Site Visit: Jumeriah Comes to the Marina

Select Group and ALEC provide us with the latest update on the Marina Gate Tower III project

Jumeirah Living Marina Gate combines the Jumeirah Group’s luxury hospitality experience with Select Group’s commitment to creating an exceptional standard of living. Never before have Marina residents had access to Jumeirah’s impeccable standards for a curated lifestyle, coupled with the exceptional attractions found in one of Dubai’s most captivating locations.

Jumeirah Living Marina Gate represents the third and final tower of the prestigious Marina Gate community located at the original entrance to Dubai Marina, a place where residents can relax and appreciate the best that life has to offer in a luxurious waterfront setting.

“Jumeirah Living Marina Gate is Jumeirah Group’s first venture in Dubai Marina. By combining Jumeirah’s luxury hospitality experience with Select Group’s commitment to creating an exceptional standard of living, this development is designed to offer residents access to the amenities and luxuries of a five-star hotel in the comfort and privacy of their own home.

With a BUA of 1,292,800 ft2, the design-led luxurious living destination includes 104 service apartments, 389 branded residences, and 15 villas. Jumeirah Living Marina Gate (JLMG) offers an exclusive range of facilities and amenities including lifestyle concierge services, a temperature-controlled infinity pool, state of the art gymnasium, residents’ lounge and business centre. Residents are provided with a dedicated guest relations team, including an onsite residential manager, security, housekeeping and valet services,” Ian Stapely, Senior Manager, Projects, Select Group.

Picture: Overall Aerial Night View at Jumeirah Living Marina Gate

The development has a gross development value of AED 1.6 billion.

“Located in the heart of Dubai Marina, JLMG provides panoramic waterfront and cityscape views. Direct access to the cosmopolitan Marina Walk opens a world of leisure options for residents. Restaurants, five-star hotels, coffee shops and a variety of retail outlets including international supermarkets and stylish clothing boutiques add to the development’s charm. Beauty salons, a polyclinic, and a nursery school complete the offering for a curated family-friendly lifestyle,” said Ian.

Designed from the inside out, the Marina Gate development has been conceptualized with great attention to detail. The striking, all glass façade features strategically placed mesh fins with illumination and was inspired by the need to maximize the stunning waterfront and cityscape views for residents.

“Every apartment in Jumeirah Living Marina Gate is planned to maximize indoor space with high ceilings and right angles. Beautifully appointed ensuite bathrooms and built-in wardrobes add to the comfort of spacious bedrooms. The highly functional kitchens are equipped with premium fixtures and state of the art appliances. Spacious balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows offer stunning views whether you focus on the distant horizon, the city skyline or the tranquil waters of the Marina,” said Ian.

ALEC, the multi-award winning, world-class contractor was awarded the contract for the main works of Jumeirah Living Marina Gate.

Speedy Progress

With Marina Gate I and II completed, Marina Gate III is expected to be completed by Q2 2020 and as of April 2019 the project is at 51 percent completion rate.

Falling behind on construction projects and schedules is a slippery setback that happens slowly. It only takes missing a few small deadlines and then the whole project can be off schedule. This isn’t the case with this project.

The speedy progress of the main works of Marina Gate III can be attributed to a precise schedule that ALEC is following.

“With the site operating on a 24-hour construction schedule, with two shifts for the 2000 to 3,000 workers on-site, this flexibility and support from the clients and authorities has been crucial for ALEC – working as a design and build contractor for this project – being able to meet deadlines and handover projects on time,” said Johan Moolman, Senior Contract Manager, ALEC.

Picture: Johan Moolman, Senior Contract Manager, ALEC

“From a design point of view, is a design and build contract, we’ve got a bit of flexibility in terms of managing the process. It’s a lot more efficient – any changes that come out, we sit down with the client and they assist us in getting through the line. Select has been very helpful and we’ve established a great relationship with them,” Johan further added.

