Scottsdale Waterfront

Arizona, United States of America

Background

The luxurious Scottsdale Waterfront project is being built adjacent to 549 meters (1800 lineal feet) of the Arizona canal, which itself stretches 62 kilometers (38 miles) from the Salt River Pima Native Reservation to the North West Valley. The large-scale project will include two and three-storey retail office buildings and two thirteen-storey residential buildings.

The project building team required a concrete waterproofing solution that could withstand seasonal weather challenges. With summer temperatures as high as 40.56ºC (105ºF) in Scottsdale, this desert area is still susceptible to monsoon seasonal rains. Monsoon rains can be extremely damaging (hitting with up to 2.5 centimeters or 1 inch of rain per hour).

In addition to weather challenges, the project team had to consider using a concrete waterproofing system that worked well in a shotcrete application. External waterproofing membrane systems can easily be damaged due to backfill operations, soil nails, and tie backs. A compromised external membrane will ultimately lead to failure of the system and leaks.

Other waterproofing needs included on-site water storage tanks for the buildings’ sprinkler system. Water for sprinkler systems could not be accessed through usual city piping systems, so storage tanks were built on-site. A waterproofing system was needed to keep water in these tanks.

Solution

The project required the use of about 1829 meters (2000 yards) of shotcrete that incorporated Krystol Internal Membrane™(KIM®), a concrete waterproofing admixture that waterproofed all below grade walls, as well as building water storage tanks for the buildings sprinkler system. Kryton’s leading jointing system, Krystol Waterstop System™ was also used at all the construction joints.

By employing the Krystol Concrete Waterproofing System in the floor and wall slabs and at the construction joints, a waterproofed tank was created in the foundation – a complete waterproofing system. The Krystol system is the world’s only complete crystalline concrete waterproofing system.

By incorporating the Kryton Waterproofing System Opus West was able to save a considerable amount of time and money. When asked why Opus West Construction chose to use Kryton’s KIM admixture in their concrete, Superintendent Tyge Nason said:

“We chose the integral KIM additive because of its easy, one-step application and because of the insurance Kryton added to the prohibition of water intrusion…the one-step nature of KIM saved valuable time in our construction schedule (approx 3 weeks). This is a field-tested product that really worked -giving everyone involved peace of mind."

Buesing Corporation, the excavating, shoring, and finishing wall contractor were able to backfill without worry of damaging and external membrane and were able shave precious time off the construction schedule.

A year later, the entire project team remains happy with the results and continues to use Krystol products in other projects within Phoenix.