''The major challenge in heavy industrial construction is its being 'heavy' itself,'' says Adel Monsef, project manager. ''Concrete pouring of huge structures requires proper coordination of manpower and equipment, properly installed and well-supported formwork, consistent mixtures and steady supply of concrete and additives, and continuous availability of manpower.

''Almabani and Saudi Condreco, in several instances, had a continuous concrete pouring activities of more than 1,000 cu m for more than 48 hours. The total volume of concrete poured in this project was 40,000 cu m.''

Almabani and Saudi Condreco are also engaged in upgrading the reverse osmosis (RO) units and support facilities in Jubail under a SR83.19 million contract. Work commenced last September and is expected to be finished in September 2003. It involves:

In Yanbu, Almabani is building an electrical substation and the associated cabling for the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu - Directorate General for Yanbu Projects - under a remeasured contract worth SR53.68 million.

Work, being implemented in joint venture with Abdullah Al-Khodari and Sons, is slated for completion in October 2002.

The project includes engineering, procurement, and construction, installation, testing and commissioning of the required infrastructure including streetlighting and signalling systems to support development of residential and commercial areas in the Industrial City of Yanbu.

It covers 13.8 kV power distribution and streetlights for Haii Al-Jubail areas A and B; streetlighting for the extension of Shareh Al Malik Abdulaziz (TAMA) to Shareh Al-Yarmuk and a new 450 sq m substation 2L in Haii Al-Jubail, including 45 kV circuits rated 40 MVA from Substation 2B.

''Some delays in the design process affected the overall schedule of the project,'' Khazin admits. ''However, with the sheer determination of the management team to put the project back on schedule, the original target of five months to install 172 km of underground electrical cables was completed in only two months.''

The consultant on the substation project is Parsons Saudi Arabia.

ECC & LTCC buildings

Work is nearing completion on the Emergency Care Centre (ECC) and Long Term Care Centre (LTCC) at Khashm Al Aan, Riyadh, for the Saudi Arabian National Guard (Sang) under a LSPB contract worth SR40.44 million. The consultant on the project is Joint Engineering Team (JET).

The project consists of design and construction of a two-storey LTCC building and a single-storey ECC building with electrical substations, car-parking, sidewalks and landscaping over a 10,000 sq m site. Each building is furnished with medical and non-medical equipment and furniture, including special systems. The actual built-up area is 6,296 sq m with the LTCC covering 3,093 sq m and the ECC 3,203 sq m.

It includes conveying systems, adequate power supply from the substation/generator room, and the complex is provided with complete services and other special systems such as a pneumatic tube system and a medical gas system.

The concrete structures have external CMU fluted blocks.

Electrical works cover electrical substations, generators and transformers, medium and low cables, ATS and ring main units.

Gosi building

Almabani is close to completing work on its SR2.45 million re-measured contract for structural remedial works on the Gosi (General Organisation for Social Insurance) Commercial Building No. 1 in Dammam.

''The building was constructed in 1981 and has recently exhibited serious signs of deterioration. This prompted the client to implement remedial works to restore stability of the structures,'' Khazin explains.

Al Rabiah Cowi Consulting Engineers is the consultant on the project.

''The structure comprises a 12-storey construction and a basement that covers the entire area of the building. The ground, mezzanine, service and restaurant floors slabs are solid slab constructions with different thicknesses depending on the framing plan of each floor,'' explains Elie Chrabieh, specialities division general manager.

The particular scope of work covered in the rehabilitation of the structures comprises: Basement retaining walls and soffits, ground and restaurant floor slabs, sixth floor level, columns, core walls, cladding panels, expansion joints and roof waterproofing.

Conventional repair methods used were sandblasting, concrete re-skinning, steel reinforcement strengthening and application of protective coating to new concrete to prevent salt intrusion.

Work is being carried out without vacating the occupied units not included in the contract. Noise level and disturbance to tenants and traffic flow were limited to a minimum.

Completed projects

Almabani also completed work last month (April) on the rehabilitation of concrete structures at Saudi European Petrochemical Company's (Ibn Zahr) plant in Jubail.

Under a remeasured contract worth SR800,000, Almabani Specialities Division undertook the concrete rehabilitation works, comprising mainly the suspended slab of the seawater intake basins, anchor block for flare tower and miscellaneous vessels foundations.

''Some works has to be executed during the plant shutdown schedule held only once every four years and lasted six days,'' says Khazin. ''Repairs were implemented round-the-clock employing two works shifts. Specialised techniques like hydro-demolition of concrete to minimise the effect of vibration on the structure were utilised.

''The highlight of the activities was hydraulic jacking of existing vessels so that rehabilitation of the concrete foundations could be implemented. The method entails transferring the loads of a vessel to a purposely-built temporary steel structure. The procedure was carefully and precisely done using special equipment - a hydraulic jack. The assembly has a capacity of 20 tonnes and consists of four jacks, hand pump, hydraulic oil manifold, monitor gauge and shutter valves.''

Among the projects Almabani completed last year are:

''As the Jeddah Municipality did not permit connection to the sewerage system, a sewage treatment plant was installed to treat the sewage water and convert it to irrigation water for landscaping use,'' says Khazin.

''The air-conditioning system is supported by a thermal energy storage (TES) system which helps in storing chilled water during the night to be used in the air-conditioning system during daytime and peak hours.''