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Mall of the Emirates, UAE
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Our design on the Mall of Emirates incorporated mass concrete foundations to overcome the challenges of high temperatures and humidity while meeting customer expectations on time, cost and quality
Mall of the Emirates is the largest shopping centre outside of
North America. Strategically located in the heart of 'New Dubai'
this 223,000m2 leisure, entertainment and shopping centre offers an
impressive range of facilities.
The £250 million development is home to over 400 retailers and also features some exciting venues for those wishing to do more than shop. These include Ski Dubai, the first indoor ski destination in the Middle East, a two-level Magic Planet, the largest indoor family entertainment centre in the country, a 14-screen Cinestar Cinemas and Dubai Community Arts and Theatre.
The mall holds 65 restaurants and coffee shops ranging from fast food to a la carte themed restaurants and exclusive dining alternatives. The development also incorporates two hotels, which contains restaurants, tennis courts, swimming pools and spas. The 5-star Kempinski situated at the south end of the mall provides guests the opportunity to enjoy views of the ski slopes from the comfort of their own suites.
The initial lead and direction came from F+A project concept studies and architectural perspective impressions. The full design team provided initial advice during the design development stage followed by project documentation deliver for issue to the contractors for the build period of 23 months.
To achieve such a short project construction programme the project team had to come up with various value engineering ideas during the early design stage. One innovative approach, which pleased the client, saw us adopting mass concrete foundations compared to traditional piled foundations, combining basic design principles with imagination and lower cost, locally available raw materials to save time and money.
Key to the success of the mass concrete foundations was to keep the overall placed concrete temperature variations to a minimum. To keep core and surface temperatures down, we used a blended mix with an increase in the aggregate size and curing technique of overlaid polystyrene and temporary backfill.
After conducting both site and laboratory tests on the concrete mix, we then sized the foundations based on a design principle of a 45 degree spread of load, using the foundation block as the medium. The 45 degree load spread approach together with temperature control techniques meant internal tension stresses could be kept to a minimum and reinforcement was no longer necessary.
Other challenges that had to be overcome to meet time, cost and quality expectations included high temperatures and humidity, a technically complex structure, variations in substrate load carrying capacity and depths and unreliable plant availability.
To tackle these we set up a staff think tank incorporating local and international knowledge. We developed viable cost and programme options to reduce the quantity of higher cost elements like steel, the level of the contractor’s site resource requirements and the amount of construction plant – all while meeting important structural parameters.
The innovative architecture design to create a mixed use shopping and leisure environment included:
Mall of the Emirates’ huge success since its opening in September 2005 brings many benefits for the surrounding community. Our support to Majid Al Futtaim Group has resulted in us being appointed as lead consultant and engineer for the £200 million Bahrain city centre mall, which will be home to the largest indoor climate controlled water park in the Middle East.
We are also engaged in the design of a £30 million redevelopment to the Deira City Centre in Dubai and providing structural design services for Mirdif City Centre.
The £250 million development is home to over 400 retailers and also features some exciting venues for those wishing to do more than shop. These include Ski Dubai, the first indoor ski destination in the Middle East, a two-level Magic Planet, the largest indoor family entertainment centre in the country, a 14-screen Cinestar Cinemas and Dubai Community Arts and Theatre.
The mall holds 65 restaurants and coffee shops ranging from fast food to a la carte themed restaurants and exclusive dining alternatives. The development also incorporates two hotels, which contains restaurants, tennis courts, swimming pools and spas. The 5-star Kempinski situated at the south end of the mall provides guests the opportunity to enjoy views of the ski slopes from the comfort of their own suites.
Concept to completion
Majid Al Futtaim Group appointed Mott MacDonald as structural engineer for the main mall, car park and Kempinski hotel at Mall of the Emirates. We worked alongside Architects F+A, local architects Holfords, WSP and Hyders to provide an integrated project team.The initial lead and direction came from F+A project concept studies and architectural perspective impressions. The full design team provided initial advice during the design development stage followed by project documentation deliver for issue to the contractors for the build period of 23 months.
To achieve such a short project construction programme the project team had to come up with various value engineering ideas during the early design stage. One innovative approach, which pleased the client, saw us adopting mass concrete foundations compared to traditional piled foundations, combining basic design principles with imagination and lower cost, locally available raw materials to save time and money.
Key to the success of the mass concrete foundations was to keep the overall placed concrete temperature variations to a minimum. To keep core and surface temperatures down, we used a blended mix with an increase in the aggregate size and curing technique of overlaid polystyrene and temporary backfill.
After conducting both site and laboratory tests on the concrete mix, we then sized the foundations based on a design principle of a 45 degree spread of load, using the foundation block as the medium. The 45 degree load spread approach together with temperature control techniques meant internal tension stresses could be kept to a minimum and reinforcement was no longer necessary.
Other challenges that had to be overcome to meet time, cost and quality expectations included high temperatures and humidity, a technically complex structure, variations in substrate load carrying capacity and depths and unreliable plant availability.
To tackle these we set up a staff think tank incorporating local and international knowledge. We developed viable cost and programme options to reduce the quantity of higher cost elements like steel, the level of the contractor’s site resource requirements and the amount of construction plant – all while meeting important structural parameters.
The innovative architecture design to create a mixed use shopping and leisure environment included:
- operational and energy efficient building
- quality to meet both client and visitors expectations
- value engineered designs with focus on cost and construction programming
- optimising return by maximising cost/value
- commitment from the design and site team to achieve the highest expectations that this project will be delivering to the residents and visitors to Dubai
Team achievement
The 23 month construction programme in the aggressive Dubai market building growth plan was the focus for the project site consultants teams, client and project managers. From start to finish, planning and contractor co-ordination had the site team working closely together to overcome the pull of local and imported materials to other large developments within the Middle East.Mall of the Emirates’ huge success since its opening in September 2005 brings many benefits for the surrounding community. Our support to Majid Al Futtaim Group has resulted in us being appointed as lead consultant and engineer for the £200 million Bahrain city centre mall, which will be home to the largest indoor climate controlled water park in the Middle East.
We are also engaged in the design of a £30 million redevelopment to the Deira City Centre in Dubai and providing structural design services for Mirdif City Centre.