Big Project ME by Big Project Middle East

APRIL 2013

ALSO INSIDE LOCAL CONTRACTORS DESALINATION QATAR DRAGONMART EXPANSION JOERG SCHEIFLER

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CONTENTS

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PAGE 30 Local contractors ask for fairness when it comes fo tenders.

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The big picture

IraqI reconstruction funds wasted

Report points finger at US officials for failure to rebuild country

news analysis

Kingdom of plenty

Big Project ME analyses the state of the Saudi construction market

in profile

trend setter

Joerg Scheifler says Qatar is leading the way in the GCC

22 site visit

year of the dragon

Big Project ME takes a tour of the DragonMart2 construction site

local contractors

voices in the wilderness

Home-grown contractors talk about the challenges they face

Desalination

Liquid Gold

Why Qatar is pushing to build more desalination plants

construction security

protect and secure

Security experts reveal all about protecting construction crews in

dangerous places

construction banking

Financial catalyst

Why regional banking is crucial to construction

66 special feature - formwork true to form

Formwork experts on industry developments

Special feature - piling

on a strong foundation

Big Project ME investigates the science behind piling

Tenders

top tenders

Big Project ME lists some of the biggest tenders in the region

Stand up for the little guy

Gavin Davids says support local construction firms

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90 Constructive criticism

EDITOR’s COMMENT

M MIDDLE EAST

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Leading the Way LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING are indispensable to each other, John F Kennedy once said. It would be almost impossible to be inside the construction industry – with its fusion of engineering and business – without understanding how that applies to almost every decision you make. Big Project ME has been steadily evolving over the last year to be better placed at not just covering what is going on in the construction business in the region but also serving a need for the sharing of best practice and knowledge. This month’s issue sees us take another step in that direction with the start of a series of Continuing Professional Development modules for those looking to extend their knowledge and complement studying for professional qualifications. We’ve had good feedback on our recent Time and Money Section and its focus on efficiency and value engineering. We’re also constantly looking to find new angles on our sector analysis features, such as formwork and piling and foundation this month, because ultimately the magazine should be a resource that you can use at work.

Publisher Dominic De Sousa GROUP COO Nadeem Hood Managing Director Richard Judd EDITORIAL GROUP EDITOR stephen white stephen@cpidubai.com +971 55 795 8740 deputy EDITOR GAVIN DAVIDS gavin@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9118 features EDITOR JONATHON SAVILL editorial@cpidubai.com MARKETING & ADVERTISING PUBLISHING Director RAZ ISLAM raz@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9129 COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR MICHAEL STANSFIELD michael@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9128 SALES DIRECTOR CARLO MENEZES carlo@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9151 MARKETING MANAGER CAROLE MCCARTHY carolem@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9157 DESIGN SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER REBECCA TEECE rebecca@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9168 JUNIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER PERCIVAL manalaysay percival@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9121 CIRCULATION & PRODUCTION Circulation and Distribution Manager ROCHELLE Almeida rochelle@cpidubai.com +971 4 368 1670 Database and Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9147 Production Manager James P Tharian james@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9146 DIGITAL www.bigprojectme.com Digital Services Manager Tristan Troy Maagma Web Developers JOEL AZCUNA online@cpidubai.com

As part of this shift, we’re revising the design and content of the magazine. Observant readers with a keen eye may notice that we’ve tweaked the cover of Big Project ME for this month’s issue. Look a little further and you will notice that we’ve ramped up the number of pages, so we can squeeze more content into the issue. We want to focus on the small details and the big issues, if you have suggestions for articles and features that you would like to see please drop me a line. As another former US president Benjamin Franklin said: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

+971 4 440 9100 Published by

Registered at IMPZ PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409 Printed by Printwell Printing Press LLC © Copyright 2013 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

THE BUSINESS OF CONSTRUCTION

Stephen White

Group Editor

www.bigprojectme.com

APRIL 2013

085

ALSO INSIDE LOCAL CONTRACTORS DESALINATION QATAR DRAGONMART EXPANSION JOERG SCHEIFLER

PROTECT AND

SECURE

PUBLICATION LICENSED BY IMPZ

1 Cover - April.indd 1

Security experts explain what needs to be done to protect construction crews in dangerous areas

3/28/13 6:12 PM

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NOW ONLINE You can now get the online edition every month at: www.bigprojectme.com

APRIL 2013

The Formwork Experts.

Pathbreaking in Formwork Solutions Supporting you to build more efficiently for every concrete project. Infrastructure | Housing | Energy | High-Rise | Civil Consulting & On-site Services From project development to project close-out Systems & Components Wall, floor, shoring and climbing solutions with European safety standards

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BIGGEST PICTURE

US Congress watchdog finds more than $8 billion wasted during the reconstruction of Iraq

Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction finds that US officials wasted billions and failed to work with Iraqis to redevelop the war-torn country

big project, big numbers $60 billion – amount spent by American taxpayers on Iraq’s reconstruction $8 billion – amount allegedly wasted by US officials during process of reconstruction March 2003 – start of the conflict in Iraq October 2004 – start of SIGIR operations in Iraq 20 – number of reports submitted by SIGIR since 2009

A report released by a US official has revealed that more than $8 billion has been squandered during the reconstruction efforts currently underway in Iraq. In the report to the US Congress, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, pointed the finger at sloppy oversight and a failure to work with Iraqis on redevelopment programmes as the main causes of the massive waste of funds. Bowen said that there had been a failure to properly apply the massive funds raised from American taxpayers into Iraq. Approximately $60 billion was poured into reconstruction projects in vital sectors such as infrastructure, water and power. Although almost a decade has passed since the American invasion of Iraq and reconstruction work began, the war-torn country has yet to see any significant improvement in its infrastructure. “Management and funding gaps caused hundreds of projects to fall short of promised results, leaving a legacy of

bitter dissatisfaction among many Iraqis,” Bowen said. As a result, Iraqi officials have been left with numerous abandoned project sites that they cannot afford to maintain or develop. This was despite the US Congress approving a series of grants to Iraq almost immediately after the invasion. Bowen said that US officials had committed serious errors that drained funds, dragged out projects for months and years, and had left the Iraqis to pay the difference. Iraqi officials confirmed that US personnel had not worked effectively with their Iraqi counterparts, sometimes overriding the interests of the local population with their own ideas. “Not only was there no coordination between the Department of State, the Pentagon and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), they were fighting each other,” claimed Fuad Hussein, Chief of Staff to the Kurdish regional government’s President, Massoud Barzani.

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Big project Me asks the experts what lies in store for the kingdom of saudi Arabia on page 14

THE BIG PICTURE

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Riyadh approves $74 billion overhaul RDA approves comprehensive redevelopment of infrastructure and roadworks

Master planners for Doha’s Airport City appointed BY OMA Dutch firm appointed to oversee 10kmsq project near new Hamad International Airport Dutch architectural consultants, the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), have been appointed as master planners for Doha’s new Airport City, it has been announced. The consultancy has worked on a variety of major projects, including the Taipei Performing Arts Centre, the Television Cultural Centre in Beijing, the Shenzen Stock Exchange and De Rotterdam, the largest building in the Netherlands. The 10sqkm development will have 200,000 people living and working on it, and will link the new Hamad International Airport with the city of Doha, said Rem Koolhas, a partner at the consultancy. “We are delighted and honoured to participate in a project that is perhaps the first serious effort anywhere in the world to interface between an

international airport and the city it serves,” he added. OMA’s master plan is a series of four circular districts along a spine parallel to the HIA runways, intended to create a strong visual identity and districts with unique identities, Koolhas said. Phase One of the 30year master plan, which links airside and landside developments for business, logistics, retail, hotels, and residences, will be mostly complete in time for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. “Doha’s Airport City is an important addition to the realization of OMA’s work in urbanism and will incorporate unprecedented transport planning opportunities; we look forward to collaborating with the HIA to meet the objectives of this ambitious project,” said Iyad Alsaka, partner-in-charge at the firm.

Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Development Authority (RDA) has approved a comprehensive $74 billion plan to overhaul infrastructure and road-works in the Kingdom’s capital city. According to a news report by Arab News, the project will include the building of a ring road around the city, while keeping wide, open areas in the city centre. “The project will bring about a facelift of downtown

Riyadh and make it an outstanding historic, administrative, economic and cultural centre in the Kingdom,” said Ibrahim Al-Sultan, a member of the RDA and head of its centre for projects and planning. Al Sultan added that the plan also included the development of housing projects in the city centre and pedestrian pathways that would enhance the look of the city and make it more comfortable for citizens and residents. The central region will have three main railway lines and several bus routes,” he said. It will also house the main railway station, which will be part of the city’s public transport system.

Al Jaber Group agrees terms on $4.5 billion debt restructuring sqkm total area of the development

Abu Dhabi conglomerate agrees terms to restructure debt and is awaiting final approval from other lenders after nearly two years of talks. The family owned group operates in the construction, aviation and retail sectors. It had set up a five bank creditor committee in 2011 to negotiate a restructuring after it struggled to service its debt on maturity.

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big project ME talks to joerg scheifler of siemens about qatar leading the way for the gcc on page 16

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THE BIG PICTURE

would be invested in Lahore and Islamabad

would be invested in the Sindh province

$10 billion $35 billion

Abu Dhabi Group cancels $45bn Pakistani agreement

UDC signs $218 million contract for Abraj Quartier towers

$218 million

Construction work on 40-storey towers expected to be completed by January 2016, developer says United Development Company has signed a $218 million contract with a leading Qatari construction company to build two office towers in the Abraj Quartier at The Pearl – Qatar. Standing at 201m in height, the Gateway Office towers are on opposite sides of the main access road to The Pearl – Qatar project. The 40-storey towers will have a built up area of more than 230,000sqm. Construction work commenced on February 15, 2013 and is expected to be completed by the end of January, 2016. “These towers will set the standard for the development in terms of quality and architectural articulation for exterior material and finishes and will feature comprehensive smart systems,” said Ebrahim Al Sulaiti, chief executive officer of UDC. Abraj Quartier is one of the ten precincts that make up The Pearl-Qatar Island The island is one of the largest urban developments in the Gulf.

contract for Abraj Quartier towers

The Abu Dhabi Group has cancelled a tentative agreement with the Pakistani businessman, Malik Riaz Hussain, to build residential properties on an island at a cost of $45 billion, it has been announced. According to a Reuters report, the cancellation of the deal followed less than two weeks after it was signed. “It is unfortunate that

discussions between the parties could not reach any conclusion and the Memorandum of Understanding has been cancelled,” the firm said in a statement. The real estate project included plans to build the world’s tallest building on an island off the coast of Karachi. It would have been Pakistan’s largest ever foreign investment deal.

TDIC invites prequalification bids for Zayed Museum Contract for main construction works includes MEP, facade, steelworks and concrete superstructure Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) has invited prequalification bids for the main construction works on the Zayed Museum Project. The contract involves work on the concrete superstructure, structural steelwork, feature cladding to the wing-shaped aspects of the external facade, vertical transportation and specialist security installation, a statement from TDIC said. Additionally, the contract will include electrical, plumbing and mechanical works and fit out and external works. Set to be constructed alongside the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and the Louvre Abu Dhabi in Saadiyat Island’s Cultural District, the Zayed Museum will showcase His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s life and the influence of his reforms on the country. It is scheduled to be completed in 2014.

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big project me examines the issues facing smaller, local based contractors in the uae on page 30

THE BIG PICTURE

Arabtec Holding MD denies increase of Aabar stake Hasan Abdulla Ismaik says investment firm had no plans to increase their stake in construction contractor Aabar Investments will not increase its current 21% stake in Arabtec Holding, the managing director of the construction contracting firm has asserted. Speaking to local TV, Hasan Abdulla Ismaik said that Aabar’s stake was “supportive to Arabtec, but they have not applied for an increase of their stake.” “Arabtec Holding seeks to preserve liquidity and does not want to borrow and be under burdens,” he added. The construction firm will look to enter the infrastructure sector, in addition to the oil and gas sectors, so as to increase its chances of getting new projects in the Gulf region, the managing director confirmed. Riad Kamal, the former CEO of Arabtec resigned in February as part of a boardroom overhaul instigated by Aabar Investments. The Abu Dhabi investment fund had already replaced four board members with its own candidates and named its chairman, Kadem Abdulla Al Qubaisi, as Arabtec’s chairman.

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Kuwait to choose winning bid for airport Decision on contractor for airport will be in Q1 of 2013 Kuwait plans to choose a winning bid for the construction of its new airport by the first quarter of this year, a government official has said. The winner will be chosen from 18 companies currently bidding for the project, which is key for the country’s economic development. It is expected to cost around $3.2bn and is scheduled to open in 2020. Government officials hope it will serve as a regional air travel hub. Faisal Al Ustaith, a director at the Ministry of Public Works, told Reuters that the target was to get 25 million passengers passing through the airport annually.

Kuwait’s current capacity is at seven million. “We expect an announcement during the first quarter of the year,” he said. Several of the bidding companies may join together to form a consortium that gets the winning bid, Ustaith said, pointing out that all the bidders were foreign companies. Large development projects in Kuwait have been stalled for years by political wrangling and bureaucracy, leaving the oil-rich state relatively underdeveloped compared to its GCC neighbours, a Reuters report said. However, in the last few months, authorities have begun issuing contracts for some major projects, fuelling hopes that Kuwait could finally be on its way up. The new airport will have 51 gates, with 21 slated for use by large aircraft such as the Airbus A380, Ustaith said.

Giant cranes arrive at DP World London Gateway million annual target number of travellers through KIA

Giant cranes, taller than the London Eye, were sailed into the Thames Estuary and berthed at the UK’s new global shipping port, DP World London Gateway. The cranes will operate on a quay wall that is 2.7km in length, with foundations that are 16 storeys deep into the ground.

138m HEIGHT

s nne es 00otf o 2,0eig e cran th ht w

16 storeys

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depth of the wall’s foundations

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xyleminc.com | Bell & Gossett | Lowara | Goulds Water Technology ÂŠ 2013 Xylem Inc. Lowara and Bell & Gossett are trademarks of Xylem Inc. or one of its subsidiaries. Goulds is a registered trademark of Goulds Pumps, Inc. and is used under license.

THE BIG PICTURE

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Jeddah to level mountains to solve housing crisis Project part of plans to resolve housing shortage in the Kingdom

Dorma inaugurates first ‘World of Access’ showroom in the Gulf Dubai based showroom to provide ‘hands on experience’ for architecture and construction industry professionals

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Dorma Gulf, the regional arm of the German door technology producer, has opened the doors to a new showroom on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road. Measuring a total of 280sqm, the showroom is aimed at the architectural design community and offers customers a hands on experience with its products, which includes doors, hardware and access technology. It will also provide accredited education programs, instructional sessions, product and service introductions and additional events serving the design community. “Our objective is to continue to be the first-choice partner and to align our products and solutions more closely to our customers and business partners’ requirements. As a forum for exchanging views and pursuing dialogue, our Dorma showroom here in the international hub that is Dubai constitutes an important step along our chosen path,” Ben Shaw, regional director

APRIL 2013

for MENA, Dorma Gulf said, during the launch. The showroom is the first of its kind in the Gulf, he added, and follows on from one which was opened in New York in December 2012. Dorma Gulf currently generates sales in excess of $67.9mn in sales and employs over 320 people in the region. It is currently executing a $10.4mn project in Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Financial District. In addition, it is working on a number of other projects, including the Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 4 and the Doha International Airport. “Dorma Gulf has developed into one of the major performers in our company and the fact that we are celebrating the inauguration of our ‘World of Access’ showroom in the Gulf region is also very much down to the success achieved by this team,” said Thomas P Wagner, Dorma Group CEO. “With this showroom we aim to maximise our customer focus.”

The municipality of Jeddah has announced plans to level the mountains surrounding the city to help create more housing plots for a rapidly growing urban population. The project is part of the Kingdom’s plans to resolve the housing crisis in the country’s major cities. An official said the plots would become part of the government’s land grants. “The leveling project, which falls within the strategic plan for development of the coastal governorate, will cover areas currently outside the urban confines of the governorate,” he said. “The plots will be allocated to citizens and, in the case of any encroachments, illegal settlers will be evicted and the structures they built will be razed,” the source added. The municipality also plans to extend the city’s mass transit project to areas that will be developed in the future.

