Concrete for MBR City and Meydan, from villa slab to apartment core

Ground and foundations

The district is inland. Groundwater exposure is generally moderate, and the soil report sets the exposure class for each project. Low-rise villas rest on pad and strip footings over blinding; apartment blocks with basements use rafts or piles. In both cases the substructure mix carries the durability requirement, because footings and basement walls cannot be inspected once backfilled.

Where an apartment block sits on piles, the piling mix needs flow and cohesion to fill the bore around the cage without voids.

Frames and the arithmetic of a floor

Apartment blocks climb floor by floor with a superstructure mix. A 180 m³ podium slab is 15 truckloads; a typical upper floor might be half that. The mix stays the same from floor to floor, but slump targets shift with the time of day and with how high the boom has to push. Our 43 m to 57 m booms cover mid-rise frames; taller blocks switch to a placing boom.

Villas use the same superstructure mix for columns and slabs, in far smaller volumes.

Transfer slabs are rarer in this district than in Downtown, but podium levels with retail or parking under apartments still use them. They take a high-workability superstructure mix poured continuously, with every truck timed to keep the face live.

Heat and haul

The plant is about 8 km away in a straight line, via Al Khail Road or Meydan Road. Peak traffic adds time, and summer temperatures shorten the working life of the concrete in the drum, so the retarder is set for both. Specifications cap the placing temperature, which moves most summer slabs to night. Inside gated communities, the developer sets delivery hours and routes; check with them first.