Mall marks new era of shopping
A plush shopping centre - one of the largest of its kind in Sharjah - has recently opened its doors. GCM looks at the salient features of its construction.
01 November 2001
THE opening of a new Dh100 million ($27.25 million) shopping centre in Sharjah marks the entry of Majid Al Futtaim Developments, developers of the well-known Deira City Centre in Dubai, into the UAE emirate.
The 42,000 sq m mall, which was completed on a fast track in the space of 18 months, was opened in late September.
The centre has been conceived as a true community centre for Sharjah residents, according to Gavin Ball, general manager of the complex.
Located on Al Wahda Street in the central commercial area of the emirate, Sharjah City Centre offers a wide choice of shopping outlets, together with entertainment, leisure, dining and ancillary services under one roof, he says.
The mall, which comprises a ground plus first floor, has a total of 91 stores and a 500-seater food court, with international fast-food outlets. The shopping area, covering 28,000 sq m of retail space, is located on the first level.
The shopping centre is serviced by three Hitachi travelators, two Hitachi escalators and one Dover elevator.
A major attraction of the centre is the 8,000 sq ft Magic Planet Kids equipped with a wide range of entertainment attractions in an air-conditioned, safe and clean environment. With over 32 games, Magic Planet Kids is described as being an ideal place for recreation and entertainment for children up to nine years. Special attractions at Magic Planet Kids include a miniature express train, Magic Planet cups, a toddler play area, camel adventure zone, and an inflatable bouncer. It is also equipped with the latest video games suitable for that age group.
The centre offers parking for 1,5000 vehicles including 1,000 covered and 500 open car-parking slots. The road network around the mall has been upgraded to ease the traffic congestion in an area which is already subject to heavy traffic flow.
Air-conditioning plant rooms are set above the trading floor.
Al Habtoor-Murrray & Roberts (HMR) Joint Venture, the main contractor on the project, was awarded the project in June 2000 - its first outside of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The contract set some demanding milestones, requiring the offices to the Carrefour hypermarket to be completed within 16 weeks of driving the first of 1,650 piles and then the shell of the remainder of the hypermarket three weeks later.
"We were set some pretty demanding milestones which we managed to meet," says Grahame Waite, project manager for HMR.
"The design of the structure is based on precast slabs fixed onto cast in-situ concrete beams and then covered with a concrete and mesh topping. At peak, the 6,000 m of beams were erected at the rate of 650 m per week and the precast slabs, cast in Jebel Ali by Concrete Technology, were installed at 700 sq m per day.
Murray and Roberts' sister company BRC Al Fahdl supplied about 3,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel and mesh from its Sharjah factory.
The bulk of the external facade is clad in precast concrete panels with an aggregate design cast into the face.
The hypermarket is enclosed in a structural steel frame, installed by Al Nasr and then sheeted in a double-layer insulated aluminum sheet installed by Middle East Insulation. The aluminum sheeting was imported from Hulletts Aluminum in South Africa.
The tenant has undertaken the hypermarket fit-out as a separate contract. The flooring of all mall areas comprises glazed ceramic tiles.
Access within the centre is via escalators, travelators or lift from the ground floor parking or directly from Al Wahda Street. Double-volume entrance lobbies give access into brightly decorated shops.
The Sharjah City Centre project marks a significant move into new territory for the HMR, which has rapidly become a leading force in the construction industry in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi over the last four years. It is the second such retail project undertaken by the joint venture following on from the Marina Mall Development in Abu Dhabi which opened for business earlier this year.
Some of the other jobs executed by the joint venture are the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) in Abu Dhabi and the Burj Al Arab, new Dubai Airport concourse and Kendah House in Dubai.
Mace Project Managers was the project manager on the project, Holfords - the architect, Hyder Consulting - the engineer, and Kennedy and Donkin - the MEP consultant.
Some of the other subcontractors were: Al Futtaim Engineering for the elevator, escalators and travelators; Aluminium and Light Industries (Alico) for aluminium and glazing works; Al Abbar Glass for mirrors; Al Habtoor Marble for marble vanity units and threshold; Al Rawda for ceiling and painting works; Desert Roofing & Flooring for roofing works; Sensaire Services for MEP services; Swissboring for piling works; Tremix Concrete Mix for readymix; Notredame Fiberglass for GRP works; Khansaheb Sykes for dewatering system; and Haroon for ironmongery.
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