Brokking in Dubai
Published 9/12, 2016 at 15:43Diamond Edge Cutting is a major demolition and concrete cutting contractor in the Middle East and has recently carried out a number of large projects in the area.
Dubai mall project
Dubai mall is the largest mall in the world by total area. It has 1,200 shops and was the most visited building on the planet in 2011, attracting over 34M visitors. Inside is the famous Dubai Aquarium and an underwater zoo. The mall is also famous for its Olympic sized skating rink. Just outside the mall is the Dubai Fountain and also the world’s tallest structure the Burj Khalifa.
Diamond Edge Cutting was going to carry out an interior demolition of a three level store and re-build a new brand store in one of the mall’s most desirable locations. The demolition work started in February 2016 and finished in May. It was a complicated demolition job, as it had to be done at night.
DEC saw the Brokk 160 would be a perfect fit for this job due to its low weight, flexibility and power. The site was close to the Dubai Fountain and was a challenge to transport away the concrete rubble. DEC decided to carry out the material in buckets through the mall and then load it into trucks. The demolition work was complicated due to the large number of steel reinforced concrete beams, but the Brokk combined with sawing, solved the problem.
Access into the building was not a problem for the compact B160, and armed with an Atlas Copco SB202 breaker, with its 400 joules of hitting power, progress was quick and steady. “Doing this by hand would have taken 40 days, but with the Brokk we were able to finish demolishing the beams in just 10 days. We were more than pleased with the performance of the Brokk 160 robot,” said DEC managing director Anthony Keever.
Renovation of Deira City Centre
Deira City Centre is located in the older part of Dubai and opened in 1995, has 370 shops and a host of family activities, such as Magic Planet with video simulators and theme rides for children, a bowling facility and a cinema with 2,795 seats.
This project was in an area where a retail section was being converted into a new twin level cinema. The demolition work included a roof, part of a second and third floor and the entire first floor. It was complicated as the entire roof had to be removed so that a new, higher roof could be installed. Some parts of the cinema remained open and because of restrictions, the demolition work lasted nine months. The new modern cinema was scheduled to open in the autumn of 2016.
DEC started with strip-out work before bringing in the Brokk machines and sawing equipment. “At Deira we decided to work with the Brokk 260, Brokk 160 and also the Brokk 90 all fitted with Atlas Copco breakers. That way we could match the job to the machine,” said Keever. Since DEC was going to start with the roof, they decided to lift in the Brokk machines by a crane. All materials in and debris tout, needed to be handled at night.
The shape of the roof required DEC to work from the corners, breaking precisely from beam to beam. During the days they focused primarily on saw cutting and devoted the night shifts to breaking the concrete beams. For the removal of the broken slab DEC used a crash deck under the beams.
DEC specialises in concrete cutting, coring and controlled demolition. They have over 30 years of experience in the industry, working throughout Europe. In 2008 they began operations in the Middle East in the United Arab Emirates.
The company with its skilled and experienced work force strives to ensure that all of their projects are completed on time and to the highest safety standards. They currently have approximately 85 people working in the company. DEC has incorporated Brokk machines into its demolition methods for several years, and now owns a Brokk 400, Brokk 260, Brokk 160 and a Brokk 90 for use across the Middle East.