Oman to receive $500 million in aid from UAE The UAE will channel $500 million this year into development projects in Oman, it has announced. The funds are part of a $2.5 billion pledge of aid by members of the GCC, to neighbouring countries that would benefit from them. The likes of Bahrain and Oman were mooted recipients of the aid packages.

$20 n io bill t of

n y ou db Am dge ple aid he GCC t

$67.9 million value of Dorma’s sales from the Middle East

$1 bill 0 ion To

tal aid th ha pled s been at ged by t he UAE

$500 million

t Amoun ill Oman w in aid receive e UAE from th

THE BIG PICTURE

Qatar to attract more visitors through expansion of cultural project Katara Cultural Village, a tourism development project in Qatar, plans to construct more buildings, including a shopping mall, residential villas, hotels and other facilities, as it looks to attract more visitors over the coming few years. Construction of the mall is likely to begin in June of this year, said Dr Khalid Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, general manager of the Katara project. He said that what was currently on the ground was only the first phase of the project, with further expansion planned in stages. “Many new buildings are set to rise on the south side of Katara, including a commercial plaza on top of the basement parking. These projects would likely start in June this year. We are going

2018 scheduled finish date of katara project

within the schedule of phases of development,” Dr Al Sulaiti told The Peninsula, a Qatar based newspaper. “The foundation is a huge entity and requires several years to accomplish this dream, which is scheduled to be finalised in 2018.” “By completing stages of the Cultural Village project, Qatar will be succeeding in investing in culture, as the government funds cultural activities, and preserving its legacy, because culture is the memory of people, and the main motive of its heading to future prospects,” he added. The Cultural Village has become a major tourist destination in the Gulf Arab country for both residents and visitors alike, who are looking for art expos and performances, generally not available in the country.

Emaar sells out The Address Residence Sky View Construction of project to start in August of 2013 Emaar Properties, the Dubai based property developer, sold units in The Address Residence Sky View project at an average price of $700 per square feet, investors who purchased units in the tower, said. “We bought properties in the project for $700 per square foot,” one investor said on conditions of anonymity. He added: “We were told that all the units in the project released in Dubai had been sold out.” Another investor, who wished not to be named, said he had also been told by the company sales staff that all units released had been sold out.

Last week, Emaar said it had closed on-line registration for the project in less than one hour following “phenomenal” investor interest for the residences and serviced apartments in the project. Emaar.com recorded visitor traffic from more than 75 countries. Emaar also held the sales launch simultaneously in Riyadh. Saudis have been major investors in the Dubai real estate market. Last year, they invested over $500mn in the sector. Construction of the project will start in August 2013, with a scheduled completion date of August 2016.

Abu Dhabi to Dubai railway link under tendering process Work underway to complete first of the project’s three stages, Etihad Rail officials say PLans for a railway linking Abu Dhabi and Dubai are in motion, with the first phase of a national project expected to be completed this year, according to reports in the UAE media. In March, rail operator Etihad Rail secured $1.28 billion of project financing from a group of local and international banks. Work is already underway to complete the first of the project’s three stages, a freight line running from the port of Ruwais to Habshan and Shah. Phase one is expected to commence operation in 2014, with phase two, connecting Abu Dhabi to Dubai, currently in the tendering process. Once finished, the 1200km rail network project will stretch from Al Ghweifat on the Saudi border to Ruwais, Liwa, Shah, Dubai, Al Ain, Ras Al Khaimah and the East Coast. Eight of the 13 main transport centres along the network will be located in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi. Officials for Etihad Rail stated that they believe the project will contribute $952.65mn to GDP by 2030.

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MIDDLE EAST

Katara Cultural Village set for major expansion

NEWS ANALYSIS

bigprojectME.com

Kingdom

of Plenty Big Project ME analyses the state of Saudi Arabian construction and talks to the experts about the current situation in the market

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arlier this year, a report released by Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank predicted that the Kingdom’s construction sector would witness a sustained period of ‘robust growth’ in 2013. Project capital expenditures are projected to reach $71.9 billion this year, the bank’s Commercial Contracts Index for the fourth quarter of 2012 showed. “The year 2012 provided the Saudi economy with a continued solid, sustainable outlook of the construction sector. The sheer volume of awarded contracts indicates that the year 2013 will extend the familiar trend of significant, ongoing construction projects in their execution phase, of which the majority that were awarded last year, have already been initiated.

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“The government’s projected expenditures for 2013 reveal that heavy capital spending will remain as status quo,” the report explained. With construction set to be one of the major drivers of Saudi Arabia’s economic growth over the coming year, the prospects for the Kingdom’s construction industry look bright.

“Given the size and range of projects planned over the next few years, there still remains a significant opportunity for international contractors to enter the market”

NEWS ANALYSIS

According to local media estimates, in 2013 alone, the government intends to spend heavily in the education, health, municipality, transportation and water sectors, with plans for the construction of 539 new schools, 19 new hospitals and the development of 3,700km of new roads across the Kingdom. Furthermore, a report by Zawya has indicated that Saudi Arabia will see the completion of $613 billion worth of construction projects over the next five years. The demand drivers are set to be improvement of the transportation systems and infrastructure projects, said Mick Dalton, current liaison at IFMA Foundation Liaison (Middle East). In turn, this will increase the investment opportunities in the market, as well as increasing the connectivity and attractiveness of the market to investors, he added in the report. “Though Saudi contractors are some of the largest in the region, given the size and range of projects planned over the next few years, there still remains a significant opportunity for international contractors to enter the market,” he said. Craig Plumb, from Jones Lang LaSalle, added that the Kingdom’s ambitious growth plans, such its economic cities, are part of its plans to diversify its economy from oil. However, concerns have been raised by Saudi Arabian developers, who have said that this increased emphasis on commercial construction could have long-term consequences on the supply and demand in the market. Mohammad Al Saja, chairman of Mizat Development, a joint stock company established by a group of Saudi businessmen and engineers, says that when it comes to the office supply in the Kingdom, specifically in major cities such

as Riyadh, there is an oversupply and not enough demand to sustain the market. “When you go to the office supply side, there is too much supply and projects currently under development, like the King Abdullah Financial District, and I’m talking about Riyadh specifically here, there is more supply than demand,” he explained to Big Project ME during a telephone interview. In his opinion, Al Saja said that the crucial construction sector will be the residential sector, given the well documented housing crisis that is affecting the country. The demand for housing exists, the issue will be meeting it, he pointed out. “Saudi Arabia has a young population, with 70% of the population below 30 years of age. There is a challenge with the financial stability of the target market, the end users. It’s becoming a political issue, with the government giving more and more attention to that.” “As a result, the housing commission was changed to the Housing Ministry. In 2011, they announced that they’ll be adding 500,000 new units (per year), but there’s annual demand that keeps adding up,” he warned. Craig Plumb agreed with the sentiment expressed, and added that affordable housing was the key factor in resolving this issue. As such, Al Saja said that one of the ways the government of Saudi Arabia could resolve the situation was to establish greater communication and dialogue with the developers and contractors in the Saudi Arabian construction industry. “There is dialogue going on, but it’s not been going as fast as I believe it should,” he said. “There must be interaction, because the Ministry of Housing cannot do it by itself. There is huge demand and we should follow other countries’ procedures, processes or models (to resolve the issue).” “The Ministry of Housing should be a kind of regulator and cooperate with the private sector, especially the developers and the financial companies, the banks, real estate funds, the mortgage funds and so on. If they want to do it themselves, it will be a very tough fight,” he stressed. n

Mohammad al saja

Saudi figures n $71.9 billion Predicted project capital expenditures

n 539 - Number of new schools being built

n 19 - Number of new hospitals being built

n 3,700km - New roads being built

n $613 billion- Value of construction projects being built over next five years

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“There is a challenge with the financial stability of the target market. It’s a political issue, with the government giving more and more attention to that”

IN PROFILE Joerg Scheifler

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Trend

SettER Big Project ME talks to Joerg Scheifler, CEO of Infrastructures and Cities Sector Middle East at Siemens, about how his company’s work is helping Qatar show the way forward in the GCC

E 16

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ver since Sepp Blatter announced that Qatar would be the host nation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, there’s been almost incessant talk about the construction and infrastructure development opportunities available in the nation with the world’s third-largest natural gas reserves. Contractors, consultants and manufacturers have been falling over themselves to get into the Gulf Arab state ahead of each other and carve out a slice of the pie. And what a pie it is too, with a 2012 Commercial Bank of Qatar report

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predicting that the Qatar construction sector will be worth as much as $210 billion by 2020. With roads, infrastructure, stadiums, transport networks and high rise towers all on the agenda, it’s clear that Qatar has arrived on the regional construction scene, and that it would be foolish for a construction firm to ignore the opportunity it offers. One company that recognised this tiny country’s potential was the German global powerhouse, Siemens AG. Since the 1970’s the company has been involved

in Qatar’s development on a project by project basis, despite not having a permanent set up in the country. In 2005, that changed as Siemens WLL was set up. The company now has 400 people working full time, with plans to grow further well underway. This investment into the country has paid off handsomely for the company, with its Infrastructure and Cities Sector handed the reins for a defining transportation project for Qatar, the Doha Tram system. In addition, the sector focuses on five core divisions – rail,

IN PROFILE Joerg Scheifler

“It always makes sense to talk to these institutions also contract independent (firms) and tell them what we’re doing in R&D and inform them about the latest trends in sustainability”

Sustainability leader Qatar is leading the way for the GCC in sustainability.

the powerhouse. I would say that maybe besides Saudi Arabia, they’re the most focused on steaming ahead with their infrastructure development,” Scheifler reiterates strongly. Driving this progressiveness has been Qatar’s leadership, through the Qatar Foundation, which has been pushing for more sustainable solutions, he says. “Qatar is one of the most progressive countries in the region in terms of infrastructure development, and hence our sustainable solutions are an ideal fit for the country,” he asserts. “It always makes sense to talk to these institutions also contract independent (firms) and tell them what we’re doing in R&D and inform them about the latest trends in sustainability.” This is a refreshing change from the status quo, where any talk of sustainability is confronted with resistance over costs and effectiveness. With massive development on the agenda, the future looks bright for construction in Qatar, and Scheifler says that he expects Siemens and the Infrastructures and Cities Sector to be right at the forefront of the charge.

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mobility solutions, smart grid solutions, low and medium voltage solutions and building technologies. Joerg Scheifler is the CEO of Infrastructure and Cities Sector in the Middle East and the man tasked to oversee the tram project, along with the sector’s activities in 16 countries across the region. “We’re basically delivering a turnkey project with a three-digit-million US dollar volume. We are in a consortium with the well known construction company Leighton, who are our civil partner,” he tells Big Project ME. “We’re in the execution phase, and it’s going well so far. We’re in regular contact with the end-customer, Qatar Foundation, and its project execution arm, which is ASTAD. We’re currently in the design phase so everything is going fine; the delivery date is August 2015, when we will deliver our Avenio trams.” “The total track length is 11.5km, and we’ll have 25 stations. It’s a technical first. It’s the first tram in the Middle East without any visible overhead lines, so that’s something that will differentiate Qatar from other countries with (tram systems),” he outlines. (It is worth noting that Alstom is also working on a similarly styled system for Dubai’s Al Sufouh tramway, also expected in 2014.) Appointed in January 2012, Scheifler has extensive experience in the region, having worked in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE for more than 30 years prior to taking over in Qatar. His main focus is to support the country by providing solutions as it looks to show the way forward for the rest of the GCC. “We are, I would say, lucky to find a customer that is so progressive. The good thing is that the Qatar Foundation is always looking for the best and they do not shy away from being the first in certain areas,” he enthuses. “Generally, for me, Qatar is a trendsetter. If you compare it with other countries in the GCC, it is leading in many different areas. In other words, whatever we do here in Qatar, we can nicely replicate in other countries in the region, for example in Saudi Arabia or the UAE.” “But Qatar, at the moment, is definitely

IN PROFILE Joerg Scheifler

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Doha tram Siemens and Leighton are working together on Doha’s first tramway.

APRIL 2013

“There are a lot of projects coming up here, especially in relation to the project development leading up to the World Cup 2022,” he says. “(There are) big event-related and nonevent related projects, so there’s quite a big basket out there, especially the big rail related projects in Qatar.” “The Metro Doha, the tram, they’re also talking about a high-speed train network. Definitely the biggest opportunities can be found in the rail transport sector,” he says, adding that the Doha Metro project is, in his view, one of the most exciting developments in the country. This isn’t just because of what it would mean for Qatar, but also because of the wider implications in the GCC. With plans for a region-wide railway network gathering steam, the building of projects like the Doha Metro is a precursor to a network that could stretch from Kuwait to Oman. It is a vision that Scheifler is an advocate of and one that he believes will have a massive impact. “In terms of the GCC network, this is of course the most interesting concept out there,” he says. “Overarching, it basically includes all the GCC countries, so definitely we’re not the only player who wants to play a role in that,” he asserts, “(But) I think it’s a great vision, it brings these countries

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“Qatar is one of the most progressive countries in the region in terms of infrastructure development, and hence our sustainable solutions are an ideal fit for the country”

together and to be honest, it wouldn’t be the first time that people are thinking along these lines. “We also have the GCC grid, which is also very much advanced in its installation and implementation. I definitely compare the two, because if you can create a GCC grid, why shouldn’t you be able to create a GCC rail network, so I see a lot of similarities in that.” While the rail sector is of vital importance, Scheifler says that attention is also being given to a number of other projects in Qatar, with sustainability and building technology all on the agenda. As part of this, the Infrastructures and Cities Sector has been involved in the development of a ‘smart-grid’ project for the country, which again highlights Qatar’s willingness to try new things, he says, pointing out the Gulf Arab country’s record over the years.

Siemens Qatar projects n Doha Tram 11.5km long tramway in Doha worth more than $100 million

n Kharamaa Phase 10- $201 million deals to improve power infrastructure in and around Doha

n Smart Grid project - Installation of 17,000 smart meters and 15,000 water meters in Qatar

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“We’re doing currently a project for installing around 17,000 smart meters and 15,000 water meters, along with a meter management software. This pilot project is actually also the first of its kind in the Gulf at least. It is going to set the trend as to how one ideally manages customer demand during peak periods, improve the billing process with the end user, and so on,” he explains. “Furthermore, another area which we’re involved in, it’s not exactly Infrastructure and Cities, but it belongs to the whole Siemens’ portfolio, is currently our massive involvement in the energy distribution field. The Kahramaa Phase 10, where we’re currently in the execution of quite a number of substations.” As these projects continue to grow and gather pace, Scheifler says that he’s excited about the opportunities available in the country, and he hopes they’ll be adopted throughout the GCC as their success is proven. “This is why I said before that, for me, Qatar is really about trend-setting. They have more and more demands

APRIL 2013

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Bright future Qatar’s forward thinking approach will benefit it in the long-term.

for sustainable solutions and we’re happy to deliver that. There are other countries out there that are not thinking along these lines, and you know, if you have such customers, you can preach whatever you want about sustainability, they don’t want to buy it.” Although he is quick to clarify that the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC are just as important to Siemens, he holds out hope that Qatar will become the standard by which the region will be judged when it comes to sustainability. “We do a lot in terms of sustainability as well in the UAE, Siemens is always looking for new opportunities, (however) I do see a bright future here in Qatar.” n

“It’s a technical first. It’s the first tram in the Middle East without any visible overhead lines, so that’s something that will differentiate Qatar from other countries”

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ON SITE dragonmart2

DragonMart2 (Expansion)

Location

Dubai (Oman - Hatta Highway)

Site Area

177,000sqm

Building type

Retail and Hotel

Construction cost

$272 million

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Project Name

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ON SITE dragonmart2

Year of the

Dragon

Big Project ME visits Phase 2 of the Dragon Mart project, which is set to be completed by the first-half of 2014. Gavin Davids reports Fuelled by increasing demand though, Nakheel, the developer behind the project, announced in June 2012 that it had started construction work on a $272.2 million expansion of the shopping mall. Once work on the 177,000sqm expansion is complete, the entire complex will have a total area of 335,000sqm, or the size of 47 full-size international football pitches, the developer said. The second phase of expansion will see the construction of a mall, hotel and multistorey car park. As the pace of construction picks up and progress on the foundations continues, Big Project ME visited the site with Engineer Mohammed Rashed Bin Dhabeah, managing director of Development, Projects, Logistics and Shared Services for Nakheel, and the man overseeing the massive construction project. “Right now we have about 60% of the foundation of the mall completed, 80% of the foundation of the hotel completed and we’re powering ahead with development,” he explains during the site tour.

