Construction Week - Issue 322

CITY FOCUSJUBAILpage 52

INSIDENEWSSmall companies need big company attitudes to issues of safetyPAGE 9

COMMENTSaeed Alabbar on the benefi ts of concurrent engineering in sustainable designPAGE 18

ANALYSISWhat Abu Dhabi’s new HSE regulations mean for contractors PAGE 24

SITE VISITPre-cast and post tensioning works the Saudi Binladin wayPAGE 35

SAUDI ARABIA BAHRAIN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES QATAR OMAN KUWAIT

ConstructionWEEK NEWS, ANALYSIS, PROJECTS,

TENDERS, CLASSIFIEDS, ANDJOBS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

MAY 22-28, 2010 [322]CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COMAn ITP Business Publication | Licensed by Dubai Media City

SPECIAL PROGRESS REPORT

SAUDI ARABIA’S ECONOMIC CITIES COULD CHANGE THE FACE OF THE INDUSTRY. CAN THEY SUCCEED?

Saeedbenefi ts engineer

SAUDI ARABIA’S ECONOMIC CITIES COULD CHANGEECONOMY OF SCALE ble design

8sustainabPAGE 18

1MAY 22–28, 2010 CONSTRUCTION WEEK

CONTENTSFEATURES

16 EVENTS: BUILDING SUSTAINABILITYCW previews the highlights of this year’s building sustainability conference in Riyadh.

18 COMMENTSustainability consultant Saeed Alabbar looks at the pros of concurrent engineering.

20 LEGALQuantity Surveyor Colm O’Suilleabhain on project risks and insurances.

22 TODAY’S BAGHDADPost-election: Is it still too dangerous? Are businesses taking the risk?

24 HEALTH CHEQUECW looks at what new EHS regulations are likely to cost the industry.

28 BUILDING AT HEIGHT: CONFERENCE REPORT Find out what the experts had to say.

35 SITE VISITCW reports on the activities of a concrete works run by the Saudi Binladin Group.

41 ECONOMIC CITIESA look at the price of diversity in KSA.

REGULARS

2 ONLINE4 MAIL

FRONT

9 SAFETY ATTITUDESThe need for improved safety attitudes within smaller construction companies.

10 TDIC BOND ACTIVITYSuggestions of further activity in Abu Dhabi’s TDIC bond market.

12 NEWS IN BRIEFHighlights of the week.

14 NEWS IN PICS

46 SHOWCASE: KAUST King Abdulla University of Science and Technology is ranked a top green project.

DIRECTORY

48 PRODUCT FOCUS50 SECTOR FOCUS52 CITY FOCUS54 SPECIALIST SERVICES

BACK

56 DIALOGUECW catches up with Rahamathulla, HSE and sustainability specialist, on the growth of HSE management software and the need to keep up with fast-changing HSE legislation.

MAY 22-28, 2010 | ISSUE 322

9

22

35

41

46

CONSTRUCTION WEEK MAY 22-28, 20102

FEATURESSector focus

ADOPTING STANDARDSIs it time for a unilateral set of building codes and standards in the GCC?

City update

AL GHARBIAWhy challenging times in Abu Dhabi are set to create a hotbed of building opportunities.

Situated on Casablanca’s waterfront, Morocco Mall is designed to be a landmark structure in the city, built in the shape of a seashell. It is 650 metres long, clad in white fabric and glass and set to include an array of shopping outlets by some 250 luxury brands. Boasting three internal plazas, the mall will offer fashion shows, concerts and cabaret, as well as a huge shark aquarium holding one million litres of water. Currently under construction, it is due to open early next year.

To read more visit www.ConstructionWeekOnline.com

IN PICTURES: MOROCCO MALL, CASABLANCA

ONLINEwww.ConstructionWEEKonline.com

MOST POPULARCONTRACTORS TO BID FOR STADIUM PROJECT – UPDATEMASSIVE FIRE AT NATIONAL PAINTS HQ IN SHARJAHDANUBE BOSS: SAUDI TO THRIVE BEFORE DUBAI RETURNSCORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER TO TAKE EFFECT IN THE UAE

HAVE YOUR SAYBURJ OBSERVATION DECK TICKET PRICESShould they be lowered? Is it fair for ‘At the Top’ to charge as much as it does for viewing?

