The Dubai Mall

Flowcrete floors were installed during a landmark renovation project at one of the world’s largest shopping malls featuring the installation of more than 500,000 square metres of polyurethane deck coating materials.

The Dubai Mall, located in the 20 billion dollar Downtown Dubai complex, holds the record for the world’s largest retail mall based on total area. The centre plays host to 635 retailers and attracts over 750,000 visitors every week, making it also the world’s most popular shopping and leisure destination.

With over 14,000 spaces, spread over three car parks – two of which boast 10 levels - the mall also claims the accolade for having the most expansive car parking facilities in the Middle East & North Africa region. In order to cope with the constant stream of incoming and outgoing vehicular traffic, the parking structure required a robust flooring material able to cope with numerous operational and service demands including structural movement, thermal variations, abrasion and wear as well as fuel and oil spillage.

The Deckshield polyurethane deck coating system was specified for all levels of the multi-storey structure following the early failure of the existing material soon after the mall opened.

A key requirement of the client centred on the site remaining operational throughout the installation period - eliminating any possibility of simultaneously closing down the entire car park.

At the same time, it was imperative the new materials be laid as swiftly and diligently as possible in order to avoid inconveniencing customers and visitors. This need was heightened by the fast approaching Eid Al Fitr holiday – one of the busiest shopping periods of the year.

Prior to the installation of the Deckshield material, the existing failing system required uplifting and disposing of followed by the installation of over 80,000kg of non-shrink grout in order to fill the void where wheel stops had been removed. Within five months over 540,000m² of Deckshield ID & ED had been installed across basement, lower ground, intermediate and exposed top level decks of the breath-taking structure.