“Right now we have about 60% of the foundation of the mall completed, 80% of the foundation of the hotel completed”

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ocated on the Oman-Hatta highway outside of Dubai, the mammoth Dragon Mart has earned its reputation as the world’s biggest trading hub for Chinese products outside of the Chinese mainland. On a daily basis, the 158,000sqm shopping mall sees more than 52,000 visitors passing through its doors. Currently 1.2km long, the mall opened in December 2004 and at present has close to 4,000 retailers operating in its premises.

ON SITE dragonmart2

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“Now we’re getting the columns up, that’s in preparation for the first floor slabs. We have a programme in place and our target is to complete the construction by the first half of next year. The fitting out stage will then start, for the tenants to fit out all their stores and be ready for the opening,” he explains. Nakheel has signed $163.35 million in contracts for the second phase of the project since the summer of 2012, and as work continues, it is preparing to launch new tenders for further construction work, Dhabeah reveals. “We have awarded three major contracts (so far), the shopping mall construction contract, the car parking contract and the hotel contract.” “We have more to be awarded – the plaza, the landscaping and the mechanical units, such as chillers, pumps and such things, a central utilities plant, basically,” he says. The tenders for these contracts will be released by the last week of March, Nakheel confirms. “The consultant is Dar Al Handasa (which was also the consultant for Phase One),” he says, adding that United Engineering Construction is the main contractor for the mall and Kele Contracting is the contractor for the hotel and car park. With the scheduled completion date just a year away, Dhabeah says that the amount of workers onsite will increase rapidly as construction progresses. At present there are 1,300 workers onsite daily, but he expects to reach around 4,000 workers at the peak of construction. “There are no marked delays; we’ve signed the contracts with all the contractors. There was a time when we had to get all the NOC’s, the permits and everything. We’ve got all that and we’ve started work on the area. On the site, the activity is very rapid and very intense,” he asserts, pointing out that concrete is being poured at between 700-800m3 per day. The parking facilities in Phase Two of the project will accommodate 4,550 vehicles, with 2,000 in the multi-storey car park, 1,750 on the mall roof and a further 800 at street level. This will swell the total number of car parking spaces to 7,050.

APRIL 2013

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Nakheel adds that 80% of the available retail space in the second phase has been taken, with tenants including major retail players such as Geant hypermarket and Grand Cinemas. The new hotel will cover 8,500sqm and will have 240 rooms for guests. Dhabeah says that the developer is currently in talks with a select number of operators to manage the hotel. He adds that for the most part, the project has not experienced any major issues to date due to the thorough preparations and planning carried out by the consultant and contractors; though he concedes that it is not the most complicated of projects to work on. “I think there are no difficulties in the mall or the hotel, because it’s a straightforward construction. A twostorey shopping mall and retail, it’s like any other project. We have so many

thorough prep has helped smooth the way forward for Nakheel.

“We have awarded three major contracts (so far), the shopping mall construction contract, the car parking contract and the hotel contract. We have more to be awarded – the plaza, the landscaping and the mechanical units”

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A I R P O RT S

T H E M E D PRO J E C T S

H OT E L S

R E TA I L

CO M M E RC I A L

R E S I D E NT I A L

ON SITE dragonmart2

projects in the area and we don’t see any different challenges or anything. It’s just been normal day to day work, dealing with the labourers and that sort of thing,” he explains. “It’s just a (ground + one) shopping mall. It’s not a very complex.”

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“In summer, there are certain arrangements that are normal to the industry. There are breaks during summer and the contractors are part of the system, they’re not new to the region and they need to provide the proper areas for rest and so on”

APRIL 2013

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However, one thing that did require, and will continue to need careful monitoring and planning is the workforce on the construction site. With summer fast-approaching, government authorities have already begun preparations to monitor the health and safety of onsite workers during the blistering heat of July and August. Dhabeah says that these circumstances, as well as Ramadan timings, have all been factored into the planning of the construction schedule. As such, he does not expect there to be too much disruption to the construction schedule of the project. “In summer, there are certain arrangements that are normal to the industry. There are breaks during summer and the contractors are part of the system, they’re not new to the region

n 52,000 – Visitors daily to current mall

n 1.2km – Length of the current structure

n 158,000sqm – Current size

n 177,000sqm – Size of expansion

n 335,000sqm – Total

size of complex after Phase Two

ON SITE dragonmart2

is a major issue for us, so we don’t foresee any major problems.” During phase one of Dragon Mart’s construction, the surrounding area saw extensive work being done to increase accessibility to the complex. Roads were built, expanded and rerouted to allow ease of access to the shopping mall. Given that the bulk of work has been completed in terms of infrastructure, Dahbeah does not see major adjustments just yet. However, he says that part of the mall’s design will be added to allow for the development of the project and the additional parking space. “(However) In terms of the future, there are plans to extend the new metro line, one station will come to service this area of International City, which is an added value. That’s part of the expansion of the Roads and Transport Authority though, they would be the best people to ask,” he says, concluding the site tour and making it clear that Nakheel have bigger plans in store for the Dragon Mart, having cornered the market with Phase 1. The year of the Dragon is well and truly underway as far as one of Dubai’s largest developers is concerned.n

n $272 million – Estimated total development value

n $163 million – Contracts signed in summer 2012

n 800m3 – Concrete poured a day

n 1,300 – Construction workers currently on site every day

n 4,000 – Project number of construction workers at peak of project work

n 80% - Completion of hotel foundation

n 60% - Completion of mall foundation

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foundation works 1,300 workers are on-site daily at present.

and they need to provide the proper areas for rest and so on,” he says. “Normally Ramadan comes during the summer and the contractor work hours reduce, they emphasise on the night shift. During the day, they’ll do the preparation, all the concreting and all the other issues will be during the night work, because the weather is better. All the proper equipment is there.” In relation to this, Dahbeah adds that their choice of contractor was heavily influenced by their record when it came to safety onsite, given that the developer’s reputation and record on construction projects. “Luckily, so far we’ve had zero accidents since the start of the project and we stress on the contractors to continue with the same record. Generally, in all of our projects, we have very good records for safety,” he asserts. “The people working with us are very experienced, the consultant working with us, they’re well-known. The contractors have been around enough (to know what to do),” he tells Big Project ME. “They’ve worked with us before and their safety record is known to us. Safety

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local contractors

APRIL 2013

bigprojectME.com

local contractors

Voices in the

Wilderness Big Project ME talks to three prominent UAE established contractors to find out what’s being done to protect the interests of the smaller players in the industry. Gavin Davids reports

to the margins Local contractors are being pushed out of the market.

While attention remains riveted to the multi-billion dollars projects and the companies fighting tooth and nail for them, the foundation of the industry remains the local contractors who operate in the ‘smaller’ contract market. These are the firms that deal with the projects the big boys don’t consider worth their time or effort. Of course, when the crisis was in full swing, there was a desperate scramble to secure any contract that would put money in the bank. But now that things are returning to an even keel, the focus has returned to the glamour deals, while the rest of the market is left to fight it out for the scraps from the table. As a result, the competition for these projects is fierce, as the smaller, locally based contractors struggle to survive in market that has come to define cut-throat. Big Project ME spoke to three successful contractors who have made it their mission to succeed in this most demanding of environments. Jaswanth Singh is the managing director of Al Avon Contracting, a

n 11.1% Construction’s contribution to UAE GDP by 2015

n 11.5% Construction’s contribution to UAE GDP by 2021

n $39.4 billion

Estimated value of UAE construction market in 2012

n $1.95 trillion

Anticipated worth of construction in the UAE in 2013

Source: Gulf News

“I try to limit myself to manageable limits. The construction industry isn’t a trading business. You have to take on a contract, perform and finish, and then you get the money”

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ontractors are the driving force behind the construction industry. Without them there would be no buildings, no towers and no construction, full stop. This much is obvious, but in a market such as the UAE, it’s easy to underestimate their importance, such is the sway that developers have. As projects across Dubai and Abu Dhabi have mushroomed, so too have the number of contractors in operation. We’ve seen some of the biggest international contractors enter the market, competing with the established local giants for the biggest and most prestigious contracts. As the competition grows, a vital component of the local contractor industry is being pushed to the margins, given that they operate in a very different environment to the major players.

local contractors

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Dubai-based firm that specialises in the construction of warehouses and other commercial properties. The firm has been in operation since the early 2000s and has completed a number of major logistical projects for international clients. Having had to establish himself in a market that he describes as ‘very competitive’, Singh has embraced a business philosophy that he says has stood him in good stead over the years, especially during the downturn era. “The ethics have to be right in construction and business, this is what I believe. The way we operate is that we service our clients. Once we get a job, we do the job and after we complete the job, any requirement by the client, or if there’s a problem because of us not performing, we then take care of it,” he explains to Big Project ME. Focusing mainly on the $8 million to $10 million market, Singh says that this narrow focus is a conscious decision on his part. He believes that it allows his company to focus on what remains important to his business. “I try to limit myself to manageable limits. The construction industry isn’t a trading business. You have to take on a contract, perform and finish, and then you get the money. Once you get the money, you see if the profit is there,” he says. “If you have too many jobs, your personal attention isn’t there. Then you have to delegate responsibility. In my company, I know my staff and I know they’ll do a job with full responsibility, but the moment you go big, you start losing control, and then your name suffers. So I want to be in a position where I can be in control and do a good job. Then the profit margins will come.” “There’s always the thought you should go to the next level, but you need the right staff and you need to be able to keep your clients happy. You should be able to maintain and build the relationship,” Singh adds. Having adopted such a conservative approach, it is with no small sense of alarm that he regards the way certain competitors operate so recklessly in the local market. Having seen many projects underbid for, he wants no part of it.

APRIL 2013

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“We’re not a small company, but I use the money we make to expand. We have the ability to do big projects, but at good rates. We can’t compete if the prices are being driven down”

The head of one of the UAE’s largest contracting firms has called for greater cohesion from the construction industry when it comes to working on projects. In an interview with Big Project ME, Kez Taylor, chief executive officer of ALEC, said that all participants on a project, from developer to consultant to contractor need to work together to find a workable solution. “I think the more mature clients realise the value of having the right participants in a team and they realise that if you put the right team together, you can end up with a winning solution for all parties. It’s about ensuring all participants in the team succeed, that’s what we strive for all of the time, to find those kinds of balances,” he explained.

Increased competition The regional situation has increased competition in the UAE market.

Therefore, he avoids tendering for projects, preferring instead to let his company’s reputation and quality of work bring clients to him. “I don’t like to compete with all the contractors who go for tenders,” he explains. “What happens is that some people under-quote, they’re not bothered about the job; they’re not bothered about the client or whether the job is completed on time. “Nor are they bothered about what quality of job they’re doing. They just want to get the job, get the advance and get the money. They then roll the money and take another job.” This is a view that Milind Deshmukh, director at SAM Contracting, shares. As one of the heads of a contracting firm that has an annual turnover of more than $27 million, he’s better placed than most to comment on the growing competition in the Dubai market. “The competition is growing because of the regional situation,” he says. “There are more expats coming and setting up business here, from places like Egypt, Syria and so on. What is happening is

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local contractors

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that this is driving the prices down and the bottom line is being eroded. So this is making the market unstable. These companies are new, but they may not perform and are thus spoiling the market,” he asserts. “What companies coming into the market here should have is a track record,” he insists. “If you’ve done a $2 million job, then go for a $8 million job. But don’t give a guy who has the ability to do a $500,000 job a $25 million project. You’re bringing a sickness into the economy if you do that.” “You need to qualify contractors, find out what projects they did during the year, whether it was a big size project or a small-sized project, was it completed on time and so on. Then you can give them gradation,” Deshmukh says. “Let them prove themselves, otherwise you’re bringing in bad players who spoil the market and who will, in turn, make the

“You need to qualify contractors, find out what projects they did during the year, whether it was a big size project or a small sized project, was it completed on time and so on. Then you can give them gradation”

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SME sector sick. Because they will not pay suppliers, they will not pay employees and they will not give a good quality job to the client either,” he points out. Engineer Mohammed Hisham, the managing partner of Fastech Prestressing, a post-tensioning and concrete works contractor based in Sharjah, adds that local companies like his, Al Avon and SAM Contracting, companies that have been established in the UAE, are often adversely affected by foreign companies entering the market. “When they come from outside, they are fully financed from Europe and they are damaging the industry here and damaging our competition.” “They’re damaging Arab companies in the UAE market. Why? Because all the time, they offer low prices, and all the time, I have to go like them, because I

APRIL 2013

Jaswanth Singh

need the projects. But they have the ability to be financed by the main offices in Europe and Australia, but I have nobody to finance my losses,” he complains. Keeping this in mind, he calls for greater assistance from government authorities and contractor associations, pointing out that this would allow for greater representation and fairer opportunities for local contractors. “The authorities such as the contractors association, the engineering society or the Ministry of Economy, there should be ‘justice’ available from them. Why? Because there will be a help line for companies coming to them,” he says. “We’re not a small company, but I use the money we make to expand. We have the ability to do big projects, but at good rates. We can’t compete if the prices are being driven down,” he asserts. “These companies are damaging the markets,” Hisham warns, adding that this ‘strategy’ of driving down prices was taking place not just in the UAE, but also in markets like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Both Milind Deshmukh and Jaswant Singh concur with the call for increased representation, with Singh adding that if there was greater policing being done on these interlopers, then the market would benefit in the long run.

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local contractors

UAE Construction Tender Price Index n 3%: Amount UAE

construction tender prices fell in 2011

n 2%: Projected rise of construction tender prices in 2013

n 4%: Projected rise of construction tender prices in 2014

n 5%: Projected rise of construction tender prices in 2015

Source: EC Harris

client can cheat one contractor, and then next year, he can come up with another job and cheat another contractor. There’s no information available to show that he’s a bad payer and there’s no credit rating for clients,” he claims. Clearly then, there are major issues that need to be resolved in this sub-strata of the construction industry. While there has been a clear focus from the international players towards introducing best practices into the construction industry, especially on their projects, the fact remains that at a local level, companies do not have the resources to implement such drastic changes on their own. It is clear then, that the government must lead the way to ensure that this vital base for the construction industry is well protected and ring-fenced from the cowboy operators that plagued the industry prior to the crash in 2009. The will is there, all that is now needed is for the government to meet the industry halfway and show that the painful lessons have been learnt. n

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Not only would rogue contractors be kept at bay, but also clients who were unable to meet the funding requirements of a project would also be held accountable for their missteps. “There has to be some sort of body where there’s a voice for the industry. If the consultant has issued a certificate (for the project), then the client has to pay after the job is done. In the West, government bodies will ensure that payment is made.” “Here, it is not so simple. Although the contractor has finished his job, the client can just fool around and not pay the full amount. Sometimes the consultant can be blamed for that, though if the consultant is very strong, he can make the client make the payment,” he explains. “But sometimes, the consultants aren’t bothered; they say that ‘we’ve given you the certificate, that’s your issue.’ I know in many cases, government bodies here don’t support you.” “There is zero representation at government level,” adds Deshmukh, “One

Special Report DESALINATION

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Liquid

Gold

Qatar is making a big push to build the desalination plants that it believes will solve its water crisis. Jonathon Savill examines the massive task ahead and asks if things can be done better

MIDDLE EAST

Massive consumption Qatar has the highest water consumption rate in the world.