JOBS OF THE WEEKBilingual Secretary, QatarProjects Administrator, DubaiMechanical Engineer, Abu Dhabi

Analysis

TOP 5 AIRPORT PROJECTSCW looks at fi ve of the biggest ongoing airport projects.

Design

CREATINGHARMONYHarmonious, nourishing spaces, and how they are shaping bathroom design.

TO VOTE IN THIS WEEK’S SPOT POLL GO TOwww.ConstructionWEEKonline.com

ONLINE POLLHOW SAFE IS YOUR WORK SITE?

33.3%Satisfactory

26.0%Excellent

24.0%Could be better

16.7%Poor

As the leading formwork and falsework specialist in the Middle East, RMD Kwikform has been delivering solutions to clients across the civils sector for over 30 years.

DUBAI METRO – KEPT ON TRACK BY MEGASHOR“Heralded as one of the most strategically important infrastructure developments in the Emirates in recent years, RMD Kwikform’s Megashor heavy duty shoring system played a key role in the successful delivery of the Dubai Metro.”

CRITICAL DESIGN SUPPORT “For the team at our Sharjah headquarters, ensuring this project was kept on track was critical to its success. This resulted in us investing hundreds of hours of design time to supply all of the temporary support-work for the construction of the Metro’s elevated tracks, delivering solutions that added significant value to the project.”

INTERNATIONAL REACH AND EXPERIENCE “RMD Kwikform’s international reach and experience played an important role in this project, as we were able to call upon a number of RMD Kwikform staff from Hong Kong who had worked on building a similar transport scheme using Megashor.

“Although we were up against heavy competition from a variety of businesses, we had the equipment that the client trusted already on the ground, and the designers to provide the drawings for each location. Being such a large scale project this was essential, we were able to deliver the equipment and technical specifications for each support structure ensuring the installation went ahead smoothly, safely and to programme time. “Up to a dozen sections of the route were under construction at any one time, with RMD Kwikform supplying Megashor towers to site for erection within a very short time frame. This all led to the successful completion of the project.”

MAFRAQ INTERCHANGE – DELIVERING INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS ON A GRAND SCALE Darren: “The sheer scale and management of the equipment used to deliver the Mafraq Interchange in Abu Dhabi shows just how important the capabilities and logistical expertise of your formwork and falsework supplier are.

RMD Kwikform’s engineering led proposition has become increasingly popular, leading to them delivering safe, cost effective formwork and falsework solutions to some of the regions most impressive civil engineering projects. With over 17 branches in the MENA region, RMD Kwikform has the capacity to supply equipment and resources to any scale of project.

Where RMD Kwikform excels is delivering solutions within the most demanding programme times, reassuring customers that projects can be delivered with the highest of quality, on time and on budget, Darren Ellwood, UAE General Manager explains:

“The service RMD Kwikform offers throughout the Middle East combines the technical knowledge of our experienced staff with the capabilities of our industry leading equipment. Examples of projects that have benefitted from this approach are the Dubai Metro, the Parallel Roads Project and more recently the Mafraq Interchange in Abu Dhabi.”

RMD KWIKFORM – SPECIALISTS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING FORMWORK AND FALSEWORK SOLUTIONS

MIDDLE EAST

Tailored Solutions • Global Expertise

RMD KWIKFORM MIDDLE EAST P.O. Box 5801, Sharjah, UAETel: +971 6 553 4173 Fax: +971 6 553 4327 Email: [email protected]

www.rmdkwikform.com/ae

“It was RMD Kwikform’s ability to provide over 10,000m3 of Rapidshor shoring and the expertise to quickly design and fabricate specialist parts that led to us being awarded the contract to supply falsework and formwork to the US$204 Million project.

“The main challenge of the project was the rapid construction of three bridge structures, two measuring 980m in length and climbing up to 22m high and a third measuring 300m. We supplied a number of special components designed and fabricated specially for this project.”

