Halcrow provided marine consultancy services for the development of a new waterside township in Dubai.
The development as a whole has taken more than 12 years to complete. It includes hotels, shopping malls, a beach club and a yacht club, all servicing the needs of the some 120,000 inhabitants of the high-rise towers, condominiums and apartments.
This very high quality urban development centres on a sheltered body of water more than 4km long which is connected to the Arabian Gulf at each end to assist with the natural flushing of the system. Outstanding features at each end of the scheme provide additional land for development and help to protect the channel from siltation and wave action.
The channel provides boat moorings for vessels up to 30 metres long in the main basins, and up to 20 metres long in the central channel. Water taxis are also accommodated to provide transportation within the marinas.
Halcrow's role
Halcrow carried out extensive coastal and hydrodynamic numerical modelling to ensure that the configuration of the channel and marina scheme was optimised to minimise the effects on the surrounding environment.
Halcrow also designed and supervised the construction of 8.5km of pre-cast concrete block walls which form the perimeter of the waterway and the land reclamation behind and the sea access channels at either end are protected by rock breakwaters.