PALM JUMEIRAH

BUILDING MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION

 Project name - Palm Jumeirah
ABOUT Location- Jumeirah coastal Area, Dubai, UAE

Area - 2209 SQ MILES

Construction Date- 2001

Clients - Nakheel

Area served - 87 countries

Key people - 1. Ali Rashid Lootah( Executive Chairman)

2. Sanjay Manchanda( Chief executive officer)

Revenue - AED 5.67 Billion ( 2017)

Consultant - Parsons De- leuw- cather

Contractor - NSCC- SBF

Distributor - Giant star trading LLC

Palm is one of the artificial islands in the world. The project

aim was to increase the limited space for beachfront
properties by adding 78.6 km for the city’s current 72km.
INTRODUCTION
● The Palm Jumeirah is the world's largest man
made island and has increased Dubai’s shoreline
by 120 kilometers, creating numerous residential,
leisure and entertainment areas.
● The Palm’s fronds contain more than 1,730 villas,
each with a private beach.The Palm is protected by
The Crescent, an 11 kilometer breakwater.
● Currently home of the prestigious Atlantis
Development with a 1600 room, five-star hotel
complex, shopping malls and water park and
aquarium theme park.
● The Crescent will eventually house 32 five-star
hotels, plus offshore facilities, anticipated to
include the largest manmade diving park ever
built.
● The master plan was drawn up by Helman Hurley
Charvat Peacock, an American architectural firm.
LIST OF STAKEHOLDERS

● The Island’s; Breakwater & Beaches, Roads, Bridges & Tunnel, Monorail, Infrastructures (majority),
Landscape & Marinas: NAKHEEL; a semi-governmental Entity (previously part of Dubai Port Authority)
● The Trunk: Medium-rise Residential Component (multi-storey buildings); Private Ownership.
● The Trunk West: Medium-rise Beach Resort & Hotel Component (International Investors & Operator
● The Trunk: Nakheel Landmark Developments (Nakheel Tower, Nakheel Mall)
● The Fronds (14) : Low –rise Residential Component (Villas) ; Private Ownership
● The Crescent: more than twenty-five World Class Beach Resorts & Residences / International & Local
Investors / Operators
● Cooling Plants; Empower
● Sewage Pumping Stations & Treatment Plant, Storm Water & Drainage; Dubai Municipality.
MANAGEMENT INVOLVED
WSP WAS ASSIGNED FOR THE MANAGEMENT PURPOSE IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF PALM JUMEIRAH. THE FOLLOWING
SERVICES WERE PROVIDED BY THE FIRM.

● Bridges
● Roads
● Marine structures, both surface and sub-surface
● Utilities
● Power
● Water and wastewater facilities
● Vehicular and utility tunnels between The Palm and The
Crescent (breakwater).
Comprehensive Engineering and Program Management Services

● WSP provided the management skills and engineering expertise for the provision of infrastructure, both

visible and unseen, such as pipes and cables. This also included project management of the infrastructure

systems for moving and supporting the volume of tourists, day-trippers and workers that would populate

the Trunk.

● The Fronds and Crescent of The Palm Jumeirah Island Development. A state-of-the-art, ultra-modern urban

monorail transit system, with roomy air-conditioned trains and stations, augments the copious road

arrangements.

● Effective program control was essential so as not to delay third party developers including Nakheel’s

prestige clients, such as Atlantis. WSP delivered permanent vehicular access and carried all services from

spine to the Crescent ahead of schedule, ensuring no negative impact to Nakheel’s client relationships.

● WSP also worked closely with Nakheel to ensure that marine life in the area was protected during