APRIL 2013

hey say that creativity is looking at the same thing as everybody else, but seeing something different. Fahad Bin Mohammed Al Attiya is head of Qatar’s Food Security Programme. Water is not just a resource to him; it’s a philosophy and a future. Water is a giver of life. Without it, not only crops but cultures wither and die. As Al Attiya points out there are six dialects in Qatar, because resources were so scarce they could not support large groups of Qataris living together. In the 1940s Qatar had a population of 11,000. Now, its population is 1.7 million. Uniquely in history, it has grown this population without water. The reason it does so is the almost total, and increasing, use of desalination to provide

potable water for its residents, industry and infrastructure. There are two important facts about Qatar’s use of water. One is that it has the highest per capita use of water in the world at 430 litres per day (it also has the world’s largest carbon footprint per capita and is the world’s richest country per capita). The other is that it only has two days reserve of water. To break it down, that is a mere 48 hours, or 2,880 minutes. Water is like money, a little is lifesaving but more than you need causes you problems. Put enough water into a society to let the population drink and you have solved a problem. With a little more you can look at starting agriculture. Then there is the

special report DESALINATION

“There is a misconception that there is lots of sun in Qatar and therefore solar is going to work very well. But Qatar is very hot, and solar technology is designed to work in lower temperatures”

Food security is the prime concern of the Qatar government’s strategy, set forth in its National Vision 2030. Imports currently account for more than 90% of the goods consumed by the population of two million, of whom only 300,000 are Qatari nationals. Qatar is investigating other solutions as well. It recently asked Kenya to lease it 40,000ha of land to grow crops, as a condition of a proposed aid package. The Qataris have also started farming out in the desert; there are those that believe it could produce enough vegetable crops to be self-sustaining. Qatar wants to increase domestic food production from the 10% it currently produces to 70% by 2024. But Saudi Arabia tried to grow its own wheat and it abandoned the project in 2008 as being too expensive. In January this year, Qatar awarded Mitsubishi Corporation a $260 million contract to build a new desalination plant. With a completion date set for June 2015, the plant, which is being financed by four local banks, will undertake the expensive process of converting sea water to produce 36 million gallons of fresh water on a daily basis.

Qatar water usage n 325 million gallons Amount of water produced by Qatar

n 430 litres

Per capita water usage daily

n 48 hours

Length of time water reserves will last

n 10%

Rate at which water consumption is growing per year

n 20-30%

Surplus of water production in Qatar.

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extreme eco-madness of a dozen golf courses, the likes of which we’ve seen all over the GCC region. Qatar currently has a surplus of 2030% of its water production, but water consumption is growing at a rate of more than 10% per year. The country produces around 325 million gallons of water, according to official statistics. All of the water produced in the small Gulf country is desalinated. Qatar’s food prices have risen by 5% per year over the last five years. As the country is entirely dependent on imported food, it is prone to massive increases in price and food shortages.

special report DESALINATION

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The Ras Abu Fontas A2 desalination plant consortium includes Mitsubishi Corporation and Toyo-Thai Corporation. The new plant will have a planned capacity of 163,659 cubic metres of desalinated water, which will be supplied to Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (KAHRAMAA) for 25 years. The plant is delivered on a full turnkey basis, and will then be operated and maintained by QEWC. Project completion and commissioning has been scheduled for June 2015. Mitsubishi will work with Hitachi Zosen Corporation to install seawater desalination plant facilities. Toyo-Thai will be responsible for processes such as seawater intake and boiler installations. The Qatar’s Food Security Programme plans to utilise the latest advances in Reverse Osmosis (RO) and solar desalination technologies to meet most of the QNFSP’s agricultural water needs. The power needed to run the reverse osmosis system is expected to originate from a solar park, to be built in the south of the country. You would think this would be an obvious solution, having solar power in the desert. As Al Attiya says: “We have 300 days of sunshine a year.” Actually though, even that obvious statement is not a simple as it seems. Carl Attalah is country manager at Chevron, and he’s in strong disagreement with that sentiment. “There is a misconception that there is lots of sun in Qatar and therefore solar is going to work very well. But Qatar is very hot, and solar technology is designed to work in lower temperatures,” he points out to Big Project ME, nipping that particular theory in the bud. Like any part of an interlocking universe everything we do impacts on everything else. Currently there are around 12,500 desalination plants around the world. Roughly 350 million people in 150 countries depend on desalination for their water supply. There are two costs to desalination. The financial costs are huge; currently it costs between 75 cents to $1.25 per cubic metre to treat sea water. If you take an average of

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n 12,500 Number of desalination plants around the world

n 350 million Number of people dependent on desalinated water

n 150 Number of countries that use desalinated water

Water leader Al Attiya meets with UN secretary general Bai-Ki Moon.

$1 per cubic metre, Qatar is intending to spend a lot of money to process 36 million gallons of water every day. One of the reasons that desalination is expensive is that the process removes 3050g of salt per litre. The other reason is that osmosis is run under high pressure; a memorable fact is that is like a hundred elephants standing on a manhole cover. The other cost is the environmental cost. Qatar is in the Arabian Gulf, a large body of water that is largely static in terms of tide. At the top of the Arabian Gulf is the outlet of the Tigris river, and it also contains Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, not the most eco-conscious nations. Desalination has a by-product called brine, which is mostly hot salty water, which contains chemicals. It is harmful to the environment and the majority of it

“Dubai has started work on nuclear power to drive desalination. Solar power is simply not economical in large scale requirements”

special report DESALINATION

is pumped straight back into the sea. In a recent conference held in Doha, Sheikh Faleh Al Thani, head of Qatari Agricultural Research, argued that Qatar is being responsible in this instance.

According to the American Geophysical Union there is a severe loss of groundwater occurring daily in the Middle East. In their report they say: “Over a seven year period beginning in

“Water management is a complex issue in the Middle East, an area that already is dealing with limited water resources and competing stakeholders”

2003, sections of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran lost 144 cubic kilometres of water – about the equivalent of all the water in the Dead Sea. The scientists attribute the bulk of the loss – some 60% – to pumping of water from underground reservoirs.” When a drought shrinks the available surface water supply, irrigators and others turn to groundwater, the report said. The Iraqi government drilled about 1,000 wells in response to the 2007 drought, but that doesn’t include the numerous private wells that landowners very likely drilled as well. Water management is a complex issue in the Middle East, “an area that already is dealing with limited water resources and competing stakeholders,” according to Kate Voss, lead author of the study and a water policy fellow with the University of California’s Centre for Hydrological Modelling in Irvine, California. Qatar’s desalination plans come in the face of shrinking groundwater, a massive upturn in demand, and an even greater projected demand. They have no natural water and their population’s use of water is excessive. Compounding the problem is that the country also supplies water free to their residents. So there are two ways to control water usage: One is simply producing a lot more water, the current Qatari model. But production without control of consumption is ecologically unsound. Perhaps Qatar should also investigate the possibility of actually saving the water they produce. But maybe that is an option they are saving for a rainy day? n

How does desalination work? Taking sea water and turning it into something that is drinkable would have been unimaginable in the past, but today nearly 15,000 desalination plants in 25 different countries produce 70 million m3 of water per year. This is expected to reach 120 million m3 by 2020 with plants such as the world’s largest located in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone expected take Middle East production to 40 million m3. Huge energy is required to power the process and there is currently a global race in the scientific and engineering communities to create energy efficient solutions.

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“We control waste water from desalination; we dilute it and control the temperature before we return it to the sea,” he remarked. Solar power is not the only option in desalination. Dubai has done several feasibility studies on the use of solar power. In fact they have projects running up to 10MW. Dubai has started work on nuclear power to drive desalination. Solar power is simply not economical in large-scale requirements. Dubai’s future needs for desalination are high. The Emirate is developing nuclear power stations that can generate 1.4GW (1400 times the size of the current solar installations in the UAE). The business case for choosing nuclear power is simple; you need to take size and lack of energy into the equation. Solar power, then, is more expensive. But surely it is better for the environment? There is a surprising answer to this; solar power is a developing technology. If you look at the lifecycle of an entire project, the amount of silicon needed to manufacture the panels, and the intensity of maintenance, then nuclear power could actually be better for the environment as a whole. Of course the Qataris are not worried about the cost of production, but there is an argument that it makes sense to save its petrochemical production for lucrative exports in the short-term and energy security in the long-term. These considerations have driven investment in fellow GCC country the UAE which produces 9 million cubic metres of water daily, at a cost of $18 million a day.

Construction security

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Protect

and secure

Construction in areas of conflict and civil unrest is increasingly prevalent making security on site a vital concern. Big Project ME investigates

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here are times when contractors have to work in dangerous places. Some companies such as Six Construct have made it a policy not to put their workers into danger zones, and turn down work in areas such as Iraq. Other companies undertake their profession in areas of known danger, accepting the rewards of increased revenue, perceived as danger money. Sometimes there are situations where a company starts work in an area and it becomes dangerous. A good example of this was Kuwait’s Kharafi National. They started building a power station in Egypt, with nothing

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more dangerous than the local taxis to contend with. Weeks later the site was guarded by the Egyptian army, and had tanks permanently stationed outside the perimeter as the Arab Spring bloomed. Essentially, private security services are now a boom area, worth over $100 billion a year. Each year literally thousands of soldiers are released by the armed

forces of the world, highly-trained highly motivated and skilful. They have armed forces pensions and may regard this part of their life as a way of earning tax-free money to guide them into retirement. There are several elements of protection. The first is the protection of the asset. British Special Forces spend a lot of time training to protect oil rigs, for

“If you’re shooting at someone, you’re in the wrong place. That’s bad planning”

Construction security

“We allow companies to do business where their competitors won’t. We assess the risk and work out how to implement strategies for it”

They are hired under the rules of the American Department of Defence and according to one interviewee who declined to be named: “It’s a nightmare to get these guys accepted. There is a ton of paperwork and it gets more difficult every day. And you have to renew their permits every year.” Iraq is now a mature market and the ability to break the rules has largely disappeared. In fact the American Embassy uses private contractors to guard the exterior of their buildings. Presumably this is less confrontational than using US troops, and almost certainly cheaper. Richard Smedley served as a Captain in the British Parachute Regiment as well as the Sultan of Oman’s military forces. He has served as a private contractor in both Iraq and Afghanistan in between his unusual day job of providing personal training to film stars for specific roles. The first question people always ask him is about personal weapons: “To be honest there are so many ordinances in Iraq that having a pistol is not going to save your life, although it is part of your job to be armed. There are bazookas, machine guns, medium calibre machine

dangerous situations Places like Iraq and Afghanistan pose unique challenges to construction firms.

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example. The asset can also be a pipeline or infrastructure elements. The second element of protection is that of personnel. In certain areas kidnapping people is regarded as profitable, and with a low start-up cost. In Venezuela kidnapping is so common it is regarded as an inconvenience as much as a threat. Protecting individuals is called ‘close protection’ and is used for pop stars as well as presidents. AKE Group has a holistic approach to their work. John Drake, from their intelligence department explains: “We have a non-static focus. We allow companies to do business where their competitors won’t. We assess the risk and work out how to implement strategies for it,” he tells Big Project ME. Drake is at pains to explain it’s not just about guns though: “Sometimes it’s as simple as the company being worried they can get personnel to hospital after a car crash, for example. We work out with the client what they want to achieve and work out how to make it happen for them.” He also dispels another myth: “Here in the intelligence department we are not all ex Special Forces, we are more likely to be academics or even ex-journalists. We gather some of our information in much the same way as BBC monitoring.” He down plays the dangers of the situation in places like Iraq, arguing that planning can largely alleviate many of the dangers. Even then he explains that he monitors the tally of dead and injured in Iraq. The week we spoke it was 78 dead and 155 injured: “A fairly normal week,” Drake says, laconically. There is a strong and vital difference between private security services and mercenaries. Foreign soldiers have fought for governments other than their own throughout human history. Two good examples of foreigners legitimately fighting for foreign powers are the Gurkhas, Nepalese soldiers who have been fighting for the British for over two hundred years. The other is the French Foreign Legion, a legitimate fighting force made up mostly of foreign nationals. More or less every soldier or private security practitioner in Iraq and Afghanistan is a legitimate operator.

Construction security

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guns.” He pauses: “If you’re shooting at someone you’re in the wrong place. That’s bad planning.” Smedley thinks that the profitability has largely gone out of places like Afghanistan and Iraq. “I think honestly a lot of companies just try to get the jobs, and then work out how to do them. My point on contracts now is that money is tighter and therefore security companies have to do more for less money. You can see it on the ground now. You ask for four men and you get one. It’s not like it was a couple of years ago.” A private security operative in Iraq will earn about $500 per day with all meals and accommodation thrown in. A bitter armed forces joke says ‘they don’t earn more, they just earn it faster.’ The same is true of the Iraq private contingent. Private security firms in Iraq have faced difficulties in obtaining visas and various licences since United States forces withdrew from Iraq at the end of 2011. Iraq deeply mistrusts security companies because of perceived arrogant behaviour by employees of the firms in the past, and various incidents of violence committed by them. The problem with security, private or otherwise, is that luck favours the attacker. The asset you are protecting is always there. It can remain unchallenged for years and over time complacency sets in on the ground. There is a third element of protection which may be even more apposite to the construction industry: mine clearance. Current estimates from the United Nations are that over 70 countries are now affected by the explosive remnants of war (ERW); ordnance contamination and/or land mine problems affect many countries around the world. Over the last 20 years one company, BACTEC, has worked in over 45 countries and has been directly engaged with the clearance of more than 500,000 land mines and thousands of tons of unexploded ordnance, clearing or verifying as clear, over 17,000,000 sqm of contaminated terrain. Danger engenders pragmatism in construction. An American engineer tries to explain the difference between civil

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Elimination Construction and security share common philosophies when it comes to risk management.

n 70: Number of countries the UN estimates that are affected by ERW

n 500,000:

Land mines and explosives cleared by BACTEC

n 17,000,000sqm:

Total area of terrain cleared by BACTEC

and mechanical engineers to a group of British journalists: “It’s pretty easy really. Civil engineers construct stuff and then we blow it up.” In many respects construction and security have got a lot in common. In both you can’t eliminate risks but you can mitigate them. Prior planning eliminates many of the problems that you will encounter in difficult areas. In security the overriding issue is the preservation of human life above all asset value or financial concerns. It remains the number one priority. There are strong arguments against using private soldiers for protecting personnel and buildings. But in the end these companies have grown so as to support a shortage in official resources and have become a service industry much like many others that serve the construction industry. Certainly competition and regulation has ensured that there is a high quality of discipline and integrity within most private security firms. Machiavelli wrote in 1548 that: “Mercenaries are disunited, undisciplined, ambitious, and faithless. Because their only motivation is monetary, they are generally not effective in battle and have low morale.” The same is no longer true. n

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construction banking

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Financial

Catalyst

As funding from US and European banks starts to dry up, regional banks are now more important than ever for construction projects. Jonathon Savill reports for Big Project ME

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construction funding Local funding is becoming more prevalent.

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n 1946 the British Imperial Bank of Iran (which would change its name to British Bank of the Middle East—BBME in 1952) signed an agreement with Dubai to set up an office there that would enjoy a banking monopoly until 1963. From a fairly modest beginning it’s fair to say that Dubai’s banking industry has moved forward. As of the end of February 2011, the UAE had 23 local and 28 foreign banks (a total of 51 banks). A bank is a financial institution and a financial intermediary that accepts deposits and channels those deposits into lending activities, either directly by loaning or indirectly through capital markets. So it seems easy. A bank takes money from one section of the community and invests it in something like construction. However the system is complicated by varying factors. Here are some: most major US banks are now largely absent from the regional project finance sector, and are winding down their teams of project finance specialists.

Euro zone banks are having liquidity problems. This means that European banks have a smaller amount of capital to apply to loans, and higher local demand to address. Ali Tahir Jaffery, director of project and export finance at Standard Chartered sees other changes: “Even in Saudi Arabia, where bank liquidity has been high over the past two years, and competition to lend intense, there are signs that enthusiasm may be waning. Almost half of the $8.5 billion raised in 2012 was in Saudi Arabia, much of that coming from local banks.”

