Gabions

As part of Hatta comprehensive development plan launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai; the Dubai Municipality is required to develop Leem Pond to sustain water in all seasons which will enhance its scenic value to boost tourism in Hatta. It is intended to feed the Leem pond from ground water and compensate for evaporation losses through periodic pumping. The project would involve the typical civil works like excavation, filling, concreting, ducts etc but the main scope of the contractor would be lining and bank stabilization of Leem pond. Since the overall object of the project is to improve the Hatta Wadi tourism, the required scheme of protection and lining must be environmentally friendly and natural such that the new development works will easily integrate with the existing natural surroundings.

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Situated between the sea and the cliffs, the current Route du Littoral (RN1) was subject to numerous rockfalls requiring frequent restrictions or closures and very heavy maintenance, and regularly causing fatal accidents, despite the barrier measures previously put in place. The Nouvelle Route du Littoral (New Coastal Road), which is intended to replace the existing RN1, has been laid out at sea, 80 to 300 metres from the shore, to avoid the risk of rockfalls. It is 12. 5 km long, including 6. 7 km of embankments and 5. 6 km of viaduct, and 29 m wide (2x3 traffic lanes + BU + cycle paths). Total cost of the project: €1. 6 billion. The road is based on a sea embankment and a viaduct: the Viaduct package being led by the Vinci/Bouygues consortium, and the Dykes package by the GTOI (Colas)/SBTPC consortium, which subcontracted the installation of the gabions to Inexence Réalisation OI. Four dykes were to be built, totaling 3 km in length.

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M/s. Jumeirah Group appointed AK Design to develop the new MAS swimming pool at Al Qasr within the Madinat Jumeirah project in Dubai. The swimming pool is to be located on the open beachfront of the hotel. The Marine designer considered a return period of 1 in 100 years for the extreme design storm condition, and the client required a design life of 50 years for the pool. For the required 50-year design life, the 1 in 100-year storm event's probability is approximately 40%. The cross-shore beach response modeling studies revealed that the potential scours below the pool could be as deep as 2. 5m. Consequently, the pools' foundations must be designed to prevent lateral movement, settlement, and tilting of the pool when the beach sand is mobilized. The designer considered different conventional foundation protection options out of which secant pile option was recommended. However, the end client identified the following practical disadvantages with the secant pile wall solution; (1) Moderately costly (2) Significant disturbance to hotel guests due to noisy construction, (3) Heavy equipment required, (4) Reflects wave energy leading to beach scour and (5) Poor appearance when uncovered.

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