Emirates Airlines Call Centre

Known as the desert’s most exciting city, Dubai is the second largest of the seven United Arab Emirates. The desert and coastline are being rapidly transformed to reveal Dubai’s potential as one of the most significant international cities of the 21st century.

Situated just outside of fast-developing Dubai City, the Dubai Outsource Zone (DOZ) is world’s first free trade zone dedicated to the outsourcing industry, providing technology and business process outsourcing services. Created in 2004, the DOZ is an enormous area spanning 3,100 square kilometers (1,197 square miles).

Established in 1985, Emirates Airlines is the official international airlines of the UAE and is one of the fastest growing airlines worldwide. They were looking to construct a seven-story building (with two levels of below grade parking) to house their call-centre operations in the Dubai Outsource Zone. Most importantly, it needed it to be built quickly.

Solution

Because the construction schedule was so tight, the project team was concerned about the length of time it would take to apply the external waterproofing membrane that was originally specified. In researching alternative concrete waterproofing methods, the project team chose Kryton’s Krystol Concrete Waterproofing System. Both the contractor and the consultant had previously used Krystol to waterproof basements and water tanks, and were confident that this high-quality product would produce the same desired results within the fixed time frame.

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.

By simply adding Kryton’s flagship product, Krystol Internal Membrane (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. KIM is a waterproofing admixture consisting of Portland cement, very fine silica sand and various active, proprietary chemicals. These active chemicals react with the moisture in the fresh concrete mix to cause a catalytic reaction that creates a non-soluble crystalline formation throughout the pores and capillary tracts of the concrete. The crystals seal the concrete against water from any direction. Additionally, the unique properties of KIM mean that it remains continually active. If cracks later form, the incoming water will react with KIM and trigger further crystal growth, filling the cracks and keeping the structure watertight. Unlike external membranes, Krystol will not deteriorate – it is guaranteed to last the lifetime of the structure.
The Krystol Concrete Waterproofing System at the Emirates Airlines Call Centre included:

• Krystol Internal Membrane (KIM), an admixture suited for new concrete construction.
• The Krystol Waterstop System, an advanced joint design system that provides both chemical and physical waterproofing barriers.

KIM treated the structure’s basement including the raft slab, retaining walls, ground slab and drinking water tank. Krystol Waterstop System was used to treat all cold joints in the raft slab. In total, 3,275 cubic meters (115,656 cubic feet) of KIM concrete was poured for this project, which is slated for completion – on time – in mid-August.

More than 25,215 kg (55,589 lb) of KIM-HS treated 6,413 cubic meters (21,040 cubic feet) of concrete covering an area of 4,045.5 square meters (13,272.6 square feet). Over 551 lineal meters (1807.7 lineal feet) of KWS was used for all the cold joints.