“Even in Saudi Arabia, where bank liquidity has been high and competition to lend intense, there are signs that enthusiasm may be waning”

construction banking

for contractors here in the UAE who want to borrow money? In its report card for the region’s banking sector, S&P said that although most banks were showing signs of recovery, the picture was less rosy for the UAE’s lenders, which S&P expected to show sluggish levels of lending this year. New Central Bank regulations that seek to limit the amount banks can lend to individual companies are expected to come into effect by the end of September. But the new limit was “not conducive to lending growth,” Engin said. One piece of recent news should give hope to the cash-strapped contracting community. The deposit base of Saudi banks reached $338 billion during January, according to the latest SAMA (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency)

“As European lenders find their ability to provide finance sapped by the eurozone debt crisis, Gulf banks will find opportunities to expand their international reach”

In a recent article titled “Low Interest Rates Should Keep Gulf Banks’ Debt Issuance Levels Strong In 2013,” Standard & Poor’s

bulletin. This is a rise of 13.7% over the same month in 2012. The report also states that: “The robust economy facilitated the possibility of maintaining an elevated level of credit expansions as investments increase within the Kingdom. Local banks are expected to

Ratings Services has outlined reasons why it expects issuance levels at Gulf banks to remain high this year. “We noted a sharp rebound in Gulf banks’ activity in debt capital markets in 2012, as they took the opportunity to issue long-term debt at healthy prices under the favourable market conditions,” said Standard & Poor. “Given the interest from institutional investors, the banks’ rapid growth, and the supportive environment for issuing long-term debt instruments at low cost, we think Gulf banks will have another busy issuance year.”

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Yet the announced construction projects are huge and the noise of construction permeates the air in Dubai. Every square metre is posted as a construction site and the boundaries of the city will alter dramatically over the next two or three years. So the question is who is going to pay for it? And more importantly which part of the banking industry will act as a catalyst? Clearly if there is a shortage of finance and a surplus of requirement then the cost of borrowing must go up. One man who is optimistic about the international future of finance is Fevzi Timucin Engin, a financial analyst at Standard & Poor: “As European lenders find their ability to provide finance sapped by the effects of the euro-zone debt crisis, many Gulf banks will find opportunities to expand their international reach into new territories.” “After downgrades of western banking giants by ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service, six banks including National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), Qatar National Bank and National Bank of Kuwait now have credit ratings equal to or greater than those of many giants of global banking.” This is good news for UAE banks that want to lend money abroad, because they have higher prestige and are the only ones with money to lend. But is there bad news

construction banking

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maintain the current level of credit with a more selective approach for 2013.” The more selective approach part of the sentence is not encouraging, but the overall trend of the Saudis to have too much money is good news. “We noted a sharp rebound in Gulf banks’ activity in debt capital markets in 2012 as they took the opportunity to issue long-term debt at healthy prices under the favourable market conditions,” said Engin. “Given the interest from institutional investors, the banks’ rapid growth, and the supportive environment for issuing long-term debt instruments at low cost, we think Gulf banks will have another busy issuance year.” “We expect most of the impetus to come from banks in the UAE, the largest issuers in 2012, and Qatar, where issuance has been steadily increasing.” As Gulf banks look to diversify their funding base, sukuk is becoming more important in the GCC’s fixed-income market, representing almost half of Gulf banks’ issuance in 2011 and 2012. Engin continues: “About 50% of banks’ debt issued in 2011 and 45 percent in 2012 was in the form of sukuk. Last year, banks issued $6.7 billion of sukuk, representing year-over-year growth of 136%. More important, conventional banks are now increasingly participating in this market as a means of diversifying their funding bases with longer-term instruments. The demand for Sharia-compliant products is rising, both regionally and internationally.” There is other good news. As European banks are shedding assets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to shore up their balance sheets in the aftermath of the financial and sovereign crises, well-off Gulf banks in GCC are taking their place. In 2012, there was a sharp rebound in acquisitions by some of the larger Gulf banks. The UAE has the largest banking system in the region, and the amount of debt UAE banks issued increased by 53 percent in 2012 to reach $8 billion, or about 54% of total issuance reported in the Gulf region. In Qatar, the level of bank issuances, albeit volatile, is rising alongside the country’s high-paced credit growth.

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So there is money and it will continue to be invested. Some of it is rushing abroad to Europe for better profits and some is being used here to grab the assets of hastily departing European banks. If you want to finance a project there is a strong case to investigate sukuk or Islamic finance. As always it helps to have a good track record, and a relatively short term borrowing need. Think apartment blocks rather than long infrastructure projects. n

banking details n 50% - Banking debt issued in sukuk form in 2011

n 45%- Banking debt

issued in sukuk form in 2012

n $6.7 billion - Value of sukuks issued by banks in 2012

n 136% - Year on

year growth of sukuk issuance

n 53%- Increase in

debt issued by UAE banks in 2012

n 54% - Percentage

of total issuances in the GCC from UAE banks

COMMENT doha metro

bigprojectME.com

ashok dutta

Doha Metro proves Qatar is ‘Thinking Big’ Ashok Dutta from Hill International, outlines what the Doha Metro system means for the development of Qatar as things get hectic in the build up to 2022

ith a population of just above one million and despite being the Middle East’s secondsmallest country, Qatar has never stopped short of thinking ‘big’ and setting ambitious targets for itself. A prime driver has been the monetisation of its mammoth natural gas reserves – the third-largest in the world after Iran and Russia – at the offshore North Field that has fuelled both unparalleled hydrocarbon and nonhydrocarbon developments. In late 2011, Doha achieved two major targets: emerging as the world’s leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer; and also winning the bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Qatar earned the distinction of being the first Middle Eastern nation that will play host to such a prestigious sporting event. And since winning the bid, it has rolled out a series of infrastructure development projects. US-based Hill International will also be a part of that mega process, with the company being awarded in August 2012 a contract by the Qatar Railways Company (Qrail) to provide project management services in connection with the construction of the Green Line, one of four lines of the new Doha Metro transit system. The four-year contract has an

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“The Doha venture will be built using the tunnel boring machine, rather than the cut-and-cover method”

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estimated value to Hill International of about $59 million. Phase 1 of the project involves construction of an 19km track starting from Mushaireb station and moving north through Al-Diwan and then west through stations at Al-Rayyan/C-Ring, Al-Rayyan/ Sports, Al-Rayyan/Al-Messila, Al- Rayyan/ Al-Qadeem, Education City South East, Qatar Convention Centre, Education City Station and beyond. Put simply, the Green Line connects the heart of Doha with the Qatar Convention Centre and the Education City and includes 27kms of subway tunnel, six underground stations, 6kms of elevated guideway and two elevated metro stations. “We are responsible for providing project management services (for the project),” explains Samer Tamimi, a vicepresident with Hill International. Tunnelling model The Doha venture will be built using the tunnel boring machine (TBM), rather than the cut-and-cover method. “Tunnels will be bored using a tunnelboring machine (TBM), which is a device used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through various types of soil strata. TBMs have the advantages of limiting disturbance to the surrounding ground, which makes them suitable to use in heavily urbanised areas, like Doha,” Tamimi says. Also, TBM operation has minimal traffic disruption and less impact on the environment in terms of dust and noise emissions and visual impact. However, it takes at least one year to procure and mobilise a TBM.

COMMENT doha metro

For long tunnels with tight construction schedule such as the Doha Metro, it is cost effective to use tunnel boring machines as TBMs are much more efficient and results in a shorter project, Tamimi says, adding structures along the way will be monitored as the TBMs advance to ensure settlement caused by works is negligible. The action will be watched closely when work starts on the site soon, but according to him one challenge the project will face is the strict time schedule and the logistics required for such a massive venture. “Doha metro is the largest metro facility being built in the region and four lines are to be built (Green, Red, Blue and Gold) at the same time. Undertaking such a project within the time constraints represents a major challenge,” he says. In late November, international and regional contractors submitted bids for the Green Line and the expectation is of an award by March.

to the complexity,” he says. Outside of Qatar, but within the GCC, the expectation is for the oil-rich nations to embark on massive rail projects aimed at moving both industrial and consumer goods and people, besides heavy equipment to support its numerous oil and gas projects. Every GCC country has developed plans for rail projects and they include both passenger and cargo systems. In addition, the GCC countries have also jointly developed plans for a rail link to connect all the member states, with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Rail due to launch its second phase that will be part of a panGCC railway system, Tamimi says. “Like most other mass public transport systems, metro and rail projects in the Middle East are unlikely to be profitable and will rely on government subsidies,” the vice-president explains. However, metro project become feasible when other indirect factors are considered: minimizing traffic jams; reducing noise and air pollution; and reducing the need for construction of new roads and widening and improving existing roads. “Another major benefit is boosting tourism. Dubai built the first metro project in the Middle East when they realized the revenues generated from tourism and the importance of having a strong transportation system for a healthy

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Global standing Meanwhile, comparing Qatar’s metro project with other such facilities in the West, he says Qatar has adopted European and International standards for building its rail system. “The challenges are more or less the same. However, GCC projects have generally ambitious schedule, which adds

COMMENT doha metro

bigprojectME.com

tourism. For Qatar, the Doha metro is essential for moving the masses for the 2022 World Cup,” Tamimi says. Hill’s changing role The award of the Doha Green Line metro contract came at a time when Hill International – with over 20 years of operations in the Middle East – is going striking new roots in the region, particularly the transportation and infrastructure development sectors. Last year, the company was awarded contracts to manage the construction of two airports in Oman, the mid-field terminal for the Abu Dhabi international airport and the expansion of the Bahrain international airport, to name a few. “The focus shifted recently to meet the new market demands, as the real estate sector has slowed down in several GCC countries,” he says. “The global financial crisis has resulted in a very cautious approach to new investment, especially in the UAE, and definitely has a significant slowdown in the award of new construction projects. The current market studies show that supply outstrips demand, and that the development will be limited to malls and hotels,” explains Tamimi. “Our focus has recently shifted to airport, rail system and other infrastructure projects. In addition, we have recently focused on health care and education projects, besides we are also currently managing several hospitals, clinics, healthcare facilities and educational facilities in the region,” he points out. For its part, Hill International will bring to the table several new offerings while managing new infrastructure contracts. “We are client focused. The fact that a substantial part of our current work is from repeated business is a testimony of client satisfaction,” he says, stressing local experience should not be underestimated.

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“Our focus has recently shifted to airport, rail system and other infrastructure projects”

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Knowing the local players, stakeholders and rules and regulations is crucial for the successful completion in any type of construction project. The new projects will not be without their fair share of challenges, however. Spending on construction is highly influenced by exogenous factors, primarily oil prices. Also, political stability in the areas surrounding the GCC countries has an impact on investor perception and generally has a negative impact on the construction industry. Volatility of construction material prices constitutes another risk factor, Tamimi says. From a construction management standpoint, the main challenge is the magnitude of most construction projects in the region and the time line allowed to complete such facilities. But, infrastructure growth is still required to keep pace with a fast-growing population in the Gulf. n

Ashok Dutta is the Public Relations manager for Hill International, one of the largest project management construction consultant firms in the world.

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COMMENT WORLD WATER DAY

Mazen Alami

Water: make it our business Mazen Alami, regional managing director, GCC, Black & Veatch, outlines the challenge facing water conservationists when it comes to conservation on an industrial level

Water savings Only 8% of water is consumed domestically.

“Almost a quarter of the world’s limited water supply is used by industry. The World Energy Council, for instance, estimates that, on average, 40 barrels of water are needed for the production of one barrel of oil”

be applauded. But we can truly make a difference by paying more attention to water used by industry. By looking at the supply chain and the industry’s total water impacts in a holistic manner, big gains and big savings can be made by business. Fortunately, boardroom attitudes to water are changing. Water is serious business, especially if there’s too little or too much. Tomorrow’s successful businesses will be those that can capitalise on changing global water availability, measure and manage their water use, and manage the risks that water shortage or excess can pose to their supply chain. The CDP Global Water Report 2012 articulates the concerns and challenges facing many large, global companies: 318 from the Global 500 are featured. 68% of these report exposure to water-related risks with 71% of respondents also able to state whether or not their supply chains are exposed to such risk. In addition, we as a world are getting thirstier. Water use is outpacing population growth, rapid in and of itself. We are using our water at more than twice the rate of population increase during the last century . This thirst has been driven by global trends like increased migration to cities And it is being acutely felt in our region; Abu Dhabi, for example, consumes 550l of water per person per day, two to three times the world average. Electricity production also plays a major role. Large quantities of water are typically required in power production, and seemingly small and unrelated

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2 March was UN World Water Day and given the rising interest in the challenges of supplying clean water, I wonder how many business leaders in the Gulf discussed the issue of water? Perhaps not as many as there should be, but probably more than we’d expect. Given the worldwide focus on these pressing environmental concerns it is important to note, the relationship between water and energy is closer than a lot of people think. Water is a fuel, vital for business and every bit as critical to moving our economy forward as energy. Almost a quarter of the world’s limited water supply is used by industry. The World Energy Council, for instance, estimates that, on average, 40 barrels of water are needed for the production of one barrel of oil. As a business leader, it’s this figure that catches my attention. A lot of consciousness around water use relates to our direct use of water in our homes. Yet, only eight percent of water is consumed domestically. The remainder is used by agriculture and industry. Efforts to extend the utility of each drop of water on the individual level should

COMMENT WORLD WATER DAY

Companies featured in the CDP Global Water Report 2012

n 68%: Percentage

exposed to waterrelated risks

n 71%: Percentage who stated whether their supply chains are exposed to risk

Not feasible Switching to renewable energy is not possible in the near future.

the largest power plants in the world using air-cooling technology and save approximately 327,000 cubic meters per day of water when operating at full load. The close connection between water and energy is also providing new ideas. The beverage industry is beginning to harness biogas, like many water utilities in the wastewater treatment process, to generate heat and energy to power the process from the process itself. Outside of new technologies, the investment community can also play a key role in securing our water supplies. Water demand is inelastic. Goldman Sachs once again highlighted last month the stable, long-term return that investing in utilities, infrastructure and water rights provides. I’d encourage readers to continue to participate in conservation programmes and best practices to save water. Also, remember to turn off the lights! n Mazen Alami is the regional managing director for the GCC at Black & Veatch, the global engineering and construction consultant firm.

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n 318: Global 500

actions can have staggering implications on consumption when aggregated. For example, a simple Google search, consumes the equivalent of 1/16th a teaspoon of water. So what is to be done? Change all electricity production to renewables? Unfortunately, wind and solar photovoltaic are the only technologies with minimal water withdrawal impacts, but even they too require water. What’s more, switching entirely to renewables in the near-term is not pragmatic. The sheer volume of new builds required to offset current generation capacity is daunting, let alone the needed development of advanced storage technologies. But the goal of using more water efficient technologies at the thousands of conventional power plants, however, could produce significant gains. Around the world, we’re seeing this happen. In South Africa, Black & Veatch helped Eskom adopt air-cooled condensers as an alternative over traditional water cooling techniques at its 4,800MW Kusile power plant. When completed, it will be one of

CPD modules

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Unitised

Facades This CPD aims to provide a closer understanding of the use of composite panels and unitised components in building facade construction. This CPD module is sponsored by Qbiss by Trimo

nitised components are complete building elements, normally facades, which are factory assembled and joined together on site. A composite panel or a unitised facade provides a complete fully insulated external and internal wall solution, which ensures factory quality standards with minimal site time. Both are self-spanning, which removes the requirement for a secondary support structure. The only dimensional limitation on a unitised facade is whether it can be transported. A typical assembly is around 6-7m by 3.5m. The development of integrated facades began with CLASP and the development of composite panels, which were then developed into modular or unitised facades.

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Manufacturing unitised facades The process of manufacturing unitised

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facades is highly automated. For Trimo facades, all raw materials are delivered to an automated handling high bay warehouse. A computer programme identifies the materials required for the project and a driverless vehicle picks up the materials and delivers to the production line. The materials are automatically loaded into the line feeders and the materials are then assembled together. Some processes, such as the rounded corners for QbissOne products or the

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The development of integrated facades began with CLASP and the development of composite panels, which were then developed into modular or unitised facadesâ&#x20AC;?

