Land reclamation and rock works for Palm Jumeirah began in 2001with work scheduled for completion at the end of 2003.The timeline meant that construction of Palm Jumeirah’s reclaimed land and its protective breakwater had to be simultaneous.
By April 2002, the first 550m of the breakwater was completed, allowing the land reclamation to begin. This required a rigorous balance due to the scale and complexity of the project: if the breakwater progressed too quickly, it would obstruct the island reclamation, if reclamation progressed too rapidly, the island would be exposed to offshore waves and erosion. Also, access for the dredgers delivering sand would be limited if the breakwater were to be completed first. This parallel construction marked a major step forward in Palm Jumeirah’s marine engineering.
Despite Dubai’s desert geomorphology and endless sand dunes, desert sand was not usable because the particles are too smooth for construction, lacking the surface area necessary to bind. The land reclamation of Palm Jumeirah required nearly 100 million m3 of calcareous sand, which was extracted from 11 km (six nautical miles) offshore.
The world’s largest fleet of dredgers and marine equipment worked simultaneously during the land reclamation. Cutter dredgers – designed for compact sediment – used rotating cutters and centrifugal pumps to draw up sand from the seabed floor. A network of pipes then transported the sediment to site.
Rainbowing, named after the rainbow-shaped
spray it makes, enabled huge quantities of sand to
be deposited onto shallow locations.
A highly efficient method, it pumped up to ten m per second,
enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool in
minutes
As the fronds built up this accuracy was further secured by a team of surveyors who walked the perimeter of the fronds every day carrying receivers connecting with satellite positioning signals. The surveyors also connected with the operators of the dredgers to help direct them.
The sequence of the works was determined meticulously. During the first winter, sand was dumped five m below sea level. Given construction on the breakwater had only just begun, the protection this provided was minimal, but so was the effect of waves on it. By the second winter, construction of the breakwater had reached a suitable level for it to provide protection. Sand was then positioned above the water in the protected areas, carefully following the progress of the breakwater. A total area of 5.6 km2 was reclaimed.
Reclamation work for this impressive island was completed just after the completion of the breakwater in August 2003.A symbol of Dubai’s spirit of creativity, innovation and heritage, Palm Jumeirah had successfully added 70km of coastline to Dubai, doubling its length. This island became a ‘must-see architectural wonder’, an accolade it would be granted in 2012.