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21 Oct 2010
Marina Bay Sands is a premier entertainment destination with a vibrant diversity of attractions and facilities. It is Asia Pacific's largest integrated resort that possesses a distinct identity which has distinguished Singapore from other cities. Las Vegas Sands has invested USD 5.7 billion in the project, including the fixed $1.2 billion cost of the 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 square meters) site itself.
Marina Bay Sands features three 55-story hotel towers containing a total of 2,561 rooms, crowned by a two-acre Sands Skypark bridging across the towers, offering 360-degree views of the city and the sea; an iconic Art Science Museum; one-million square feet of integrated waterside promenade and shopping mall; a state-of-the-art 1.3-million square feet convention center; two 2,000-seat theaters; and a casino.
The challenge was to find a waterproofing product that could address numerous issues associated with such a mega-project including all below-grade areas, multiple floors, tunnels, rooftops, lift and sump pits and water tanks. The site was being built on reclaimed land and surrounded by seawater.
The following is a summary of key challenges and requirements:
Options considered included traditional membranes, bentonite sheets and various waterproofing admixtures. After an extensive final evaluation process, the customer was confident with Kryton’s crystalline concrete waterproofing admixture, Krystol Internal Membrane (KIM), and awarded the project to Lee Construction Pte Ltd., the exclusive Kryton distributor in Singapore, in August 2007.
By adding KIM to the concrete mix at the time of batching, waterproofing concrete becomes a quick and easy process that won’t hold up the construction timeline. The Krystol system uses advanced integral crystalline waterproofing technology to transform porous concrete into a permanent, water-resistant barrier and provide a guaranteed defence against water damage and steel reinforcement corrosion. If cracks form, the incoming water will react with KIM and trigger further crystal growth, filling cracks and keeping the structure watertight.
Over 60,000 cubic meters of concrete was waterproofed using KIM-HS admixture, which equates to approximately half a million kilograms of the product. Areas that were waterproofed using the Krystol system included the massive base slabs, suspended slabs, walls, tunnels and water tanks within the entire footprint of the project. Marina Bay Sands is Asia Pacific's largest integrated resort and casino; it includes a shopping centre, museum, crystal pavilions, underground parking, convention centre, theatre and casino.
KIM allowed the seamless pouring of concrete from one area to the next. There is no wait time needed for backfilling, preparation of the substrate, or additional manpower to apply a traditional membrane system.
Due to the size of the project, one single contractor could not complete the job on its own. The project was divided into “packages” and awarded nearly a dozen different main contractors. This would typically pose a significant logistical challenge to the waterproofing supplier in having to coordinate application between contractors but the use of the KIM admixture diminished the risk of delays and on-site application errors as KIM is dosed at the batching plant and added directly into the mixer truck. Marina Bay Sands opened on April 27th, 2010 and has seen 19.6 million visitors walk through its doors in its first year of operations.