CPD modules

gas chambers for QbissAir products are manufactured by robots to ensure highspeed production and consistent quality. As the finished products come off the line, they go through an automated wrapping and packing process and are then collected in another high bay warehouse to await transport to site. The whole process is fully automated/ robotised with minimal manual labour. Development of unitised facades Composite construction is the bonding together of layers of materials to form a rigid structure. Composite construction methods were introduced after the Second World War, following technological breakthroughs during the conflict. For example, the mosquito bomber was the first aeroplane to use plywood composite construction. Early composite cladding panels used tension to separate the inner and outer skins, with an insulating layer of air in the middle. One of the first such structures was the Maison du Peuple at Clichy in France, designed by Jean Prouvé and constructed between 1935 and 1938.

One of the first steps towards a unitised solution was the Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme (CLASP), established in 1957 to explore modular and factory-produced building products and systems, to provide a systematic form of construction which relied on a high proportion of prefabricated elements. But manufacturers of these early composite facades did not have the technology to make it work or sufficient understanding of thermal expansion variants or the need to prevent cold bridging. As a result, weathering was always a major problem as the coefficients of expansion of the different interfacing materials was never considered. This resulted in many of the buildings leaking, with bad water ingress. Condensation was another issue as many of the buildings had no thermal breaks. Basic system design for glazing in the 1950s and 1960s tried to stop water at the front face. Today’s water management detailing lets a degree of water into the front of the system and channels it back out again. Curtain walling in the 1960s and 1970s was the second generation of composites. Systems were still very basic, used more often as in fills rather than to take advantage of their self-spanning characteristics. Early curtain walling had no thermal break, and there was no true integration of glazing and cladding or consistency of detailing. Glazing and cladding continued to develop independently throughout the 1980s, but two buildings had a huge impact on facades. Renault’s UK headquarters at Swindon, designed by Foster & Partners, was one of the first to feature self-spanning cladding and planar glazing, though there was still no integration. The building is perhaps most remembered for the high-tech appearance of its exposed yellow masts, but their contribution to the structure was much more than cosmetic. The client asked for a high degree of free and uninterrupted space within the building, so the roof was suspended to provide greater spans with fewer supporting central columns, and the facade columns were external to provide flush interior walls.

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“One of the first steps towards a unitised solution was the Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme (CLASP), established in 1957”

CPD modules

Meanwhile, at the Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia, also by Foster’s, the first fully integrated panels, glazing and louvres for walls and roof were installed. By the turn of the millennium, manufacturers had begun to combine glazing and cladding in the first generation of unitised curtain walls, with external rainscreens. Rain-screens became popular principally due to their more attractive recessed joints and easier glazing interfaces, although integration was still limited to spandrel infills or rainscreens on spandrels. Poor workmanship in joining the two elements also led to many problems. Only in recent years has there been a more holistic approach to the design of facades, with systems being developed to incorporate the latest technology from both the cladding and glazing sectors. Some of the composites available today offer a total wall solution with bespoke thermal performance, they are noncombustible and self-spanning, and they have recess or flush joints and unique corners. Joints are particularly important in a facade solution because they are one of the most striking elements. The aesthetics and functionality of the joints of a system can make the difference between an elegant interface detail and a crude flashing or “top hat” cover. The following quote by Peter Rice, the structural engineer on the Pompidou Centre in Paris, expresses this well: “The dominant memory was the importance of detail. Beaubourg [as the centre is known, after its location] was big, enormous really, but the joint became the central element of the design, making the joint the essence of the solution.”

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Ensuring weather tightness in facade specification The Centre for Window and Cladding Technology’s CWCT Standard allows the specifier to state the required performance for weather tightness. For wind load, tests are normally carried out for design wind loads up to 2400Pa. To assess resistance to wind load the design wind load is applied in both positive and negative directions and the

APRIL 2013

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wall is required to remain serviceable after application of the design wind load. A safety wind load test is also carried out at 1.5 times the design wind load after which weather tightness may be impaired but no components should be dislodged during the test. Watertightness may be carried out at Standard test pressures up to 600Pa. All walls are subject to test under static pressure but walls can also be tested under dynamic pressure. Trimo’s facade products have been tested for wind resistance under a design wind pressure of 2400Pa and for watertightness under a dynamic pressure equivalent to 600Pa. A hose test can be used as a site test for watertightness which is intended to check the workmanship of site installation. The test uses a specified type of nozzle which should deliver a spray of 22litres/ minute when supplied by water at 220kPa. Advantages of modern systems over historic facades Products manufactured under factory conditions should always achieve higher levels of quality, tolerance and finish and reduce site time to a minimum. Today’s products are designed with a much greater understanding of thermal expansion, cold bridging, suitability of

Cpd modules

interfacing materials and life expectancy. All materials expand at different rates, so by establishing the different coefficients of different materials, an informed decision can be established of how the joint between different materials will react under thermal expansion and can be designed to accommodate the thermal differential. Use of innovative technologies and materials also offers improvements in performance and sustainability. For example, QbissAir panels use air as an insulant. This does not have the environmental impacts associated with the production of common insulants such aspolyurothanes or polyurothanes. The carbon footprint for a typical curtain wall in the UK is usually estimated at around 80-85kgCO2/m3. The carbon

footprint of QbissAir is 42kgCO2/m3, and the U-value per the whole Qbiss Air modular unit is 0.24W/m2K. Specifying unitised facades There are a number of considerations for architects when specifying unitised facades. The most important is consistency of elements. To ensure modular or unitised facades are the correct choice of facade, there should be a consistency of module dimensions and a reasonable quantity of the same type of module. This ensures volume manufacture is possible, enabling economies of scale. Specifiers should also: Understand and work to material parameters — understand the materials, their maximum and minimum

dimensions, and how they can be manipulated. Understand and work to production parameters — visit the factory and understand how the product is made. This can avoid designing unsuitable and impractical details. Understand and optimise the products’ capability — understand how to maximise the products’ performance. Understand how specials affect the cost plan — this is a technical and cost issue which is often not understood. Understand economies of scale — understand the pricing structure of the product and how some minor alterations can greatly increase the cost.

Questions for Module 8: Unitised facades Privacy policy

1. What are the typical dimensions of a

between the design wind load and the safety

unitised facade?

wind load?

a. 5-6m x 2.5m

a. The design wind load is

for publication and also to provide you with

b. 6-7m x 2.5m

1.5 times as great.

information about our products or services

c. 5-6m x 3.5m

b. The design wind load

in the form of direct marketing by email,

d. 6-7m x 3.5m

is twice as great.

telephone, fax or post. Information may also

c. The safety wind load is

be made available to third parties.

n Information you supply to CPI may be used

2. What year was the Consortium of Local

1.5 times as great.

Authorities Special Programme (CLASP)

d. The safety wind load is

n “This module will contribute 30

established?

twice as great.

minutes(general) towards your CPD obligations.

a. 1957

5. What is the carbon footprint of a typical

b. 1958

curtain wall in the UK?

c. 1959

a. 20 kgCO2/m3

n Email carlo@cpidubai.com if you have

d. 1960

b. 42 kgCO2/m3

any questions about our CPD programme.

If successfully completed, certificates will be distributed two weeks after the module closes.

c. 80 kgCO2/m3 3. Which of the following buildings features

d. 100 kgCO2/m3

exposed yellow masts?

n You can also contact us on: Corporate Publishing International P.O. Box 13700, Dubai, UAE

a. The Maison du Peuple

NAME (capitals)

Tel: +971 4 440 9100

b. Renault headquarters

JOB TITLE

Fax: +971 4 447 2409

at Swindon

COMPANY NAME

Web: cpidubai.com

c. The Sainsbury Centre at the University of

ADDRESS

East Anglia

P.O.Box:

d. The Pompidou Centre

MOBILE: FACSIMILE

4. Under the CWCT Standard for

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weathertightness, what is the difference

TIME & MONEY gyproc

bigprojectME.com

Helping you make the smartest decisions

Wonder

Wall Big Project ME speaks to Peter Robinson of Gyproc about how dry wall systems can benefit contractors looking to complete high-rise tower projects on time and within budget What is the basic premise behind your dry walling Products?

Drywall know how Important figures for Gyproc systems

n 30 minutes - Fire performance provided by basic Gyproc systems

n 120 - Fire performance of Fire Stop board systems

n $531 million

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- Gyproc R&D investment

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Our dry walling systems offer two major benefits – speed and performance. They are quick to install and use high quality components that have been developed to work together as a unit to provide the demanding performance needed – especially in high rise construction where fire performance, for instance, is critical. The systems are based on a patented technology that, at its most basic, comprises a high strength metal framework – floor and ceiling tracks with vertical studs between – with a plasterboard lining. Whilst it is quick to fit and lightweight, the construction is very versatile. The width and strength of the

metal framework can be increased to give the rigidity and strength needed, even for high partitions, and we manufacture a whole range of plasterboards with different characteristics, that can be applied in single or multiple layers to meet virtually any performance requirement. Our basic systems, for instance, provide 30 minutes fire performance, which is sufficient for many applications. For high rise buildings, however, this can be increased to 120 minutes using a double layer of FireStop board, a special board with fire resistant additives. There are also specialist boards that provide enhanced acoustics; high impact resistant boards for corridors, etc.; boards that have a high level of moisture resistance – for bathrooms, air

TIME & MONEY gyproc

How much focus is given to research and development, is it tailored to specific regions?

Innovation is at the very heart of everything we do, so we invest heavily in research and development. Currently the group, globally, invests more than $531 million each year, and operates 16 dedicated R & D centres throughout Europe, North America and Asia. Whilst some developments are handled on a global basis, the majority of our work is regionalised. We look at what the local market needs and then either develop new solutions or adapt solutions to suit. Take our M2TECH product, for instance. This special moisture and mould resistant lining was originally developed in the US to solve growing mould problems caused by high humidity in the Southern States. When demand for a similar solution began to grow in the Middle East, especially from American architects working on local projects, we began to look at the product, and developed it to suit local requirements. Everything we do here is ultimately based on the needs of local customers.

“We invest heavily in research and development. Currently the group, globally, invests more than $531 million each year throughout europe, North america and asia”

What other benefits does dry walling offer?

light weight Dry walling can help save on piling and foundation.

Drywall construction offers a whole raft of advantages over traditional blockwork – and these really become obvious in high rise construction. Weight is a major benefit. Not only are the components much lighter and easier to handle – especially where access is difficult – dry wall systems provide the same level of performance as blockwork at only around a third of the weight. In case studies we’ve done locally, dry walling has been shown to cut the dead load by a massive 65% - bringing significant savings in piling and foundation costs alone. On site, installation is much quicker than blockwork. Blockwork needs mortar, which has to mixed with water to the right consistency to provide the adhesion needed – and then has to dry out before full strength is achieved. Dry wall is dry, as the name suggests, so once the structure is assembled, follow-on trades can start straight away. It has been estimated that time savings of around 55% are achievable for partition construction alone. Equally important for the developer is the amount of extra space achieved when using dry wall. At around 110mm thick, a typical lightweight partition is around half the width of an equivalent 200mm blockwork wall – that adds up to a significant amount of extra useable floor area, or saleable floor space. On top of this are the logistics savings achieved in changing from blockwork to dry wall. Less weight and volume to deliver to the site; less traffic movement around the site; less storage space needed; less waste and debris to cause safety problems on site. And with drywall, unlike blockwork, there’s generally no need for expensive scaffolding. For high rise construction, blockwork can be difficult to justify. n

Major figures n 55% time saving for partitions

n 65% dead load reduction

n 15% foundation saving

n 4-6% more floor space

n 50% transport reduction *Based on one equivalent blockwork

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conditioned areas or anywhere with high humidity, and even a recently launched range of Activ’Air products that actively absorb airborne pollutants to leave indoor air fresh and healthy.

SPECIAL FEATURE FORMWORK

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True to

High form Formwork complexity has increased as high-rise construction grows.

Form

With high-rise construction the norm in construction, Big Project ME examines how formwork technology is changing and adapting to meet market requirements

H 66

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igh rise construction is the new normal in the Middle East as developers try to get the most out of the land that they own. With space now at a premium, developers are looking to build vertical, resulting in buildings that rise hundreds of metres into the sky. This means that formwork has a crucial part to play in the construction of these buildings, and as such, the technology associated with it has needed to catch up quickly. Having an efficient formwork system can make a crucial difference in

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the success of a construction project, in terms of speed, quality, cost and the safety of the site.

“(We’re) using more environmentally friendly material to cut down the consumption of natural materials as well as improving the quality of concrete”

SPECIAL FEATURE FORMWORK

“We view the whole region as very buoyant at the moment but expect there to be much more construction growth in the coming years”

Safety first New formwork systems allow for safer working environments.

Tel: +966 3 802 4938 Fax: +966 3 826 9894 www.ahqsons.com info@ahqsons.com

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Formwork comes in several forms, but when it comes to high rise construction, the need for specialised systems increases due to the complexity of the projects being worked on. As such, manufacturers have been developing new systems to meet market demand. One such system is being launched by Doka, the international formwork supplier, as part of its exhibition at Bauma 2013. It’s newly developed gapless framed enclosure system, Xclimb 60, allows for construction crews to work at the top levels of a high-rise structure while being protected from dangerous weather and wind conditions. “The self-climbing system is simple to adapt to varying layouts and inclinations, enabling it to be used even on complex high-rise projects,” says chairman Josef Kurzmann. “Depending on the requirements, users can choose between two different designs, with frames that have either polycarbonate or mesh inlays.” The system allows for work to be safely conducted at any height, he adds, while also providing good natural daylight inside the enclosed work decks through translucent plastic inlays. Simon Roachford, senior sales engineer at C- Vision Construction Materials Trading, adds that formwork technology is

now shifting focus towards being stronger, yet more lightweight. This ties in with an industry led desire to increase the use of environmentally friendly material on construction sites, says his colleague, Waeil Al Chamma. One of the main drivers of innovation in scaffolding and formwork systems is the need to improve the efficiency of erecting and dismantling operations, especially in wage-intensive markets. With the development of Evermax, a plastic-composite formwork panel, manufacturer Ulma is aiming at greater durability and higher efficiency. The new formwork panel has a lightweight thermoplastic core. Two reinforcing layers ensure mechanical properties similar to those of plywood. The surface layers, on both sides,

SPECIAL FEATURE formwork

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deliver a clean finish and easy concrete separation. They are resistant to abrasion and can easily be repaired if damaged. In contrast to plywood panels, Evermax panels take up no moisture, they do not bend and they do not rot, thereby ensuring a longer lasting service life on projects. This also ties into the increasing the sustainability and environmental benefits of the process Roachford says. “Customers are more aware of green issues and sustainability of formwork products,” he says, adding that “faster construction schedules and better costing as opposed to traditional formwork methods,” are some of the additional benefits of continued innovation in formwork. “There’s more safety (now) and it’s a lot less labour intensive,” Al Chamma chimes in. “(We’re) using more environmentally friendly material to cut down the consumption of natural materials as well as improving the quality of concrete to

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APRIL 2013

decrease the cycle of pouring,” he adds. One of the major challenges formwork manufacturers face is convincing their client base to adopt and try out new technologies. In a market that’s traditionally been risk averse, there is often resistance to change, despite the obvious benefits on offer. As such, manufacturers are required to work closely with their clients and help develop formwork systems that fulfil specific requirements. “We work closely with our customers to devise individualised solutions for every construction project. Our value proposition is that when we develop the formwork concept, we incorporate aspects and experience that give our customers new insights and create genuine added value for them,” says Josef Kurzmann. “As a supplier we work alongside our customers in all stages of a construction project, from the development stage through until close-out. To do this, we offer a wide range of services to ensure that the very best use is made of the formwork systems.” Roachford adds that he spends a lot of time “trying to make customers more aware of better engineered, efficient systems, like C-Vision’s Hydraulic Core System.” “This is a system that we have evolved in order to cut down on construction time and costs and also more sustainability with products such as C-Visions Vinci 80 Panel System capable of 250 – 300 pours before the plywood needs to be changed.” However, he asserts that there has been significant interest in the products, and predicts that there will be an upswing in the adoption of the technology over the coming years. “We view the whole region as very buoyant at the moment but expect there to be much more construction growth in the coming years in all GCC countries.” n

formwork systems n XClimb 60 - Allows construction crews to work on high level sites in safety

n Hydraulic Core System - Cuts down construction time and costs

n Vinci 80 Panel System - Capable of 250 - 300 pours before plywood needs changing

n SKE100 plus Automatic climbing formwork for fast cycle times

SPECIAL FEATURE PILING

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On a Strong

Foundation Big Project ME finds out about the state of piling in the market and how the industry is facing up to supertall construction. Jonathon Savill reports

I Piling in Ground engineering is so sophisticated you can build anywhere.

n an old Beatles song there is a line: ’I heard the news today, oh boy, four thousand holes in Blackburn Lancashire. And though the holes were rather small, they had to count them all.’ It’s a problem that Tony Rocca, of Gulf Piling LLC would sympathise with. In ground works, one of the worst encountered problems is the presence of cavities. But on the whole, ground engineering is so sophisticated that you can almost literally build anywhere. It’s

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all about money and how much you are prepared to invest. Rocca is at pains to point out that he is a geotechnical engineer. Piling is part of his work but his job is to understand the ground, and predict how it will behave both in the short and long term. Then he makes foundations work. He is clear where the project skill lies: “Projects are won by the design” The fact is that ground can vary enormously even in the space of a few metres and piling

SPECIAL FEATURE PILING

projects are fixed-price and successbased. Simply put, structural engineers don’t want to get involved in something that unpredictable, so they employ men like Rocca to see it through. He explains that it is mainly friction that makes the world of piling go round. You try to build friction down the sides of the piles and also resistance at the bearing point. So you can support the pile with friction on the shaft and by the endpoint socketed in hard strata. It’s a combination of friction and bearing resistance. The geology in the UAE mainly consists of sand overlying a rock formation of sandstones, conglomerates and siltstone. Most piles are between 10m-25m deep. As a rule of thumb you can’t put

“Concrete itself is a simple thing. But we are always making sophisticated structural changes to it. It’s not just a question of mixing sand and cement and throwing it at a wall.”

