Knowledge Village Office Building

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 logistical 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 institutions and colleges in the area.

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 building’s below-grade parking structure, a contracting company Al Kaitoob Buildling Contracting was concerned with the amount of time associated with installing membranes and protection boards for concrete waterproofing. Although membranes and protection boards were commonly used, they are time consuming and an expensive method of waterproofing due to high labor and opportunity costs.

Solution

Kryton’s Krystol Internal Membrane (KIM) was the preferred choice for waterproofing 1,530 cubic meters of concrete for the raft slab and 200 cubic meters for the retaining walls. The Krystol Waterstop System was also used in all construction joints to ensure the structure was completely watertight.

In addition to cost savings up to 40%, other key factors in KIM being the preferred choice included increased compressive strength of concrete and resistance against sulfate 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. Two layers of vertical membranes
4. The use of protection boards on vertical surfaces (walls)

A total of 35 construction days of construction time was saved equaling approximately $16,000 USD.

Al Kaitoob Building Contracting was extremely pleased with the results from using KIM. Through the time savings of 35 construction days, Al Kaitoob Building Contracting was able to move their crew to a new project sooner and additional revenues were realized.