FLEXIBLE APPROACH TO HIRE OR PURCHASE “Due to the scale of the project and the client’s confidence in Rapidshor, we put together a deal that involved the part purchase and part hire of the equipment required for the job. This allowed the customer to facilitate the scale of the project whilst investing to benefit from using Rapidshor on future projects, knowing RMD Kwikform would be there in the future to support them.”

SOLUTIONS TO EVERY CHALLENGE Darren concludes: “What makes RMD Kwikform stand out is our ability to say ‘Yes we can help’. No matter what the project, if it involves the creation of unique and challenging concrete structures, your first point of call should always be to one of my team at RMD Kwikform Middle East. So why not contact us with your challenge now by calling +971 6 553 4173, emailing [email protected] or visiting www.rmdkwikform.com/ae.

VISIT RMD KWIKFORM ON STAND 3231 AT THE ARABIAN CONSTRUCTION WEEK EXHIBITION FROM 24TH MAY TO 26TH MAY 2010 AT THE ABU DHABI INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION CENTRE

4 CONSTRUCTION WEEK MAY 22–28, 2010

Registered at Dubai Media CityITP Business PublishingPO Box 500024, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesTEL +971 4 210 8000 FAX +971 4 210 8080Offices in Dubai, Manama, Mumbai & London

ITP BUSINESS PUBLISHINGCEO Walid AkawiMANAGING DIRECTOR Neil DaviesMANAGING DIRECTOR ITP BUSINESS Karam AwadDEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR Matthew SouthwellEDITORIAL DIRECTOR David InghamVP SALES Wayne LoweryPUBLISHING DIRECTOR Jason Bowman

EDITORIALSENIOR GROUP EDITOR Stuart MatthewsTEL +971 4 210 8476, EMAIL [email protected] REPORTER Ben RobertsTEL +971 4 210 8318, EMAIL [email protected] REPORTER Carlin GerbichTEL +971 4 210 8519, EMAIL [email protected] Elizabeth BroomhallTEL +971 4 210 8142, EMAIL [email protected] DEPUTY EDITOR Sarah BlackmanTEL +971 4 210 8363, EMAIL [email protected] EDITOR Gerhard HopeTEL +971 4 210 8305, EMAIL [email protected] EDITOR Greg WhitakerTEL +971 4 210 8150, EMAIL [email protected]

ADVERTISINGPUBLISHING DIRECTOR Jason BowmanTEL +971 4 210 8351, EMAIL [email protected] SALES MANAGER Scott Woodall TEL +971 4 210 8595, EMAIL [email protected] DEVELOPMENT MANAGER (Saudi Arabia) Rabih NaderiTEL + 966 50 3289818, EMAIL [email protected]

STUDIOGROUP ART EDITOR Daniel PrescottDESIGNERS Simon Cobon, Lucy McMurray, Nadia Puma, Angela RaviDIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Sevag DavidianCHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER Khatuna KhutsishviliSENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS G-nie Arambulo, Efraim Evidor, Thanos LazopoulosSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Isidora Bojovic, George Dipin, Lyubov Galushko, Jovana Obradovic, Ruel Pableo, Rajesh Raghav

PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTIONGROUP PRODUCTION MANAGER Kyle SmithDEPUTY PRODUCTION MANAGER Matthew GrantPRODUCTION COORDINATOR Devaprakash V.A MANAGING PICTURE EDITOR Patrick LittlejohnIMAGE EDITOR Emmalyn RoblesDISTRIBUTION MANAGER Karima AshwellDISTRIBUTION EXECUTIVE Nada Al Alami

CIRCULATIONHEAD OF CIRCULATION & DATABASE Gaurav Gulati

MARKETINGHEAD OF MARKETING Daniel FewtrellDEPUTY MARKETING MANAGER Annie ChinoyTEL +971 4 210 8353, EMAIL [email protected]

EVENTS & CONFERENCESPRODUCER Oscar Wendel

ITP GROUPCHAIRMAN Andrew NeilMANAGING DIRECTOR Robert SerafinFINANCE DIRECTOR Toby Jay Spencer-DaviesBOARD OF DIRECTORS KM Jamieson, Mike Bayman, Walid Akawi,Neil Davies, Rob Corder, Mary Serafin

CORPORATE WEBSITE www.itp.comCIRCULATION CUSTOMER SERVICE TEL: +971 4 210 8000WEB www.ConstructionWeekOnline.comITPIMAGES Certain images in this issue are available for purchase. Please contact [email protected] for further details or visit www.itpimages.com.SUBSCRIBE online at www.itp.com/subscriptionsNOTICE The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication, which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review.

