I was on the train going past the "Melbourne Ferris Wheel" re-construction site the other day. I said to myself, "it would not surprise me if there is a major safety issue on this site before it is finished". Complex steel erection is not easy.
Here's an article on a recent safety issue.
www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/wheels-safety-in-doubt-union-20111204-1odk0.html
It's called The Southern Star Observation Wheel.
www.thesouthernstar.com.au/
Wiki lists construction costs as $100M. Unknown when it will be completed / reopened. Major capital cost outlay commenced in 2008.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Southern_Star(observation_wheel)
It had operated for "up to 1 month" before it was shut down with structural cracks in the steel.
Who's the ultimate owner? Is anyone getting sued yet? I would imagine this re-build is happening under insurance? Is a very unfortunate outcome so far. Millions spent, pretty much no income.
I agree, who's going to ride on it?
I think the best possible outcome at this stage is;
- a little bit of bankruptcy
- new owner buys it for a song
- with existing contracts and wages paid of course
PS - Australian's are OK at building things. We just can't afford to build big stone buildings and mass brick buildings anymore.
A big steel wheel like that will always be pushing the limitations of structural steel.
So was it designed or aimed at being a sort of UK-type Millenium Wheel thing - basically aimed at the tourist market?
and was the government or Vic Tourism dept involved?
(can't get the links to open for some reason????)
Just on the Construction thingo - bloody shame that we can't compete and do ourselves proud that way for sure!
Was one here in Perth and I used to drive in front of it often. The bloody thing was always empty! Mind you, you could have driven to Kings Park and enjoy a far better view for free!
Can't be bothered looking into it...but how come lots of other cities have successfully built much bigger ferris wheels? e.g. London, Singapore, etc, etc.
Is it the big RANGE of temperatures that's the problem in Melbourne?...from single-digit degree winter days up to 44+ degree days? If so, that's hardly a surprise for the designer??!
We in Victoria are pretty good at big concrete buildings and other types of construction , compared to anyone .
The wheel will eventually be finished and all the tourists will love it . Some pour bugger who did the original computations is very likely still trying to forget about it though.
Melb Temperatures - you would need to engineer against a range from -5 to about 50.
Engineers involved.... I'll speak to a few in the coming weeks to get to the inside gossip. Every major structural engineering was involved. As a minimum there was;
- Design
- Verification / Certification
- Construction Sequencing / Temporary Construction
Thinking out loud, most structural engineers would be frothing at the chance to work on something like this. Perhaps the Professional Fees were reflective of this. And I know "managers"... When 3/4 of the fee is spent but only 1/3 of the service is delivered... Push comes to Shove... People get dragged off the project. Service is delivered to a fee. Not saying it happened here... But that concept happens.
I'm a Cost Engineer, and this is about the last I will say on the matter. I have not worked on this project, and I am not bound by any confidentiality agreement. But once I find out more info, it will go into the Confidential Vault. And I would expect the same in return.
A well-designed ferris wheel...clearly engineered to withstand aircraft impacts! Obviously constructed to post-9/11 specifications.
The Queen is just the protrusion into our blinkered three-dimensional space of the much greater multi-dimensional stargate shapeshifter lizard beings. Sheesh...Have you not read the hitchhiker's guide???!
could be a problem, the melbourne wheel will still be incomplete by then 
God, have you people been living in the dark ages, have you seen the sydney harbour bridge australians are capable, to say we cant is a load of SH!T 
Hmmm, wonder if you remember the westgate bridge in melbourne collapsing during construction, or the crane collapse during roof construction of the new melbourne venue
