The Phase II works of Al Khaleej Village required the raising of the site above flood levels and preloading to improve the underlying deposits. At an early stage in the project a large body of gypsum was discovered that had to be removed from site. To offset this major impact on project costs, the area of preload was re-evaluated by use of the electric piezocone (ESPPT) in conjunction with settlement analyses. Confidence in settlement analysis procedures was previously obtained from back analysis of preloaded test areas. Subsequent evaluation of monitoring results during the main works identified the use of the Burland and Burbidge method (1978) as the preferred approach for settlement analysis in coastal areas of the Middle East. The other main conclusion was that evaporite strata in the region could not always be expected to reflect the well documented sequence of deposits generally found in sabhka deposits around the coastal regions of the Arabian Peninsula.
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