Business Bay concrete supply: basements, slabs and screed

Shoring and the excavation

Basement excavations here are often retained by piled or shotcrete walls. We batch shoring and gunite mixes for that work. Gunite is sprayed in thin layers, so orders are small and frequent; give us a daily call-off rather than one large order, and make sure the spraying crew and pump are on site before the truck leaves Al Quoz.

Foundations against canal groundwater

The ground is coastal. Shallow groundwater carries chlorides and sulphates, so piles, raft and basement walls use substructure and piling mixes designed for that exposure: GGBS blends, low water/cement ratio, the cover your consultant requires. Waterproofing details often depend on the concrete, so coordinate the mix with the waterproofing specialist too.

Rough volume for a basement wall: length x height x thickness. A 120 m perimeter wall, 9 m high and 400 mm thick, is about 432 m3, or 36 truckloads, usually split into several lifts. Agree the lift heights and construction joint positions with the engineer before ordering, because each lift becomes a separate delivery with its own pump booking.

Slabs up the tower

Our Al Quoz plant is about 8 km away in a straight line, reached via Al Khail Road or Al Asayel Street. That is close, but peak traffic still lengthens the trip, so the retarder dose and slump are set for the time of discharge.

Boom pumps from 43 m to 57 m serve the podium. Above that, a static line and placing boom are needed. Most mistakes on tower slabs come from calling off trucks before the line is primed and the placing boom tested. In summer, the specification's placing-temperature limit usually sends slab pours to the night shift; check that the building and neighbours' permissions cover it.

Business Bay is on our regular ready-mix concrete Dubai runs out of Al Quoz.