each area accents how the zone is used. Picking a feature item to use for each zone can create a beautiful accent for the space.
Using the colour scheme in different fabrics, furniture, or accent pieces can create a unique design while also making sure the space is cohesive.
Highlighting and using the existing architecture of the room can help create flow from distinct areas. Working to create levels in the open plan, such as raised ceilings, can also add depth and distinction to each zone.
The biggest technical challenge around furniture is dealing with lighting and cords. If there are no floor outlets, extra consideration has to be given to the placement of lamps, either table or floor, as this can lead to unsightly cords running to wall outlets.
Blur The Lines A Bit
In cities with warm climates, indoor and outdoor areas can be combined to create new hybrid spaces with unique uses. For example, the creation of courtyards can also be used as dining or lounge areas. This reallocation of space frees up indoor areas, which would have likely been occupied by larger furniture, to be used for other purposes.
A hard differentiation of zones is not always ideal because it can create smaller visual areas. For example, in a situation with a living room, dining room and adjoining terrace, it’s not suitable for a large furniture item, such as a sofa, to divide the space. Instead, select smaller pieces of furniture that lead the eye to the adjoining areas. So, rather than incorporating a large coffee table, choose several smaller tables that visually lead to the terrace. Similar tables can also be placed outside to create a continuation of the living space, effectively blurring the lines between the indoors and the outdoors.
Introducing partial walls and eliminating doors can create an open space while also keeping different uses separate. Instead of dividing the bedrooms and dressing rooms with doors and full walls, incorporate headboard walls behind the beds to separate the sleeping and dressing areas. This allows the resident to access each area unencumbered while still maintaining two distinct spaces.
Creating Indoor Play Area Multifunctional Rooms
Combining playrooms with other areas of the home is a huge trend in home design. The most common, of course, is the child’s bedroom. But other areas can be used as well. Having an indoor place for a child to play is a good option for areas in cities where it’s less safe for a child to be outside, where the weather is bad for much of the year or instances in which a child’s outdoor play options are limited due to conditions, such as allergies.
Convertible Bedrooms
If you’re working with a truly small space, you’ll need to get creative with your sleeping arrangements. Beds take up a lot of precious floor space in a small living area. Luckily, fold-down beds mean you can put a makeshift bedroom just about anywhere, creating a truly multifunctional room. The beds fold up into seamlesslooking cabinets and combine with other must-have areas, like a home office or den.
Kitchen And Dining Room Combination
One of the easiest ways to create multifunctional rooms is to put together a kitchen with a dining room area. As open-floor plans become more popular, people want to be able to cook and socialize at the same time. It’s an excellent idea for small spaces or smaller home floorplans since it cuts out the need for another wall. It also means no one is cut off from the crowd while cooking.
Utilize Multi-Use Pieces
There are many advantages of an open space plan, which allows a family to blur the lines of daily activities and feel connected in the house. There is a strong relationship between the landscape and sunlight, and the house feels larger overall.
By efficiently using the space, you can redefine usage by merely moving furniture to a new location to maximize square footage.
Designing furniture and cabinetry with multipurpose functions hidden until required can help make the most of your space. For example, a dining table surface can turn into a working desk with hidden casework features for storage, power and a USB port.
A skywalk extends out over the Grand Canyon in this view from the incomplete building that houses the skywalk, on the Hualapai Indian Reservation, Arizona February 28, 2012. The tiny Hualapai nation, in a bold move that could serve as a test of the limits of the sovereign power of Native American tribes over non-members, exercised its right of eminent domain last month to take over the management of the site and kick out the non-Indian developer. The dispute over the potentially lucrative Skywalk — which all agree could draw up to 3,000 visitors a day — pits the tribe’s sovereign rights over a site it sees as its economic lifeblood against a developer’s contractual right to manage the attraction for 25 years and share the profits. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES – Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY TRAVEL)
The Grand Canyon Skywalk is a horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge with a glass walkway at Eagle Point in Arizona near the Colorado River on the edge of a side canyon in the Grand Canyon West area of the main canyon. USGS topographic maps show the elevation at the Skywalk’s location as 4,770 ft (1,450 m) and the Colorado River’s elevation in the base of the canyon as 1,160 ft (350 m). They show that the height of the precisely vertical drop directly under the skywalk is between 500 ft (150 m) and 800 ft (240 m).
In 2015, the attraction passed one million visitors.
Commissioned and owned by the Hualapai Indian tribe, it was unveiled on March 20, 2007, and opened to the general public on March 28, 2007. It is accessed via the Grand Canyon West Airport terminal, or a 120-mile (190 km) drive from Las Vegas. The Skywalk is east of Meadview and north of Peach Springs, with Kingman being the closest city of some size.
