De-Coupling Cladding Installation From Other High-Rise Building Trades: A Case Study

This paper presents a system to handle and install exterior cladding on high-rise buildings. The system is innovative in that the cladding panels are installed from the building’s exterior without the use of a tower crane or man lift, and without on-floor staging. Accordingly, all work pertaining to the panels effectively is de-coupled from most other construction work going on concurrently on site. This results in flexibility and work that can progress at a fast, continuous pace, thereby also allowing for project schedule acceleration. The paper includes illustrations of the use of this innovative cladding installation system in the process of constructing the 70-story Trump World Tower in New York City. The system was developed recognizing that tight handoffs between trades may lead to detrimental performance. De-coupling of interacting trades is one step towards implementing a lean construction system.