Cambodia | Zuellig Pharma Warehouse – CMC

Located at the Kandal Phnom Penh border, the new warehouse features office and storage areas. Faced with challenging ground conditions, Menard employed Controlled Modulus Columns (CMC) instead of traditional methods, ensuring cost-effective and timely solutions. This project marks the first CMC application under a building in Cambodia.

Project Overview

The project consists in building a new warehouse with a footprint of 95m x 70m. It is located near the national

road 2, at the border between Kandal Province and Phnom Penh city in Cambodia. The building is divided in 2 parts:

• 1 area of 1000m² dedicated to offices and circulation area with live loads up to 2,5T/m²
• 1 storage area of 5200m² with live loads up to 5T/m².

Ground Condition

Project final elevation is approximately 1,2m higher than existing ground level. Thus, starting at final project elevation, the soil is composed of:

• 1,2m of sand backfilled material
• 6 to 10m of very loose silt mixtures
• Hard soil composed of sand mixtures

Menard Solution

The first solution considered was to install drive piles under the columns for the building and to install the slab on the natural ground. But due to soil backfilling operations, and live loads of the building combined with 6 to 10m of loose soil, expected settlements under the slab on the ground were significantly too high to not be considered (approx. 20cm).

Thus, Menard proposed a soil improvement solution using Controlled Modulus Columns installed under building’s columns and slab on the ground. This solution came as an alternative solution to the pile-slab that client was starting to consider. CMC solution allowed time saving and cost optimization compared to conventional pile-slab solution.

The CMC design has been done in way to ensure 3 bars service bearing capacity under the column’s foundations and reduce settlements to 45mm under the slab on the ground.

It was the very first time that CMC has been applied under a building in Cambodia.