Saudi Bauer Foundation, the Bauer subsidiary behind the piling work on the Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia, say that the 10 month project will involve the placing of 270 piles as deep as 175m into the ground. The contract will involve bored piles with diameters varying between 1.5m to 1.8m.

worrying speed. But wood? “Sure why not, the Chinese were using bamboo to hold their houses up 2,000 years ago.” He explains that piles, even wood ones, can last a very long time. “We had an old bridge in Canada, it was built on wooden piles and it had been there for eighty years. But after the latest building code with new seismic criteria, we carried out ground densification work using a vibro replacement technique to densify the soil around the pier to mitigate liquefaction just in case of earthquakes and protect the working wood piles.” The main soil groups are clay and sand, these are called cohesive and cohesionless soils. Cohesive soil have

With the contract worth more than $30 million, the piles will cost $110,000 each. Two Bauer BG 28 and two BG 40 piling rigs will be deployed. A pro-longed test piling phase, which is rumoured to have seen a below ground up revision of the tower’s design, revealed that the Kingdom Tower’s proximity to the coastline and material differences in the ground would demand an alternative strategy to the foundations.

Tel: +966 3 802 4938 Fax: +966 3 826 9894 www.ahqsons.com info@ahqsons.com

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piles closer together than three times the diameter of the pile. Obviously the larger the load you have, the deeper the piles are or the more piles you add. In piling the cost of plant/labour and the cost of materials are generally around the same. The cost of foundations will rarely exceed 15% of the cost of the building. Piles themselves are largely built of what’s available locally. Here in the UAE its pretty much concrete strengthened with steel, actually 80-90% of it is bored, and the concrete is cast in situ. Rocca explains that it doesn’t really matter what the materials are as long as they are well treated and not exposed to air. Then they won’t rot at any kind of

Special features piling

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IN place Sand is classified as cohesion-less soil.

n 150m – minimum depth of piles on Kingdom Tower

n 175m – maximum depth of piles on Kingdom Tower

n 45m – depth of piles cast in situ on Burj Khalifa in Dubai

n 208 – number of piles for the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia

n 80m – Depth of piles on Taipei 101 in Taiwan

smaller particle diameter. Cohesionless soil is like a coarse aggregrate, sand would fit into this group. Clay has a long term effect. If you put a load on clay it takes a long time for the water to dissipate and to settle, so you are studying the long term settlement (of the clay). If you are not a purist, you may not know the difference between foundations and shoring. Piling drives into the ground to spread the weight of a building. Shoring is more concerned with securing the ground during excavation so that it doesn’t move. When it comes to concrete, Christopher Stanley is an expert. He is technical director of Unibeton. He talks to Big Project ME about some of his company’s achievements. They are currently working with Bauer for the piling of the Kingdom Tower in KSA.

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APRIL 2013

This will become the tallest tower in the world at 1.3km. Tall buildings require deep foundations and the foundations under the Kingdom Tower are between 150 and 175 metres deep. Unibeton produce concrete which is more sustainable and kinder to the environment. It starts with the production process. Cement is made from a calcium carbonate, which comes from limestone. That comes from seashells. To make cement you heat limestone to 1400oC. It then becomes cinder which is made into cement. “Concrete itself is a simple thing. But we are always making sophisticated structural changes to it. It’s not just a question of mixing sand and cement and throwing it at a wall.” In the last ten years there have been major advances in concrete technology. Even the way that they apply the material to a project has changed: “We use our ingredients more efficiently. We replace some of the cement with pozzolanic materials, such as volcanic ash. By using less cement we make our projects more sustainable,” he explains. They are also experimenting with ways to use less water in their cement: “Water is actually a good thing in that it helps cement to set. Also if you had no steel in a pile and you kept it wet the cement would continue to get stronger.” “Where there is water in concrete, it evaporates, leaving small capillaries. If water has been in concrete it can come back.” The UAE is actually quite advanced when it comes to concrete production; it has made major advances, and is continuing to do so, he adds. Stanley points out that you don’t need to develop super high buildings in the region because there is no shortage of land. But it’s a case of wanting the world’s tallest tower, rather than any real need. He has even heard of plans to develop a 2.3km tower: “The sky’s the limit when it comes to tall towers.” n

TENDERS

TOP TENDERS

Project name: Damac Residenze Tower Project - Dubai Marina

Budget $326,000,000 Client Damac Properties (Dubai) Region UAE Description Construction of 40-storey, 335-metrehigh Damac Residenze Tower comprising luxury residential apartments Status Current Project

Project name: Tilal Complex Expansion Project - Phase 3

PROJECT NAME: Sheraton Doha Hotel Refurbishment Project

Project name: Damac Towers by Paramount Project Downtown Dubai

Budget $129,000,000

Budget $192,000,000

Client Al Madina Real Estate SAOC (Oman)

Client Katara Hospitality (Qatar)

Region Oman

Region Qatar

Description Carrying out expansion of Tilal Com-

Description Carrying out refurbishment of the

plex consist of Muscat Grand Mall, offices, freehold apartments, four-star quality hotel apartments and a 5-star hotel - Phase 3.

existing five-star Sheraton Hotel

Region UAE

Status New Tender

Description Construction of Damac Towers by Paramount comprising a five-star hotel and branded serviced apartments.

Budget $1,000,000,000 Client Damac Properties (Dubai)

Status New Tender Project name: Ad Duwayhi Gold Processing Plant Project

Status New Tender

Budget $270,000,000 Client Maaden Gold & Base Metals Company (Saudi Arabia) Region Saudi Arabia Description Construction of a gravity-CIL gold processing plant with capacity to process approximately 2 million tonnes of ore per annum

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Status Current Project

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MIDDLE EAST TENDERS Provided by Tel +9712-6348495 Web www.MiddleEastTenders.com Email sales@MiddleEastTenders.com

The Address Residency Sky View Twin Towers Project

Project Number NPR020-U Territory UAE Client Name Emaar Properties PJSC (Dubai) Address Emaar Business Park, Building No 3, Near Interchange No 5, Sheikh Zayed Road City Dubai Postal/Zip Code 9440 Phone (+971-4) 367 3333 Fax (+971-4) 367 3000 Email enquiry@emaar.co.ae Website www.emaar.com Description Construction of 50-storey The Address Residence Sky View twin tower complex atop a ground podium, including a 180room business hotel, residence and (532) serviced apartments. Status New Tender Design Consultant Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (USA) Tender Categories Hotels, Prestige Buildings, Leisure & Entertainment Tender Products High-rise Towers, Hotel Construction

Pullman Dubai Deira City Centre Residence Expansion Project

Project Number BIP102-U

Territory UAE Client Name Majid Al-Futtaim Properties (Dubai) Address Majid Al Futtaim Tower 2, Deira City Center City Dubai Postal/Zip Code 60811 Phone (+971-4) 294 9999 / 294 2444 Fax (+971-4) 294 2555 Website www.majidal futtaimproperties.com Description Carrying out expansion of the Pullman Deira City Centre Residence. Budget $40,000,000 Status New Tender Tender Categories Construction & Contracting, Hotels Tender Products Construction & Addition Works, Hotel Construction

entertainment centre. Budget $1,600,000,000 Status Current Project Specialist Consultant Parsons International Ltd. (Dubai) Main Contractor Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company Limited (Dubai) Specialist Contractor (1) Fun World L.L.C (Dubai) Main Contractor (2) Starneth Engineering (Dubai) Tender Categories Construction & Contracting, Hotels, Leisure & Entertainment Tender Products Construction & Addition Works, Hotel Construction, Mixeduse Developments, Retail Developments

Water Discus Underwater Hotel Project

Project Number BIP055-U City Dubai Client Name Dubai Drydocks World Postal/Zip Code 8988 Country United Arab Emirates Phone (+971-4) 345 0626 Fax (+971-4) 345 0116 eMail drydocks@drydocks.gov.ae WebsitE www.drydocks.gov.ae Description Construction of Water Discus Hotel comprising two discs - one under the water and one suspended above the water. Period 2018 Status New Tender Tender Categories Construction

Bluewaters Island Development Project - Jumeirah Beach Residence

Project Number NPR019-U Territory UAE Client Name Meraas Development City Dubai Phone (+971-4) 511 4900 Fax (+971-4) 332 2707 Website www.meraas.ae Description Development of Bluewaters Island comprising a souq (market) with retail stores, restaurants, a hotel and a family

APRIL 2013

MIDDLE EAST

UAE

TENDERS

Retail & Residential Area Development Project - Al Maryah Island

Project Number BIP013-U City Abu Dhabi Client Name Gulf Capital Pvt. JSC (Abu Dhabi) Address Al Sila Tower, 25th Floor, Sowwah Square, Al Maryah Island Phone (+971-2) 671 6060 Fax (+971-2) 694 2703 Email info@gulfcapital.com Website www.gulfcapital.com Description Development of a retail and residential area on Al Maryah Island (formerly Sowwah Island). Status New Tender Tender Categories Construction & Contracting, Hotels and Leisure & Entertainment Tender Products Hotel Construction, Residential Buildings and Retail Developments

Dubai Adventure Studios Project - Phase 1

Project Number BIP015-U City Dubai Client Name Meraas Development (Dubai) Phone (+971-4) 511 4900 Fax (+971-4) 332 2707 Website www.meraas.ae Description Construction of Dubai Adventure Studios comprising a state-of-the-art, moviebased theme park hosting several

major US-based brands, with new generation integrated rides and latest technology attractions, as well as hospitality, food and beverage, and retail areas for high value family entertainment. Period 2015 Status New Tender Tender Categories Construction & Contracting, Leisure & Entertainment Tender Products Theme Parks Development

The Address: The Boulevard Tower Construction Project Downtown Dubai

Project Number MPP2695-U City Dubai Client Name Emaar Properties PJSC (Dubai) Address Emaar Business Park, Bldg. No. 3, Near Interchange No. 5, Shaikh Zayed Road Postal/Zip Code 9440 Phone (+971-4) 367 3333 Fax (+971-4) 367 3000 Email enquiry@emaar.co.ae Website www.emaar.com Description Construction of 340-metre, 63-storey The Address The Boulevard Tower comprising a 5-star hotel and serviced apartments consisting of studios, one-two-three and four-bedroom apartments. Status Current Project Design Consultant Atkins International (Dubai) Main Contractor Brookfield Multiplex Constructions Middle East L.L.C (Dubai) Tender Categories Hotels, Leisure & Entertainment, Prestige Buildings Tender Products High-rise Towers, Hotel Construction

â&#x20AC;&#x2026;Qatarâ&#x20AC;&#x2026; Banana Island Resort Development Project

Project Number BIP088-Q Territory Qatar Client Name UrbaCon Trading & Contracting Company (Qatar) Address Al Muthaf Street, AlSalata Area City Doha Country Qatar Phone (+974) 4429 2220 / 4429 2221 Fax (+974) 4429 2244 Email info@urbacon-intl.com Website www.urbacon-intl.com Description Development of Banana Island Resort comprising (11 Nos) over-water villas, (34) chalets and a hotel block consisting of (72) guestrooms Period 2013 Status Current Project Landscaping Consultant LMS International (Dubai) Main Contractor UrbaCon General Contracting (Qatar) Tender Categories Hotels, Construction & Contracting, Leisure & Entertainment Tender Products Construction & Addition Works, Hotel Construction, Villas Construction

Workers Hospitals & Health Centres Construction Project

Project Number MPP2729-Q Client Name Private Engineering Office (Qatar) City Doha Postal/Zip Code 23723 Country Qatar Phone (+974) 4443 4857 Fax (+974) 4443 6291 Description Construction of

3-storey, 120-bed hospitals and single-storey health centres. Closing Date February 17, 2013 Status New Tender Tender Categories Construction & Contracting, Medical & Healthcare Tender Products Hospital Construction

Labour Compound Project Project Number BIP021-Q Client Name Ecisa Compania General de Construcciones SA (Spain) Address Avda Costa Blanca 139, Playa de Sant Juan Country Spain 03540 Phone (+34-96) 526 2522 Fax (+34-96) 526 4398 Website www.ecisa.es Description Construction of a labour compound comprising a total of (15) buildings consisting of (816) bedrooms, (24) kitchens, leisure areas and all necessary services, including a mosque, a car washing facility, an administration area and a workshop. Budget $53,000,000 Period 2016 Status Current Project Main Contractor Harinsa Contracting Company W.L.L (Qatar) Tender Categories Construction & Contracting Tender Products Construction & Addition Works, Residential Buildings

Smart Power Grid Project Project Number BIP032-Q

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and Contracting, Hotels, Marine Engineering Works and Seaports Tender Products Hotel Construction, Marine Civil Works

TENDERS

MIDDLE EAST

Client Name Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) Address Corniche Street, Number 61, Sheraton Roundabout, Dafna Area City Doha Postal/Zip Code 41 Phone (+974) 4484 5484/ 4484 5555 Fax (+974) 4484 5496 Email contactus@km.com.qa Website www.km.com.qa Description Implementation of a pilot project to introduce a smart power grid system with capacity to produce 3-5 megawatts and about 500 cubic metres of water. Status New Tender Tender Categories Power & Alternative Energy Tender Products Electric Power Transmission & Distribution, Geothermal Energy, Photovoltaic

APRIL 2013

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Plants, Power Generation Plants, Solar Energy, Wind Energy

â&#x20AC;&#x2026;OMANâ&#x20AC;&#x2026; Al Baleed Resort Project

Project Number BIP062-O Territory Oman Client Name Musstir (Oman) Address C/o. MB Holding Company City Muttrah PC 114 Postal/Zip Code 695 Phone (+968) 2458 0580 (+968) 2458 0599 Email mboman@mbholdingco.com Description Development of a high-end resort in Al Baleed Village comprising a total of (136) rooms and associated facilities Period 2014

Status Current Project Main Contractor Carillion Alawi L.L.C (Oman) Tender Categories Construction & Contracting, Hotels, Leisure & Entertainment Tender Products Construction & Addition Works, Hotel Construction