construction.
 USE OF CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
● Construction on the palm islands began in 2001. Divers surveyed the seabed and worke
rs constructed a crescent-shaped breakwater from blasted mountain rock. The Crescent
of Palm Jumeirah stands a little more than 13 feet above low tide sea level and sits in 34
feet of water at its deepest point.
● Sand, covered by an erosion-preventing water-permeable geotextile, makes up the
breakwater lowest layer. One-ton rocks cover the sand, and two layers of large rocks
weighing up to six tons each cap the structure. A "toe" placed by a floating crane sits
inside the Crescent. The breakwater also has two 328-foot openings on each side to
eliminate stagnation in the 16 narrow, deep channels. These gaps allow water to
completely circulate every 13 days.
● The palm islands themselves are constructed from sand dredged from the sea floor.
Palm Jumeirah is made from 3,257,212,970.389 cubic feet of ocean sand
vibro-compacted into place [source: The Palm Jumeirah]. Vibro-compaction increases the
density of loose sand by saturating it with jets of water and vibrating it with probes.
● To get the complex shape just right, designers and contractors use Differential Global
Positioning Systems (DGPS) to plot the palm and ensure the sand placement within 0.39
of an inch.
USE OF CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
● Powerful GPS support which provides precision and is handy in
irregular land reclamation. To insure that the island is in it s
required place and shape, 676 Km up in the space a Private
satellite was used. The shape of island is nearly curved
everywhere and it required pin point accuracy to shape it as a
palm tree, hence, GPS (Global Positioning System) was used
while pouring sand into the sea.

● Mobile receivers were used as a grid reference for the island

and the satellite gave coordinates of the point where sand was FIG :
to be put. The dredges would then fill the area of the sea which RED AREA
SHOWS
they were commanded by the satellite. WATER NOT
CIRCULATING
IN THE PALM.
● As the construction of the megastructure island had started
before the research was finished, now the engineers realized
that the fresh water was not circulating properly inside the
island branch of the palm shaped area. Tides were not flushing
the system properly. Water was in danger of becoming
stagnant. Engineers of the palm island in dubai, came up with FIG:
the solution that to cut the outer ring of the island at two FRESH WATER
CIRCULATION
places, so that that the water enters and flushes the system . IN THE PALM
CONSTRUCTION STEPS
PHASE 1- ESTIMATION OF WAVE STRENGTH

● To estimate the strength of waves, the rise in

water level due to global warming
● Research team worked out that arabian gulf is
only 160 km wide and 30 meters deep, hence too
short and too shallow for catastrophic waves to
build up.
● Break water was to be constructed having
height upto 3 meters and 11.5 km long.
CONSTRUCTION STEPS
PHASE 2 - CONSTRUCTION OF BREAKWATER

● BUILD UP THE SEAFLOOR

- Collect a thin layer of sand from the sea bed
- Dump it on the site of construction
- This layer of sand was 7.4m thick.

● LAYERS OF RUBBLE
- Huge rocks of irregular shape and size
- Provides rigidity to the wall
- It’s 7m in height

● Outer Armor
- The rocks are interlocked among themselves

Each piece of rock weighed about 6 tons

which was excavated from 16 quarries across
UAE.
CONSTRUCTION STEPS
PHASE 3 - CONSTRUCTION OF PALM ISLAND
( SAND FILLING AND COMPACTION)

● The main island the palm land is constructed

● It is build completely based on sand
● Rainbowing process is used for laying of the sand
94 million cubic sand was needed for the
construction of this island.

PHASE 4 - INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT ON

MAIN ISLAND

● Entire city is placed in a span of 2 years

● It has a capacity to withstand a population of
120,000
● Jumeirah palm will feature themed hotels, villas ,
apartment building, beaches, marinas, restaurants,
and a variety of retail outlets.
CONSTRUCTION STEPS
PHASE 5 - TUNNELS
SERVICE TUNNELS
● 12 horizontal directional drilling crossings, 6 on
both the eastern and western sides, to provide
utilities to the breakwater.
● Magnetically guided drills penetrated the
ground at an inclination of 15 to 16 degrees.
● The holes (250MM) in diameter were enlarged
using a series of increasing diameter reamers,
and a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) sleeve
was permanently installed for support.
● Inside of the sleeve were HDPE carrier pipes
which held the various utilities, such as water,
wastewater, treated sewage effluent and
telecommunication cables, 10 meters below the
seafloor.
● Naboodah also constructed two micro tunnels
to feed electricity cables. Eastern and western
launching and receiving shafts were built as
well so the cables could reach the surface.
CONSTRUCTION STEPS
PHASE 5 - TUNNELS
VEHICULAR TUNNELS
● It was 1400 meters in length, 600 meters of
which was completing underwater up to 25
meters below the seafloor.
● The design included room for three lanes of
traffic in either direction and a central cell for
emergency traffic.
● The external width and height of the tunnel was
37 meters and 9.6 meters respectively.
● The concrete base slab was between 2 and 2.6
meters thick, while the roof and walls were 1.5
meters thick.
● A geomembrane of HDPE was used to
withstand the high water pressures.
CORRECTIVE ACTION FOR CHALLENGES
Critical Challenges / Solutions

1. Marine Works
● Rock Supply (Capacity of Quarries, Transport, Logistics, Safety, Quality Control)

-Supporting operational quarries with long term contracts and regular payments, engaging a fleet of new
trucks for transport, Safety patrolling and checks, Lab testing

● Island Reclamation (Borrow Areas, Environmental Restrictions

-Sea-bed investigation campaigns, sailing routes selection, turbidity control, silt curtains

● Conflict in progress between Rock works and Reclamation works running

simultaneously.

-Diverting the works to alternative locations when needed to maintain necessary offset between rock
works and reclamation works.
● Supervision of the 24/7 construction on progress

-Mobilizing two supervision teams of specialists.

-Severe storm caused damage to uncompleted works

-Mobilising an additional set of floating equipment to fix damaged sections.

● Water circulation Improvement

Several studies including modelling with changes to the location and size and orientation of the two
re-entrant channels on the Crescent.

2. Geotechnical Works
● Ground Improvement;
- Selection of most appropriate design and method of execution.
- Long technical discussions with specialist before confirming the Vibro-Compaction Technique.
- Coordination between the several Vibro-Compaction contractors working at the same time in the same areas.
- Daily coordination and micro site management.
● Areas with critical post-compaction results.
- Further treatment including a second round of Vibro or Inserting Stone Columns within reclaimed fill.
 3. Logistics
● On the Island; limited free space / Access roads, Laydown areas, Labour Camp

- Additional reclamation for temporary platform and service roads.

● Main Land; Construction vehicles / Damage to public road-net & bridges, Accident

-Additional fees for using the public road net. Alternative longer routes assigned.

4. Other Challenges
● Accommodating the many changes introduced to the Master Plan during the
construction progress.

-Engaging a team of experts to assess and deal with the impact of Master Plan Changes.

● Putting Unprecedented Design Control Regulations

-Coordinating International Consultants and Local Authorities.

● Authority’s approval process / Updating and Upgrading practice & regulations.

CONSTRUCTION COST
● The total area of the archipelago is 5 by 5
kilometers, and it’s connected to the
mainland with a 300-meter bridge, while the
breakwater is connected with the upper
branch via the tunnel. The estimated price
exceeds 14 billion dollars.
● That amount was required to build a new
island in the Persian Gulf in just 5 years. It took
several years to cover it with luxurious hotels
and villas and transform the island into the
home of the richest and the most famous
people from all over the world.
NOTEWORTHY FEATURES
● The project was technically challenging, due to
the complex arrangement of the Fronds and the
detached Crescent breakwater structure. The
technical and practical expertise ensured that
visible and unseen infrastructure was
successfully implemented in line with the overall
objectives of the project. For example, the
sub-sea vehicular tunnel facilitating connections
between the Palm and Crescent, whilst still
allowing sufficient space for shipping
requirements.
● WSP assisted the client in creating an
environmentally friendly development
considering issues during the detailed design
construction phase including the recycling of all
sewerage waste, and the production of drinking
water from sea water (reverse osmosis process).
NOTEWORTHY FEATURES
● During the construction of the six lane tunnel linking the
Crescent to the Crown, a temporary cofferdam system
was used to protect the marine life in the area. Millions
of gallons of seawater were pumped into the coffer dam
each day, where marine life was carefully removed and
replaced into its natural environment. To facilitate
tourism and make life easier for residents, the six-lane
Sub-Sea Tunnel connects Palm Jumeirah to the
mainland. Workers used a dam to drain the area and
excavate the seabed before re releasing the water.
Developers have plans for a four-stop monorail that will
race the length of the palm.
● The trunk section of the Jumeirah includes a concrete
canal that is 2 km (1.24 mile) long. The canal is the main
transportation link to the island. Once constructed, the
trunk will be forever submerged into the sea
surrounding the island. Protecting steel reinforcements
within the concrete from salt water attack is crucial to
ensuring the long-term durability of the structure -
especially considering the difficulty and cost of potential
repairs and maintenance.