Description
The strategic water storage project in Jeddah is the largest of its kind built in Saudi Arabia to date. It is part of a large construction project of water storage facilities. The first phase will be carried out in the Briman district with a total capacity of 1.5 million cubic metres of water. The second and third phase of the project are expected to increase the total water storage capacity to 6 million cubic metres.
ULMA, in alliance with ATTIEH, our official partner in Saudi Arabia, provided the necessary expertise, knowledge, engineering and formwork solutions to form these extraordinarily large tanks.
The main objective of this project is to ensure reliable water supply when the supply is interrupted due to incidents at the desalination plants of the area or for any other eventuality.
Moreover, the facilities provided by this project will improve the drinking water quality and the system of sewers. Currently, the usual way to maintain the supply of drinking water when water scarcity occurs is by tanker trucks that carry the water to the main distribution centres.
This project consists of eight 120 m wide water tanks reaching a storage capacity of almost 200,000 cubic metres. Such diameter is not known to have been built anywhere else in the world so far.
ULMA Solution
Working elbow to elbow with the customer on this project, made it possible to find the best solution in terms of time, costs and safety. With the standard but adaptable to any geometric shape ENKOFORM V-100, based on timber beams, it was easy to form the required curvature and provide an excellent concrete finish. Customised panels were used to form the 377 m of each tank.
ULMA&ATTIEH supplied CR-250 climbing formwork for the 18 m high and 700 mm thick tank walls equipped with working platforms that provided enough space to carry out all necessary works and offered maximum safety to the workers.
The concrete was poured in 3 tiers of 6 m each. The configuration of components according to the required concrete pressure was eased by the formwork consisting of timber beams and walers.
For this type of project, the proper planning of each construction phase is essential. On-site supervision by ULMA&ATTIEH staff ensured the on-time accomplishment of each tank in the 4 months agreed with the customer. And so has the timely delivery to the site, according to deadlines demanded by the customer, of all the material - formwork, climbing systems and safety platforms.