Design And Construction
David Jin, an entrepreneur who had been involved with tourism and the Hualapai Nation for some time, had the idea of extending a platform out over the edge of the Grand Canyon. With the help of architect Mark Ross Johnson, that idea evolved into a rectangular walkway and eventually the “U”-shaped walkway that has now been constructed.
The overall Skywalk width is 65 feet (20 m). The Skywalk length extending out from the post supports closest to the canyon wall is 70 feet (21 m). The outer and inner 32-inch-wide (810 mm) by 72-inch-deep (1,800 mm) bridge box beams are supported by eight 32-by-32-inch (810 mm × 810 mm) box posts having four posts on each side of the visitor’s centre, once completed. The eight posts are anchored in pairs into four large concrete footings that are in turn anchored to the bedrock by ninety-six 2 1⁄2-inch-diameter (64 mm) DYWIDAG (acronym pronounced Doo-Wee-Dag) high strength steel threaded rod rock anchors grouted 46 feet (14 m) deep into the rock.
The Skywalk deck has been made with four layers of Saint-Gobain Diamant low iron glass with DuPont SentryGlas interlayer. Deck width is 10 feet 2 inches (3.10 m). The Skywalk glass sidings are made with the same glass as the deck, but fewer layers (two) bent to follow the walkway’s curvature. The glass sidings are 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) tall and designed for high wind pressures.
The Skywalk deck was designed for a 100-pound-per-square-foot (490 kg/m2 ) live load along with code-required seismic and wind forces.The foundation can withstand an 8.0 magnitude earthquake within 50 miles (80 km).
Fine-tuning of the project occurred after a wind loading and pedestrian induced vibration analysis. Two tuned mass dampers were installed inside the outer box beam and one inside the inner box beam at the furthest extension of the Skywalk to reduce pedestrian footfall vibration. The walkway can carry 822 people that weigh 200 pounds (91 kg) each without overstress, but maximum occupancy at one time is 120 people.
The Skywalk was assembled on top of the canyon wall in line with its final placement and moved into final position by a jack and roll rig. The Skywalk infrastructure itself weighs a little over 1,000,000 pounds (450,000 kg), without counterweights, but including the tuned mass dampers, railing hardware, glass rails, glass deck and steel box beams. At the time of roll-out, the Skywalk weighed approximately 1.6 million pounds (730,000 kg). The process was completed in two days.
Astronauts Buzz Aldrin and John Herrington attended the opening ceremony on March 20, 2007. A National Geographic documentary film on the construction of the Skywalk has been published.
Cornerstone Of A Larger Plan
According to Hualapai officials, the cost of the Skywalk was $30 million. Future plans for the Grand Canyon Skywalk complex include a museum, movie theatre, VIP lounge, gift shop and several restaurants, including a high-end restaurant called The Skywalk Café, where visitors will be able to dine outdoors at the canyon’s rim. The Skywalk is the cornerstone of a larger plan by the Hualapai tribe, which it hopes will be the catalyst for a 9,000-acre (36 km2 ) development to be called Grand Canyon West; it would open up a 100-mile (160 km) stretch along the canyon’s South Rim and include hotels, restaurants, a golf course, casinos, and a cable car to ferry visitors from the canyon rim to the Colorado River, which has been previously inaccessible.
Tourism, Access, And Protection
Access to the Skywalk can be made from Las Vegas, Nevada in the north of Kingman, Arizona, in the south, via Highway 93. The routes converge (at CR 7/Buck and Doe Rd) near Diamond Bar Road.
There are several packages available for purchase at the airport terminal visitor centre. Every package includes parking at the terminal and shuttle bus transportation to the two scenic viewing areas and the Hualapai Ranch. As of 2015, the final 9 miles (14 km) of the county-maintained road to the attraction has been paved and is now accessible to everyone. In addition to admission, visitors may purchase professional photographs of their visit to the Skywalk in the gift shop, as personal cameras are not allowed on the Skywalk itself. Along with other personal property, they must be stored in a locker before entering the Skywalk. Besides the Skywalk, the Eagle Point offers other activities, i.e., Native American dances in the amphitheatre, Native American gift shop, and Native American Village with dwellings of the region’s indigenous tribes such as Hualapai, Plains, Hopi, Navajo, and Havasupai. Buses connect all the points within the Grand Canyon West area.
Amrita Batra
Associate Editor
Civil Engineering and Construction Review
