The Musherib Downtown or Heart of Doha project is an urban redevelopment in the historic centre of the city. It is transforming the district into a network of sustainable interconnecting buildings, public squares, courtyards, and landscaped streets. Dr James Aldred was involved in helping improve the sustainable use of concrete for the project which is targeting LEED™ Gold.
Qatar had regulations preventing the establishment of a batching plant within the city. The “not in my backyard” rule. A comparison of the transport requirements for off-site compared with on-site concrete production of the estimated 1.25 million cubic metres showed a reduction of 55% in terms of truck-kilometers for on-site production. Other important sustainability benefits were the ability to reduce loads on road infrastructure, reduce rejection of non-compliant concrete and reduce disruption to city traffic. Based on these benefits, permission was given to have a site plant. The photos show the site batch plant and the size of the site.
Figure 1: The site batching plant perched on the side of the massive Musherib basement.