Inland ground, so the foundation question is load, not chemistry
Sports City and Motor City are inland, away from the shallow saline water table of the coast. That changes the brief for buried concrete: the soil report and the consultant still set the exposure class, but on most plots the raft or pad footing is sized by building load and settlement rather than by chloride attack.
For a mid-rise block the raft is usually the largest single pour on the job. A 240 m³ raft is 20 truckloads of 12 m³, so we plan the sequence with your pump position and agree the retarder dose so each load stays workable until the next one is placed against it.
Columns, slabs and the floors people play on
Above ground, the superstructure mix carries columns, cores and floor slabs. Columns in the lower storeys take the highest stress, and the consultant often specifies a stronger grade there than in the slabs, so we batch the two separately rather than averaging them.
Sports buildings bring wide slabs on grade, terraces and court bases. These are long, thin, exposed elements where shrinkage cracking shows. A fibre-reinforced mix helps control early cracking, and the joint layout still has to come from the designer.
Curing in an open, sunny district
Wide spacing between buildings means fresh slabs here catch full sun and wind. In summer we suggest night or early-morning pours, a slump target set for the hour of placing, and curing compound or wet hessian applied as soon as the surface allows. Townhouse footings are small, but they dry out just as fast.
On podium decks over car parks, the same rule applies: the slab that will carry planters or a running track should be cured for the full period in the specification, not stopped when the formwork comes off.
Questions from Dubai Sports City and Motor City sites
- Which roads do your trucks use to reach Sports City and Motor City?
- Usually Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road or Umm Suqeim Street, depending on the plot. Peak-hour traffic lengthens the trip, so we time dispatch and retarder dose around it.
- Can you supply a pump for a townhouse slab?
- Yes. We run pumps with booms from 43 m to 57 m, which covers most townhouse and low-rise pours from the street side. Tell us the setback and we will check the reach.
- Do court slabs need a special mix?
- Many specifications call for a fibre-reinforced mix on exposed slabs on grade to limit early cracking. Send us the specification and we will match the grade and fibre type to it.