Gulf Construction Online - Airport takes off in style with Flowcrete

Ceilings, Floors & Partitions

Dubai airport Terminal 3 multi-storey car park ... fitted with seamless flooring.

Airport takes off in style with Flowcrete

01 February 2009

Flowcrete, a world leader in the supply of specialist flooring for commercial and industrial buildings, has completed a major installation at the Dubai International Airport – one of its largest assignments to date.

A selection of Flowcrete’s specialist systems, including screeds, car-park decking, hygienic and fast-track floors, have helped the new Terminal 3 and Concourse 2 developments at the airport take off in style.
Commenting on the project, Andrew Gwyther, managing director of Flowcrete Middle East, says: “We are very proud to be able to add an installation of this scale at such a high-profile facility to our portfolio.”
For the final deck coating in the multi-storey car-park, Flowcrete’s flexible waterproof wearing Deckshield system was specified, with some 110,000 sq m installed on all five levels, including the exposed top deck.
The fully-trafficable, polyurethane resin system will help protect the building structure from damage typically encountered by multi-storey structures, where structural movement caused by constant traffic flow can lead to eventual deterioration of the substrate and host concrete, says Gwyther.
A further 260,000 sq m of Deckshield was installed in other high-traffic areas including all service roadways underneath the terminal complex (95,000 sq m), the baggage handling areas (85,000 sq m) and in all plant rooms (100,000 sq m). The formulation used is fully ultraviolet (UV) resistant, with a profiled anti-skid surface, helping to minimise tyre squeal and reduce noise pollution, he adds.
For the multi-storey car-park facilities, a semi-dry cementitious screed known as K-Screed was first installed over the entire area.
According to Gwyther, conventional screeds such as sand/cement often crack, curl and debond, leading to failure of the final deck coating. “The reduced water content of these cementitious screeds provides added strength and durability eliminating those problems,” he says.
Some 40,000 sq m of K-Screed was also installed beneath the external tiles at the passenger set-down area at the Departures Hall.
For the kitchen facilities within the development, Flowcrete provided its Flowfresh system that meets the criteria for durability and ease of cleaning. The seamless polyurethane floor incorporates Polygiene, an anti-microbial agent, which utilises the natural purification qualities of silver to deliver round-the-clock protection against a wide range of bacteria.
“Over the past three years, Flowcrete Middle East has noticed a significant swing away from tiled floors to seamless systems in aggressive kitchen environments. Our track record of installations at Le Meridien Hotels in Dubai, and for Jumeirah Group and DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) kitchens gave the Department of Civil Aviation the confidence in selecting Flowcrete,” says Gwyther.
A similar system known as Flowfast Quartz was also installed in the cold storage area.
The project is the latest success for Flowcrete in the Middle East and follows the announcement last year of its largest-ever contract – involving the installation of Deckshield – at Dubai’s Jumeirah Lakes Towers Development.
The company also recently secured another large-scale contract in the emirate, to apply its sound performance system Isocrete Acoustic K at the luxury Fairmont Palm Residence Hotel and Resort, being built within the exclusive Palm Jumeirah Development.
Flowcrete is using its global expertise to introduce environment-friendly, hygienic and aesthetically-attractive floors to create a better and more sustainable world.
With 30 offices worldwide and manufacturing plants in the UK, Malaysia, South Africa, Sweden, Belgium and the US, Flowcrete’s aim is to transform environments with its innovative specialist flooring products. These include decorative seamless resins, waterproof car-park decking, resin terrazzo, seamless anti-microbial flooring, corrosion protection, self-levelling cements, underfloor heating and acoustic systems.
In April 2008, Flowcrete became part of RPM International, a multinational holding company floated on the New York Stock Exchange with subsidiaries that manufacture and market high-performance coatings, sealants and specialty chemicals.