Design consultants Hyder Consulting has had close ties with Al Khaleej Sugar (AKS) refinery, with whom it worked to provide innovating structural engineering solutions over the past four years including one to build a new raw sugar store.

Recognised as one of the foremost design consultants in the region, Hyder Consulting was also commissioned to work on several other prestigious projects in recent years including those of Sharjah Cement Factory and Dubai Cable Company (Ducab).
It was also involved in landmark retail projects in Diera City Centre and Muscat City Centre.
Hyder Consulting’s activities have spanned approximately 25 years from its early days as Acer Freeman Fox and John Taylor, through to its current form as an independent Hyder Consulting Group, represented by approximately 2,500 staff, 650 of whom are located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Bahrain and Al Ain. Hyder Consulting has specialist skills in building structures and infrastructure projects.
One of the AKS projects it worked on was the extension to the existing raw sugar store.
 Describing its role in that project, a Hyder Consulting spokesman said: “Work had already started on site when AKS recognised that, by using the gable of this 42 m high A-frame building as a retaining wall, the stored volume of sugar could be increased considerably.
“Hyder Consulting redesigned the gable as a reinforced concrete retaining wall and re-designed the root structural steelwork to tie the head of the retaining wall to the sidewalls through in-plane heavy steel bracing.”
For its new raw sugar store, AKS commissioned Hyder Consulting to design a 176 m diameter silo, originally 15 m high at the outside.
“By carrying out detailed soil-structure interaction studies Hyder Consulting were able to demonstrate that, by considering the stored sugar as part of the soil, rather than a load to be carried, the large settlement anticipated in the centre of the silo could be accommodated by designing the floor of the silo and the tunnels beneath the silo to be able to tolerate movement,” said the spokesman.
“Hyder Consulting was then asked to redesign the silo to receive 25 m of stored sugar at the perimeter wall. This change was achieved by providing a system of external post-tensioned cables to the upper part of the silo wall, while minimising other changes to the design concept,” he explained.
The roof of the silo is a domed spaceframe structure, designed and executed by Rasana.
AKS has retained Hyder Consulting to design two reinforced concrete silos to accommodate three weeks of white sugar production - approximately 120,000 tonnes.
“Originally designed as tall narrow silos on piles, Hyder Consulting is currently working closely with AKS to change the proportions of the silo in such a way that modern ground improvement techniques could allow the removal of the need for piled foundations,” the spokesman said.
For the Sharjah Cement Factory project, Hyder Consulting was engaged by Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) to project manage the civil and structural design of civil works for a new kiln line and materials handling and storage facility. The purpose of the expansion was to increase the production capacity of the existing plant from 80 tonnes per hour to 240 tonnes per hour. The additional facilities also eliminated the need to import clinker from the Far East for the cement production.
The works included preparation of calculations and 460 design drawings for a variety of industrial structures including kiln piers, silos, crushing equipment and vibrating screen supporting structures, vehicle access ramps and ancillary structures and buildings. Hyder Consulting was also commissioned to carry out vibration analysis on the machine foundations for the equipment.
Hyder Consulting, as part of its overall role as the design subcontractor, managed the MEP design of the substations and ancillary structures.
Its work on the Ducab project involved providing the company with civil and structural engineering and design and supervision services for its expansion.
The expansion allowed for the production of medium voltage cables and includes an expansion to the administration building and technical offices.
“The main factory extension consists of steel portal frames spanning 32 m with 20-tonne and 15-tonne overhead cranes. This 180 m long building contains many heavy machine bases, pits, trenches and troughs. In addition, a Continuous Cable Vulcanising (CCV) line was added (process used for applying the insulation to medium voltage cables).
“The buildings consist of a 30 m high steel frame tower housing the vulcanising equipment and a 300 m long steel building which follows a perfect catenary throughout in such a way that the cable can be cured within a pipe touching the sides.”