Located in the 6th of October district in Cairo, the two-storey, 165,000 m² Mall of Egypt houses both retail and leisure facilities, with 400 shops and 50 food and beverage outlets complemented by a state-of-the-art ski park and provision for 6,500 car parking spaces.

The complex is set to be one of the world’s five-star ‘super malls’, with a retail and leisure experience surpassing anything previously available in Cairo.

The retail space inside the mall is taken up with a huge variety of shops, bars and restaurants, while the facilities entertainment offerings include a cinema and Ski Egypt, Africa’s first-ever indoor ski resort.

The 165,000 m² mall construction project was built by Besix Orascom JV, using formwork and shoring supplied by RMD Kwikform. Faced with a tight programme time and the need to overcome design challenges within the build, the Besix Orascom JV site team worked with RMD Kwikform designers in its Dubai office to create drawings and plans for the Ski Park part of the project. Critical to the planning phase was the identification of the right levels of equipment needed for the project, as Besix Orascom JV opted to purchase the complete solution.

A total of 1,300 tonnes of standard equipment was supplied for the mall construction project, sourced from across the Middle East region, including 80 kN Rapidshor modular steel shoring with Superslim Soldiers and GTX Beams for the deck support. Additional Superslim Soldiers and GTX Beams were supplied for use in wall formwork applications for the pile caps, shear and retaining walls, with independent Rapidshor staircase towers providing safe access around the site.

For the construction of the 12.4-metre tall inverted pyramidal piers, which started at 2 metres by 2 metres and then grew to 4.3 metres by 4.3 metres, the engineering team designed a special corner arrangement, joined to the standard Superslim Soldiers. This solution allowed the piers to be constructed using standard RMD Kwikform wall form equipment.

On analysing the key challenge of casting the sloping slab and pyramidal piers for the Ski Park, RMD Kwikform engineers identified two design solutions to speed up the construction process. Instead of using timber wedges and steel supports to create the 12-degree slope of the ski slope slab, the engineering team utilised the standard Rapidshor Tilt Head, traditionally used with the Rapidshor shoring system, which gave the exact slope support required. This not only ensured the right support for the 110 m by 45.5 m slab was provided, it also sped up the overall process, reducing erection time by 50 per cent.

In order to support the erection, dismantling and safe use of equipment for the project, RMD Kwikform supplied a site assistance technician to work with the Besix Orascom JV site team. The technician provided practical product guidance to ensure safe working practices with the equipment supplied by RMD Kwikform. They also undertook pre-pour inspections, to ensure the equipment was erected correctly to the specification of the design drawing.