Musandam Stadium Construction Project Project Number BIP106-O Territory Oman Client Name Ministry of Sports Affairs (Oman) Email minister@mosa.gov.om Website www.sportsoman.com Description Construction of Musandam Stadium including a 12,000 capacity international standard football stadium and

associated facilities such as fitness halls and media facilities. Status New Tender Tender Categories Construction & Contracting, Leisure & Entertainment Tender Products Sports Complexes

Al maghseel resort project

Project Number BIP059-O Client Name Al Maghseel Resort Project City Muttrah PC 114 Postal/Zip Code 479 Country Oman Phone (+968) 2477 3700 Fax (+968) 2479 3929 eMail enquiries@omran.om Website www.omran.om

BOOK YOUR STAND TODAY To enquire about exhibiting email Patrick Gedeon on patrickgedeon@dmgeventsme.com or call +971 (0)4 445 3639

www.thebig5.ae/bp4

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Riyadh: +966 58 333 3914 Dammam: +966 3 850 1654 | +966 54 917 5094 Jazan: +966 7 280 0497 | +966 55 666 6039

Website: www.eldidigroup.com Email: info@soilmecarabia.com aftersales@soilmecarabia.com | Eng. M. Nadeem sales@soilmecarabia.com | Mr. Samir G. Jarrouche

TENDERS

Al Buraimi University Campus Project

Project Number BIP033-O Client Name Ministry of Higher Education Address Room 310, Third Floor, Alia Centre, Al Khuwair City Ruwi 112 Postal/Zip Code 82 Country Oman Phone (+968) 2469 3148/ (+968) 2469 3147 Fax (+968) 2469 3138 eMail info_dept@mohe.gov.om Website www.mohe.gov.om Description Construction of Al Buraimi University Campus comprising buildings for administration, teaching staff, three colleges, laboratories and foundation programme. Period 2014 Status Current Project Main Contractor Larsen & Toubro (Oman) L.L.C Tender Categories Construction & Contracting, Education & Training Tender Products Construction & Addition Works, Educational Developments

Jasmine Residential & Commercial Complex Project Project Number WPR014-O Budget $39,000,000 Client Name Taameer Investment Company (Oman) Address Al Khuwair, Business Centre, 5th Floor, Office No. 508 Postal/Zip Code 1244 Country Oman Phone (+968) 2448 8871 Fax (+968) 2448 8872 Email info@taameerinvest.com Website http://www. taameerinvest.com Description Development of Jasmine Complex comprising residential and commercial facilities. Period 15/11/2013 Status Current Project Main Consultant Arab

Engineering Bureau (Qatar) Financial Consultant Ahli Bank (Oman) Financial Consultant-1 Bank Muscat S.A.O.G (Oman) Main Contractor United Golden Construction Company (Oman) Tender Categories Construction & Contracting, Leisure & Entertainment Tender Products Commercial Buildings, Residential Buildings, Retail Developments

â&#x20AC;&#x2026;Lebanonâ&#x20AC;&#x2026; Lebanon Waterfront City Phase 1 Project Name BIP042-LE Client Name Majid Al-Futtaim Group (Dubai) Address Majid Al Futtaim Tower, Deira City Center

City Dubai Postal/Zip Code 60811 Country UAE Phone (+971-4) 294 9999 / 294 2444 Fax (+971-4) 209 3499 eMail inquiry@mafgroup.co.ae Website www.majidalfuttaim.com Description Development of Lebanon Waterfront City, a masterplanned mixed-use community comprising six towers, various pedestrian plazas and a lively marina promenade - Phase 1. Period 2015 Status New Tender Tender Categories Leisure & Entertainment, Construction & Contracting, Marine Engineering Works & Seaports Tender Products Community Development, Construction & Addition Works, Marina Development, Mixed-used Development.

APRIL 2013

MIDDLE EAST

Description Development of a resort in Al Maghseel area along a scenic beachfront swath offering adventure, recreation and leisure pursuits, as well as family-oriented entertainment. Status New Tender Tender Categories Construction and Contracting, Leisure and Entertainment, Hotels Tender Products Construction and Addition Works, Gardens/ Park Development and Maintenance, Hotel Construction, Retail Developments

big project ME golf days

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2nD PLACE (BELOW) Nigel Rodriges, Aaron Fright, Andrew Philips and Gavin Knowles. Trophies presented by Ian Hauptfleisch from CCS.

1st place Scott Mollison, Richard Appleyard, Drew Colford. Trophies presented by John Conmy from Coins.

MIDDLE EAST

3RD PLACE Adrian Valvona, Geoff Oswald, Greg Holmes and Zoraida Giolli. Trophies presented by Kevin Dick from CCS.

APRIL 2013

big project me golf days

GOLF DAYS In the

Swing of Things

Big Project ME held its first ever Golf Day on March 14, 2013. The event saw industry professionals from across the region battle it out for the Contractors’ Cup at the iconic Jumeirah Golf Estates of ability and skill across the board. Scott Mollison, Richard Appleyard, Drew Colford and Byron Davies were the members of the winning team, coming in with a net score of 57.6, and a gross score of 66. The team handicap was 8.4. In second place was Nigel Rodriges, Aaron Fright, Andrew Philips and Gavin Knowles with a net score of 58, a gross score of 66 and team handicap of 8. Third place was taken by Adrian Valvona, Geoff Oswald, Greg Holmes and Zoraida Giolli. Their net score was 58.5, while the gross score was 67. The team’s handicap was 8.5. All in all, some 72 contracting professionals took part in the Big Project ME Golf Day, which is the first in a planned series of events for the year. The next event, aimed at consultants in the construction industry, will be held in October of this year.

“Events like this allow contractors to network and discuss issues, while also indulging in some friendly competition”

APRIL 2013

MIDDLE EAST

n March 14, 2013, Big Project ME held its first-ever Golf Day, an event designed to bring together the region’s leading contractors for a day of networking and friendly competition. Held at Jumeirah Golf Estates, the event saw 18 teams of four tee off against each other for the Contractors’ Cup. Designed by golf great Greg Norman, the 18-hole Earth course provided the perfect setting for the event, offering participants a challenging, yet enjoyable experience. Sponsored by CCS, AIG, Outo Kumpu, Autodesk, Du, Coins and Saint Gobain Gyproc, the Big Project ME Golf Day was termed a resounding success by Michael Stansfield, commercial director of the Construction Division at CPI. “It’s been a great day and there’s been some fantastic golf played. The course has been quite challenging, and it’s been quite positive to see such a large turnout,” he adds. “Events like this allow contractors an opportunity to network and discuss issues in a relaxed environment, while also indulging in some friendly competition.” Participants were paired handicap-tohandicap, allowing for a more even spread

GOLF DAY SPONSORS

THE 10TH INTERNATIONAL TRADE EXHIBITION FOR CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY, BUILDING MATERIALS, EQUIPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY FOR QATAR

6 - 9 May 2013

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DON’T MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE A PART OF THE FASTEST GROWING CONSTRUCTION EXHIBITION IN THE WORLD’S FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY

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for enquiries or more information please contact: Mr. Michel Gebrael Project Director

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m: +974 5551 7971 t: +974 4432 9900 e: michel.gebrael@ifpqatar.com

Or Email us at: info@projectqatar.com Fill the electronic form at our website by scanning this code

DIARY APRIL

Cityscape abu dhabi abu dhabi, UAE 16 - 18 April, 2013 Cityscape Abu Dhabi is an annual networking exhibition and conference focusing on all aspects of the property development cycle. The conference examies all aspects of property investment, development and architecture.

world ecoconstruct Abu Dhabi, UAE 16 - 18 April, 2013 Being hosted by Clarion Events Ltd, World Eco Construct will offer unlimited business opportunities for showcasing various Building construction related items. It will be held at ADNEC.

14 - 17 april, 2013 Saudi Building & Interiors Exhibition is titled to be one of the largest and the only show of its kind organised in the entire region of Saudi Arabia. This show aims to bring the building and interior decoration sector to develop and grow.

aluminium me 2013 dubai, UAE 23 - 25 april, 2013

The 2013 edition will feature the MENA region’s fast growing role in the global aluminium industry, highlighting investment plans in new smelters and expansion of existing capacities by the regional market players from the GCC.

infrastructure arabia abu Dhabi, UAE 16 - 18 April, 2013

middle east construction fair diyarbakir, turkey 11 - 14 april, 2013

Infrastructure Arabia is the region’s first dedicated exhibition and conference for the civil engineering community

Construction Diyarbakir is a leading trade fair for Middle East Construction

construction machinery show jeddaj, saudi arabia 14 - 17 April, 2013 The show will also provide visitors with a unique insight to the latest developments, equipments and technologies being used in the construction industry, as well as a wide range of construction and machinery equipment that will be showcased during the event.

saudi building and interiors exhibition jeddah, saudi arabia

HAPPENING THIS MONTH... Materials, Construction Technologies, HVAC, Construction Works Machinery Fair (Natural Stones and Marble Special Section.

International

yapi - turkeybuild istanbul, turkey 24 - 28 April, 2013

Istanbul is growing rapidly, and numerous projects in the field of road construction, house building and the construction of office premises are planned. YAPI - TURKEYBUILD will be tapping those opportunities.

sulaymaniah iraq build expo as-Sulaymaniyah 10 - 13 april, 2013

Third international trade exhibition for construction and building in Iraq.

MOSBUILD

MOSCOW, ruSSIA 2 - 19 aPRIL, 2013NT DATE The annual MosBuild is the largest construction and interior exhibition in Russia and Eastern Europe. MosBuild is the only construction and interior event in Russia of truly international level featuring the latest technologies and launches, products and services of leading international companies engaged in the field of capital construction, renovation and finishing.

ISH CHINA

BEIJING, CHINA 8 - 10 APRIL, 2013T DATE

Building & Construction: ISH China & CIHE is the premier fair for the HVAC and sanitation industries in Asia. The event is hosted at the New China International Exhibition Center in Beijing, serving as a convenient platform for many top level industry executives.

BAUMA 2013

EDIL

munich, Germany 15 - 21 April, 2013N

Edil is the Survey of Machinery, Materials, Equipment and Services for the Edilizia Civil and Industrial Restructuring and Recovery Edilizio, Architecture and Energy Saving

The Bauma Exhibition in Munich, Germany, provides products from following sectors: all around construction sites, mining, obtaining of and processing raw materials, production of building materials, component and service suppliers.

BERGAMO, ITALY 4 - 7 APRIL, 2013NT DATE

APRIL 2013

MIDDLE EAST

MENA 2013

DIARY ECOCONSTRUCT

bigprojectME.com

HAPPENING THIS MONTH... ECO CONSTRUCT With multi-million dollar real estate projects both ongoing and in the pipeline across the GCC, Cityscape Abu Dhabi and ecoConstruct Expo 2013 promise to provide an invaluable industry stimulus.

MIDDLE EAST

While the UAE real estate market still faces a challenging scenario of oversupply; recent statistics reveal there is room for tentative optimism. According to lan Robertson, CEO, Jones Lang LaSalle MENA, “The foundations are being laid for a recovery from 2014, with a number

APRIL 2013

of major infrastructure projects scheduled to start later this year.” “We also expect the real-estate in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai to benefit from increased economic activity between the UAE and East Asia, specifically China and South Korea, as well as sub

Saharan Africa and Australia,” the real estate expert adds. Real estate advisory firm Jones Lang LaSalle’s Q4 2012 Dubai Real-Estate Overview reported promising signs of recovery from the end of last year in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with upward prices in the residential, retail and hotel sectors. These were coupled with stimulus packages, as well as UAE Central Bank mortgage loan-to-value caps to curb market fluctuations. According to the latest figures from Ventures ONSITE, the UAE has a total value of projects planned, under tender, under construction or on hold, of US$900,953 million. Likewise, project values for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are $673,490 million, Qatar $108,063 million and Kuwait $142,924 million. This positive outlook sets the platform for Cityscape Abu Dhabi and ecoConstruct Expo 2013 – held concurrently over three days from 16 -18 April at the ADNEC.

DIARY ECOCONSTRUCT

Already established as one of the world’s leading business-to-business real-estate events, Cityscape’s portfolio of exhibitions, conferences, round tables, seminars, and business breakfast events brings together key industry decision makers, international investors, developers, architects, designers and consultants under one roof. ecoConstruct Expo, hosted alongside Cityscape Abu Dhabi, provides an opportunity for the region’s consultants, contractors and architects to source sustainable building/construction solutions, and is a platform for local and international suppliers to showcase their eco-friendly building and infrastructure products which also reduce costs, increase output and raising the overall building efficiency. Sustainability is gaining pace within the construction industry in 2013, continuing from 2012, with Abu Dhabi taking the lead. According to recent reports, developers across the region are turning their attention to the impact of sustainability and green construction concepts on their profits and cost savings targets. Energy audits have shown that energy bills can be reduced by up to 20 per cent through good design and the use of sustainable materials. Meanwhile, the industry as a whole is realising that the lifecycle costs of these buildings can be reduced with minimal cost measures and a payback period of just 12 to 18 months. As such, 2013 is set to be a year of massive growth in the green building market – not least for developers looking to ensure the longevity of their assets. Adnan Sharafi, Emirates Green Building Council (Emirates/GBC) chairman explains: ‘’The construction industry in the region is witnessing robust growth, and emerging from the

challenges faced in the last few years, the sector now has a renewed focus on sustainability and quality issues.” “Industry stakeholders seek materials and processes that will not only help optimise resource use efficiency, but also contribute to cost and energy savings in the long run. Through our participation at Cityscape Abu Dhabi and ecoConstruct Expo 2013, Emirates Green Building Council is underlining its commitment to promoting best practices in sustainability in the built environment, in line with the green vision for the UAE.” As steady growth is being witnessed within the industry, this focus on preservation and quality will benefit everyone from the Developer to the enduser. “Being the region’s leading event focusing on green sustainability, ecoConstruct Expo has a crucial role to play in what is an ever-increasing priority for the building industry,” offered Chris Speller, Commercial Director, Informa. “Together with Cityscape Abu Dhabi, the Expo is perfectly aligned to provide a holistic view of one of the region’s key economic sectors.” Both events are supported by Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ADCCI) as a Strategic Partner while Emirates Steel is ecoConstruct Expo’s Principal Sponsor.

APRIL 2013

MIDDLE EAST

“Industry stakeholders seek materials and processes that will not only help optimise resource use efficiency, but also contribute to cost and energy savings in the long run”

CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

bigprojectME.com

Stand up for the Little Guy GAVIN DAVIDS

Gavin Davids asks if more needs to be done to support local, home grown construction in the Middle East Over the last few months, Big Project ME has been talking to a number of contractors about the challenges that they face in an industry that is growing at an increasing frantic pace. Not a week goes by without news of a new multi-million dollar deal being signed or a mega-project being announced, or so it seems. While the bulk of the attention is focused on the big players in the market, what’s often neglected is that their presence has pushed a number of local contractors to the margins. While construction markets around the world operate on the maxim of ‘survival of the fittest’, it’s fair to say that local contractors are faced with an unfair disadvantage when it comes to competing with the big boys. It’s a point that’s been raised by a number of people

MIDDLE EAST

“They offer low prices and all the time, I have to go like them, because I need the projects. They have the ability to be Financed by their main offices, but I have nobody to finance my losses”

APRIL 2013

that we’ve spoken to, and it’s hard to argue with their point. As Engineer Mohammed Hisham, of Fasttech Prestressing says: “A company like ours, established in the UAE, by full Arab capital, will be affected by foreign companies.” “When they come from outside, they are fully financed from Europe and they are damaging the local industry and damaging our competition. All the time, they offer low prices and all the time, I have to go like them, because I need the projects. They have the ability to be financed by their main offices (overseas), but I have nobody to finance my losses,” he asserts. Strong words indeed, but one that gives rise to a sobering thought. Is the UAE a victim of its own success? Has the construction market become so dependent on outside companies that its own firms are unable to compete? It’s a serious question we need to ask ourselves if we’re serious about advancing as an industry. A strong local base is the best way to ensure that the construction market continues to go from strength to strength. Maybe it’s time someone finally stood up for the little guy. n

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