PRINTED BY Atlas Printing Press LLC Dubai CONTROLLED DISTRIBUTION BY Blue TruckAudited by: BPA Worldwide.Average Qualified Circulation 10,400 (July - Dec 2009)

MAILCORPORATEMANSLAUGHTER TOTAKE EFFECT IN THE UAEWhen management only wants to fulfi ll its legal obligation for safety, the primary goals of managers are to stay out of trouble, so they only do what has to be done to meet the minimum requirements.

Management teams need to realise that long term corporate survival depends on giving value and making the most of the potential of every employee, treating them as a corporate family member. Managers who are motivated to invest in safety will understand the fi nancial benefi ts derived from the effective application of safety programmes.SHERWIN S. YCAY

The truth has fi nally come out: safety offi cers cannot implement HSE plans and policies, as they are not in control of budgets. CEOs and managing directors must realise that hiring a safety offi cer is like having another arm: separate but complimentary. Your safety offi cer fails? Then your CEO or director fails too.DENNIS M. BANDOJO

It is good to see that the UAE government is focused on improving health and safety, however, I believe that better education, consultation and enforcement of existing standards must happen fi rst. Currently, enforcement agencies are not easily engaged and the existing enforcement approach is not properly understood. Standards vary too widely from small sites to large

projects. It is too easy to blame the Project Manager. Clients and directors who have budget and management control should be the fi rst point of call for enforcement offi cers.TREVOR HUTCHINSON

DAMAN APPOINTSAL HABTOOR FOR‘THE BUILDINGS’Well done Al Habtoor! I worked for Al Habtoor as a senior project manager on the Dubai Pearl. This new project means I still have a job. Let’s hope that the company will not continue to reduce our pay.KS WONG

WORKER SAFETY STARTS AT GROUND LEVELIt’s true that workers have to take responsibility for their own safety. But I can’t help but notice that site notices tend only to be in English and Arabic, which many construction workers (perhaps a majority) don’t speak. It is rare to see signs in Hindi, Urdu or South Indian languages. This is a fl aw that needs to be addressed.BOB D

NEW BAHRAIN LABOUR LAW TO GIVE WORKERS MORE RIGHTSHow does this fi t in with the policy of Bahrainisation? All too often expats are removed from positions (particularly white collar, management positions) in order to promote a Bahraini employee or meet the increasing limits of locals verses expats employed in a company. Some jobs are also exclusively limited to Bahrainis only by the Ministry of Labour.LAITH AL-HINDAWI

WRITE TO THE EDITOR Please address your letters to: Post, Construction Week, PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE or email [email protected]. Please provide your full name and address, stating clearly if you do not wish us to print them. Alternatively log on to www.ConstructionWEEKonline.com and air your views on any one of a number of the latest Middle East business articles.

The opinions expressed in this section are of particular individuals and are in no way a refl ection of the publisher’s views.

PUBLISHED BY AND © 2010 ITP BUSINESS PUBLISHING, A DIVISION OF THE ITP PUBLISHING GROUP LTD, REGISTERED IN THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS COMPANY NUMBER 1402846

WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM/CONFERENCES

LIMITED VIP INVITES AVAILABLE FOR MAJOR CONTRACTORS AND

DEVELOPERS ACTIVE IN THE KINGDOM

To attend the conference please contact:[email protected]

1st June 2010, RIYADH

MEDIA PARTNERS

Featuring Case Study Presentations on:

Presentations from senior representatives the industry players on the Saudi market leading the sustainability drive in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, including:

Special Features at the conference include:

To exhibit or sponsorship please contact:Jason Bowman, tel +971 4 210 8351,

email [email protected]

SILVER SPONSORS

PLATINUM SPONSORS

ENDORSER EXHIBITOR

CONSTRUCTION WEEK MAY 22–28, 20106

FOREWORD

The scale of works in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is just bigger. It starts with ambition. If you are going to diversify the world’s biggest oil economy you have to do it on a grand scale. Whether seen as a starting point, a symbol, or a catalyst, nothing has a grander scale than the ambition behind the development of Saudi Arabia’s economic cities.

