Application of Beamless Flat Slabs for Shopping Center Projects

29 September 2026

Application of Beamless Flat Slabs for Shopping Center Projects

The rapid development of scientific and technological revolutions has made significant contributions to the construction industry worldwide and in Vietnam in particular. Various solutions in the construction process have been effectively applied and have achieved notable results.

One of these solutions is beamless flat slab technology – Ubot flat slabs are an environmentally friendly and innovative solution that can be applied to various types of construction projects. Beamless flat slabs have once again demonstrated their advantages when applied to Shopping Center projects. Let’s explore with LPC what Ubot beamless flat slabs can offer Shopping Center projects.

What Is a Shopping Center?

A shopping center is a modern, multifunctional business organization that includes stores, service facilities, meeting rooms, halls, rental offices, and more, built and concentrated within one or several adjacent architectural structures.

Shopping centers provide sufficient business space, civilized service methods, and modern management and technical systems to fully meet the business development needs of merchants and businesses, while also satisfying customers’ expectations regarding goods and services.

Therefore, in recent years, the development of commercial and service projects has received significant attention and support from the Government. This has encouraged many investors to develop multifunctional and amenity-rich facilities.

Beamless Flat Slabs – An Optimal Solution for Shopping Center Projects

What Is a Beamless Flat Slab?

A beamless flat slab is a type of slab that does not use horizontal or longitudinal beams underneath for support during construction. During construction, the slabs are connected using Ubot boxes arranged in aligned rows and connected by linking bars embedded within the concrete slab.

Ubot box

Ubot box

What Is the Structure of a Beamless Flat Slab?

Basically, the structure of a beamless flat slab is relatively simple and consists of:

Fixed lower steel mesh
Plastic hollow boxes
Fixed upper steel mesh
Fixed steel hooks

Basically, flat slabs help reduce unnecessary reinforced concrete during construction. However, the structure consisting of the above layers, together with the reinforcement arrangement for beamless flat slabs, provides better slab surface connections, thereby creating a safe, strong, and material-efficient slab system.

So, What Do Beamless Flat Slabs Offer Shopping Centers?

Spacious Areas

Ubot flat slabs allow buildings to achieve large beamless spans of up to 20 m, creating open architectural spaces without restrictions on the positioning of partition walls. This provides greater flexibility for optimizing the functional layout of the building, allowing investors to renovate and change the positions of walls on the slab as desired. These are all key criteria when investors choose to apply beamless flat slabs to commercial projects.

Beamless flat slab – Shopping Center

District 6 Shopping Center Project – Ho Chi Minh City

In addition, the structure of Ubot flat slabs has beams and column heads concealed within the slab, enhancing the aesthetics of commercial buildings, maximizing usable space, and ensuring full functionality. Ubot slabs help reduce loads on columns and foundations, allowing column cross-sections to be reduced. Because the slab is thinner than a conventional beam-and-slab system, the building can accommodate additional floors.

One example is the District 6 Shopping Center Project – Ho Chi Minh City, which has been in operation since 2017. It is one of the projects that successfully uses beamless flat slabs with an 8 × 10 m span. The total floor area using Ubot flat slabs reaches up to 24,000 m².

Shopping Center

District 6 Shopping Center

Fast Construction Time

The construction of beamless flat slabs helps investors accelerate construction progress compared with other flat slab systems. This is always an important consideration for many investors, especially when constructing Shopping Center projects. The goal is to complete the project as soon as possible while still ensuring structural safety and architectural aesthetics. With a simple construction process, Ubot flat slabs can:

Save up to 10–15% of the total project cost,
Save 10–30% of the costs of concrete, reinforcement, formwork, and labor.
Save on technical, electrical, and plumbing system costs.
Construction time: 5–7 days/floor

Environmentally Friendly – Safe and High Quality

Green construction is a growing trend that is receiving significant attention from the Government and investors. Green environments, environmentally friendly materials, and energy-saving solutions are gradually gaining a strong foothold in Shopping Center projects in Vietnam.

Beamless flat slabs have been tested and certified for quality, including the use of recycled plastic components that are safe for use. The construction of UBOT flat slabs requires very little scaffolding and formwork, significantly reducing waste released into the environment. Ubot plastic boxes also provide optimal sound and thermal insulation compared with conventional slabs.

In addition, Ubot beamless flat slabs are designed and calculated according to Eurocode and current Vietnamese codes and standards, particularly fire prevention and firefighting standards. LPC engineers have more than 10 years of experience implementing projects in Europe and Vietnam, ensuring that structural designs provide safety and quality for every project.

This has been demonstrated in practice, as Ubot flat slabs were selected by the investor, Hop Phat Investment & Trading Joint Stock Company, for the District 6 Shopping Center Project, Phu Quy Thang Long Shopping Center Project in Thai Nguyen City, and many other Shopping Center projects.

Phu Quy Thang Long Shopping Center