Recently, Select Group announced the top out of Jumeirah Living Marina Gate, the third and final tower in the Marina Gate development. It was a significant milestone for the project, the day was marked by the placement of the final concrete to the upper roof slab. The ceremony was attended by representatives from JumeirahTM Group and ALEC.

In addition to being the design and build contractor, ALEC also has two of its subsidiary businesses involved on the project – ALEMCO and ALEC Fit-out and Interiors, who handle the MEP work and interior finishes respectively. Having an in-house team involved not only makes project milestones easier to achieve, as they all have the same agenda but also ensures better collaboration and coordination.

“On Jumeirah Living Marina Gate, the consultants have worked hand-in-hand with us in terms of developing the design. On Marina Gate I and II, we adopted an existing design which was enhanced during the construction process. Daily workshops were conducted in order to ensure that the BIM model worked in terms of coordination and necessary requirements. Of course, you do pick up issues as you go along, but it’s something you can fix quite quickly. BIM modeling allowed us to identify issues at an early stage and amendments to the design could be made accordingly,” said Johan.

Challenges

Johan also went into details about the challenges faced during this project. The Dubai Marina community is developed around a large water body, there was always a risk of water infiltration during the excavation and construction of the underground/basement levels. As such, the project team needed to seek approvals to ensure that their plan to mitigate the risk of water infiltration was approved.

“In addition, various changes to the authority regulations were introduced halfway through construction and needed to be incorporated within the existing design which affected approvals and constructability of the tower”

“Other challenges included building a site with limited access, as the road leading to the plot was not yet constructed. Restrictions were also in place for construction during the night to ensure that there was limited noise disturbance for the neighbouring buildings,” remarked Johan.

This was a challenge that continues into the construction of Marina Gate II and Jumeirah Living Marina Gate, Moolman says, explaining that ALEC has had to devise a clever system to allow them to bring in materials on time while also keeping on-site disruptions minimal.

“The key for us on-site is to ensure that all of our supply chains buy into an on-time delivery strategy. Generally, what happens with projects is that materials get delivered way too early and or out of sequence which causes limitation of work front as well as disruption to certain trades. Storage space was very limited on site, hence the “on-time delivery strategy” was almost non-negotiable.”

Innovations

During the construction of these towers, Johan pointed out the two key innovations that helped ensure the construction project was both efficient and productive. The first involved hoist monitoring which is a combination of digitisation, IoT and analytics that have been utilised to track hoists at Marina Gate.

“Using the collected data, decisions are now based on facts & numbers only. Notifications are being sent to the logistics team and an incentive scheme has been put in place to make sure operators are efficient and saves 40% time-saving is recorded in peak times due to this initiative,” said Johan.

The second innovation highlighted is the changing sequence of the building façade.

The Marina Gate team appointed their contractor early on the Marina Gate III project which allowed for design items to be completed well before the first level of panel installation was required on level 9. The Façade contractor also subcontracted their façade design to a specialist who worked with ALEC’s design team.  All issues encountered on the first two towers were taken into account for the tower 3 design.  This led to efficient façade design and allowed for the site to execute a streamlined approach that will follow the floor access strategy of the project.

Following from the de-shuttering of the concrete, the façade team changed the installation process from panels being installed from the same level as the storage using a robot glazing machine to install internally compared to monorail system installing the panel from above and externally.

Logistics was set out that panels would be delivered to the same floor as the panel installation which reduced storage area on the tower.

“Strict delivery timing and crane timing was adhered to by all parties allowing efficient panel delivery.  The robot machine allowed the panels to be installed while the tower was still be constructed and allowed the block work to terminate once against the façade.  This also allowed safety on the slab edge to be increased as the façade is closed reducing the risk of items to fall off the tower,” said Johan.

The wet trades and the rest of the finishing sequence had also to be aligned with the façade installation sequence to strictly follow the line of balance. They have also introduced a warning system in case any of any delays to make sure the building sequence is adhered to at all times. The result is a project progressing exceptionally well with minimal disruption to different trades.