Eleven tower cranes and 25 mobiles: Maxim Crane revisits the Brickell City Centre build in Miami
Maxim Crane Works has published a case study on Brickell City Centre, the US$1.05 billion mixed-use development in downtown Miami where the company ran 36 cranes across six equipment classes for two years without a major incident.
Brickell City Centre, developed by Swire Properties in downtown Miami, spans 9.1 acres and 5.4 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, retail and entertainment space, sitting on top of a seven-acre underground car park. Maxim was brought in to plan, engineer and execute the lifting programme, working with nine contractors over a two-year construction schedule.
Six crane classes on one dense urban site
The fleet Maxim deployed reads like a cross-section of its rental yard: 11 tower cranes, two conventional crawler cranes, eight all terrain cranes, five hydraulic truck cranes, nine rough terrain cranes and a carry deck — 36 machines in all. Every crane was supplied on an operated and maintained basis, with Maxim’s own operators and mechanics keeping the equipment working for the duration of the build.
The below-grade element added its own complications. Alongside the vertical work on the mixed-use towers, crews had to service construction of the seven-acre underground garage, all within a tight downtown footprint shared by nine contractors.
238,300 hours without a major incident
According to the case study, more than 238,300 hours of work were completed on the development without a major safety incident. Maxim credits the outcome to project planning and engineering carried out by its in-house teams, which sequenced lifts to keep a dense, multi-contractor site moving safely for two years.
More than a supplier
The company presents Brickell City Centre as an example of its full-service model: fleet depth across six equipment classes, integrated engineering and project management, and operated and maintained rentals rather than bare equipment hire. The finished development delivers its 5.4 million square feet on a single city block — built, as Maxim puts it, from the ground up and seen through to completion.
Facts
- Project: Brickell City Centre, Miami, Florida
- Owner: Swire Properties
- Investment: US$1.05 billion
- Scope: 9.1 acres, 5.4 million sq ft, seven-acre underground garage
- Duration: 2 years, 9 contractors
- Cranes: 36 — 11 tower cranes, 2 crawlers, 8 all terrains, 5 hydraulic truck cranes, 9 rough terrains, 1 carry deck
- 238,300+ work hours, no major incident

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