Knowledge Village Office Building

BACKGROUND
Dubai has long been the pre-eminent business center in the United Arab Emirates. Its geographical proximity, cultivation of innovation, as well as its sophisticated logistic infrastructure between Europe and the Far East makes it the location of choice for much business in the region.

Knowledge Village is an upscale area in Dubai located very close to Internet city, Media city and the Dubai Marina. It is well known for having the world’s most reputed academic institutes and colleges having representation in the area.

Dubai has long been the pre-eminent business center in the UAE

Inside Knowledge Village, next to Sheikh Zayed Road, (one of UAE’s busiest highways) is an office building owned by Armada Holdings FZ LLC. Before construction began for the buildings below grade parking structure, contractors Al Kaitoob Building Contracting were concerned with the amount of time associated with installing membranes and protection boards for waterproofing concrete. Although membranes and protection boards are commonly used, they are a time consuming and expensive method of waterproofing due to high labour and opportunity costs.

SOLUTION
Kryton's KIM™ (Krystol Internal Membrane) was the preferred choice for waterproofing 1530 cubic meters of concrete on the raft slab and 200 cubic meters of the retaining walls. The Krystol Waterstop System was also used in all the construction joints to complete the water tight structure.

KIM uses Kryton’s proprietary crystalline technology to transform concrete into a watertight barrier. When added to a concrete mix, Krystol reacts with water and unhydrated concrete, causing millions of needle-like crystals to form, blocking the penetration of water and corrosive elements. Over time, incoming water causes additional crystals to form, self-sealing small cracks and saving repair and maintenance time and costs.

In addition to an immense cost savings, other key factors in KIM being the preferred choice, included an increased compressive strength of the concrete and resistance against sulphate and chloride penetration.

The use of KIM™ was able to eliminate the following steps for waterproofing:

1. Installation of 2 layers of horizontal membranes.
2. The top layer of PCC (which is standard practice with horizontal membranes).
3. 2 layers of vertical membranes.
4. The use of protection boards on vertical surfaces (walls).

A total of thirty-five days of construction time was saved equaling approximately $16,000.00 USD.

Al Kaitoob Building Contracting was extremely pleased with the results from using KIM and additional revenues were realized in allowing his company move on to new projects at a faster time than usual.

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