The May 2019 inauguration of the new Palm Lake Resort, a luxury apartment development in Monastir, Tunisia, underlines the booming tourism industry in Tunisia. PENETRON ADMIX was used to ensure a permanently waterproof concrete structure placed between a large lake and parking garage.
First built on the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Ruspina, Monastir remained a traditional fishing village for centuries and is now a major tourist resort with white sand beach, very mild winters and hot summers. Surrounded on all sides by the Mediterranean Ocean and the Lac de Monastir Sahline, the town lies directly adjacent to the Habib Bourguiba International Airport.
Urgent: Waterproofing Solution Needed
The Palm Lake Resort luxury apartment development is built around a landscape of numerous artificial lakes highlighted with green areas and indoor & outdoor swimming pools. With the adjacent Palm Lake Mall, restaurants, a health spa and three hotels (Amir Palace, Sahara Beach and Skanès El Hana), the complex is virtually a self-contained tourist community with convenient shopping, leisure activities and sophisticated dining.
The Palm Lake Resort architects also placed an artificial lake, which dominates the center of the resort, on top of the main parking garage. Combined with the city’s seaside location and the high-water table at the construction site, a reliable waterproofing solution for the below-grade concrete structures was urgently required.
How to Keep a Lake Out of the Garage
“Folla Immobilière, the project developer, specified the Penetron System to save time and construction costs,” explains Kadem A. Omer, Chairman of the Board of the local Penetron office. “We worked with the Folla engineers to develop an optimal mix for the concrete.”
PENETRON ADMIX was added to the concrete mix during batching for the underground garage and the hotel’s basement slab and walls to ensure an impermeable foundation. The construction joints were sealed with 1,500 m (5,000 feet) PENEBAR SW waterstop strips.
How to Minimize Maintenance Costs
Easily mixed in during batching and unaffected by climatic conditions, PENETRON ADMIX quickly becomes an integral part of the concrete matrix and performs consistently during the life of the concrete. The active ingredients in PENETRON ADMIX produce a catalytic reaction with moisture in fresh concrete and by-products of cement hydration. This chemical reaction generates a non-soluble crystalline formation throughout the pores and capillary tracts of the concrete that render the concrete permanently impermeable to water and all kinds of moisture, even in the saline environment of the Monastir peninsula.
“Using PENETRON ADMIX for the new concrete structures like the Palm Lake Resort may also significantly reduce future maintenance costs,” concludes Kadem A. Omer.
Keeping the basement dry: The Palm Lake Resort, with a landscape of lakes, pools and ocean beaches, used PENETRON ADMIX to keep the concrete basement and underground garage dry.
