Project Management Engineering services for Palm Jumeirah

Groundbreaking land development project, involving bridges, roads, marine structures, utilities, power, water, and tunnels

Location

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Client

Nakheel

Project status

Completed in 2010

Creating a Dream Destination

The Palm Jumeirah is the world's largest manmade island and has increased Dubai’s shoreline by 120 kilometers, creating numerous residential, leisure and entertainment areas. The Palm’s fronds contain more than 1,730 villas, each with a private beach. The Palm is protected by The Crescent, an 11 kilometer breakwater. Currently home of the prestigious Atlantis Development—with a 1600 room, five-star hotel complex, shopping malls and water park and aquarium theme park—The Crescent will eventually house 32 five-star hotels, plus offshore facilities, anticipated to include the largest manmade diving park ever built.

Shoreline Length

120 km

Villas

1,730+

Breakwater

11 km

Comprehensive Engineering and Program Management Services

WSP provided the management skills and engineering expertise for the provision of infrastructure, both visible and unseen, such as pipes and cables. This also included project management of the infrastructure systems for moving and supporting the volume of tourists, day-trippers and workers that would populate the Trunk, The Fronds and Crescent of The Palm Jumeirah Island Development. A state-of-the-art, ultra-modern urban monorail transit system, with roomy air-conditioned trains and stations, augments the copious road arrangements.

Effective program control was essential so as not to delay third party developers including Nakheel’s prestige clients, such as Atlantis. We delivered permanent vehicular access and carried all services from spine to the Crescent ahead of schedule, ensuring no negative impact to Nakheel’s client relationships.

WSP also worked closely with Nakheel to ensure that marine life in the area was protected during construction.

Noteworthy Features:

The Palm was the client’s first mega project—unlike anything seen within the region or beyond—and contained many complex, varied interfaces. WSP successfully achieved integration of these into the whole development, buildings, hotel complexes and road network by assembling an internationally proven team with the experience and diversity to meet the requirements. Hands-on, site supervision throughout ensured that we exceeded the client’s expectations in terms of delivery.
The project was technically challenging, due to the complex arrangement of the Fronds and the detached Crescent breakwater structure. Our technical and practical expertise ensured that visible and unseen infrastructure was successfully implemented in line with the overall objectives of the project. For example, the sub-sea vehicular tunnel facilitating connections between the Palm and Crescent, whilst still allowing sufficient space for shipping requirements.
Our in-depth knowledge and strong relationships with the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority and relevant Dubai authorities mitigated potential project delays and their associated costs, and helped to ensure the timely delivery of the project
WSP assisted the client in creating an environmentally friendly development considering issues during the detailed design construction phase including the recycling of all sewerage waste, and the production of drinking water from sea water (reverse osmosis process)
During the construction of the six lane tunnel linking the Crescent to the Crown, a temporary coffer dam system was used to protect the marine life in the area. Millions of gallons of sea water were pumped into the coffer dam each day, where marine life was carefully removed and replaced into its natural environment.

We provided project management and commercial management of: