Doka Gulf, a leading provider of formwork, scaffolding and engineering solutions, and Alec E&C, one of the region’s largest main contractors, have successfully collaborated on the use of Doka’s Concremote technology, resulting in significant cost, time and safety benefits.

Concremote, an in-situ remote compressive strength measuring device, has been designed to provide three significant benefits on-site as a sensor-based product:

•  Monitor the early-age compressive strength gain of concrete, allowing site teams to monitor critical path activities, reduce cycle times and help accurately calculate formwork quantities for the most economical concrete mix designs;

•  Enable the monitoring of temperature development in mass concrete structures; and

•  Help achieve unified concrete colour tones for projects.

Concremote was deployed on one of UAE-based Alec’s projects, enabling the company to achieve a two-day reduction in casting cycles, leading to substantial savings on concrete mix and overall project duration.

In addition to its cost-saving benefits, Concremote also contributed to enhanced quality and safety standards on the project. By providing real-time monitoring of concrete strength development, Concremote allowed for the early stripping of formwork and reduced the risk of concrete cracking during curing.

Concremote enhances concrete quality while reducing costs.

Commenting on the successful implementation of Concremote, Alec Innovation Manager Imad Itani says: “In working with Doka and its Concremote technology, we were able to save money on the concrete mix and throughout the project thanks to its two-day reduction in casting cycles. In addition to its other value-added benefits, we’ve improved the quality and safety of concrete in the project, meaning an optimised project for us as a contractor and an optimised outcome for our client.”

On this digital collaborative project, Alec had set out to understand two things. Firstly, if the IoT-based sensor would successfully replace the current method of early-age cube crushing for concrete early strength verification, and secondly, if it would provide realtime, accurate information on the early age strength development of beams that supported the earliest installation of the precast slabs and early formwork stripping.

Elaborating on the project, a spokesman for Doka says: “The schedule required the concrete structure works to be completed in nine months, meaning a floor-to-floor cycle of 11 days for typical levels. To achieve this, the concrete would be required to reach 70 per cent strength in three days to receive the precast slabs, a timetable that would typically require a higher-strength concrete mix design.

“Starting with the concrete mix, Concremote proved through its calibration that the originally specified mix would achieve the desired turnaround, making the use of a higher-grade mix redundant, thereby helping to save immediate costs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

“Over the project period, Concremote helped to ensure the early stripping of formwork, thereby optimising the use of the material while reducing rental overheads. Concremote also helped enable real-time and temperature monitoring to avoid cracks during curing and a more reliable method of overall concrete monitoring, thanks to the data being recorded in situ.”

Concremote’s forecasting feature allowed Alec to predict the development of compressive strength, enabling site teams to plan the follow-on activities, while its real-time notification system via email and SMS meant direct and immediate access to valuable data, he stated.

“In meeting sustainability targets, Concremote was also able to help reduce the project’s carbon footprint, yielding a total saving of seven per cent on cement (four per cent on CEM 1 and three per cent on CEM 2) by avoiding a higher cement mix to achieve the desired cycle. At the same time, its digital interface meant an entirely paperless reporting system,” the spokesman adds.

Doka Gulf is a subsidiary of Doka Group, a global leader in providing innovative formwork solutions and services for all areas of construction.

Alec E&C is one of the region’s leading contractors, with a proven track record of delivering complex and challenging projects successfully.

Both companies have extensive experience in the Middle East, particularly in Dubai, where they have been operating for well over 20 years. The two companies began a closer working relationship in 2017, when Doka began sharing several of its time and cost-saving products and services, including Concremote.