Open plots and fresh slabs
Many plots here are wide and exposed while the district fills in around them. Sun and wind dry the surface of a fresh slab faster than the concrete beneath it, which leads to plastic shrinkage cracking. Have curing compound, sheeting or wet hessian on site before the pour starts, not ordered once cracks appear. Wind breaks help on large slabs.
Summer specifications often cap placing temperature. Early-morning and night pours avoid the worst of it, if the community allows deliveries at those hours.
Order list for an apartment block
Blinding, 50 to 75 mm, under the foundation. Raft or pads: estimate as length x width x depth. A 50 x 20 m raft at 1 m is 1,000 m3, about 84 trucks. Columns and walls in small lifts. Floor slabs: a 700 m2 slab at 225 mm is about 158 m3, 14 trucks. Screed for apartments later, often to several floors per day.
Each slab needs the pump booked with the concrete. Our booms run from 43 m to 57 m, which covers most mid-rise blocks without a static line.
Distance and access
The plant in Al Quoz is about 8 km away in a straight line, via Al Khail Road and Meydan Road. Peak traffic lengthens the trip, and we set the retarder dose and slump target for the hour the concrete will be placed.
Developers manage access in many of these districts. Check with the community or developer about truck routes, delivery windows and where pumps may stand, then pass the gate contact to us. On large villa districts, also confirm which entrance serves your plot; a truck sent to the wrong gate of a big community loses time it cannot get back in summer.
Every load for MBR City and Meydan is batched at Al Quoz, on the same ready-mix concrete Dubai dispatch as the rest of the city.
Questions from MBR City and Meydan sites
- Why do slabs crack within hours on open Meydan plots?
- Usually plastic shrinkage: the surface dries in sun and wind before the concrete sets. Start curing as soon as finishing allows.
- Can a boom pump reach the top floor of a mid-rise block?
- Our booms reach 43 m to 57 m, enough for most mid-rise buildings, depending on where the pump can stand.