However, the reality of their coming to fruition is mixed. Since the plan was fi rst revealed in 2005, King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) has made progress, but others among the fi rst six planned cities have stumbled.

A desire to rely on private equity may be one reason, with potential investors playing a wait-and-see game on what would be very long-term projects. Some international developers have committed to the process, going in with the aim of attracting more regional and international investment, as well as providing the technical know-how. Notably Dubai’s Emaar Properties established its subsidiary, Emaar The Economic City to develop KAEC, while Malaysia’s MMC Corporation was brought in to work with the colossus of KSA construction, the Saudi Binladin Group.

This brings us to another issue of scale; the size of the competition. International hesitation may be partly down to getting a look in when it comes to contracts. Saudi Binladin Group and the ever so slightly less massive Saudi Oger both dominate the Saudi construction industry, while a dozen or so billion dollar titans vie for anything the big two don’t win.

It’s a situation often bemoaned by the smaller players and one that has deterred some contractors from attempting to enter the market. Perhaps the answer lies in partnership rather than competition. Like the old saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them.

ECONOMY OF SCALE

STUART MATTHEWS SENIOR GROUP [email protected]

“SAUDI BINLADIN GROUP AND THE EVER SO SLIGHTLY LESS MASSIVE SAUDI OGER BOTH DOMINATE THE SAUDI CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY, WHILE A DOZEN OR SO BILLION DOLLAR TITANS VIE FOR ANYTHING THE BIG TWO DON’T WIN.”

APOLOGY: IN ISSUE 321’S HIGH FLIERS WE NEGLECTED TO MENTION THAT PASCALL + WATSON ARCHITECTS WAS COMMISSIONED DIRECTLY BY SCADIA TO GENERATE A CONCEPT DESIGN FOR THE ETIHAD TERMINAL AND PRODUCE DOCUMENTATION FOR TENDERING.


FRONT

CONSTRUCTION WORK ON SAADIYAT ISLAND: TDIC RAISED $2 BILLION IN STANDARD AND ISLAMIC BONDS.

KA

RIM

SA

HIB

-AFP

-GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES

PAIN AND NO GAIN FOR SAUDI CEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION STOCKSBy Ben Roberts

Indices for cement and construction companies on the Tadawul Stock Exchange made no overall gains in three months up to last week.

The cement index closed last Sunday at 4,038, exactly the same level on 17th February having reached a high of 4,374 on 7th March. The construction sector index closed at 3,725 on Sunday, returning it to the 3,724 on 17th February after a high of 4,135 on 14th April.

The lack of overall gains shows the challenge among companies to turn over a profi t in today’s environment, despite the strength of the KSA relative to neighbours, a ban on exports for cement and a tariff on steel imports last year, and multi-million riyals of investment.

Among construction fi rms in KSA, Makkah Construction & Development Company mirrored the shape of its index, closing at SR29.6 on 17th May to come within a whisker of the SR29.7 closing price on 20th February.

Among the cement fi rms on the index, Arabian Cement Company fell more than four riyals over the period, and Yanbu Cement Company fell from SR49.8 in February to 42.9 last Sunday.

Saudi Arabia is to outstrip the UAE in the next few years, though Dubai will eventu-ally bounce back to be globally unbeat-able for growth, believes the chairman of Danube Building Materials.

In an exclusive interview with Con-structionWeek, Rizwan Sajan, head of the diverse materials and tools supplier, said the kind of growth seen by the company itself would be reflected in the Kingdom before a return to the boom days of three years ago for Dubai.

DANUBE BOSS: SAUDI TO THRIVE BEFORE DUBAI RETURNSBy Ben Roberts

“With Saudi – which the company has just ventured into – I have a strong feel-ing that it will go faster than the UAE. However, Dubai is a brand, and that gives it strength. I am very optimistic that in a year or so it will be much further ahead of its current position to be one of the best places in the world.”

Danube Building Materials is currently riding high after posting turnover of AED 1 billion in 2009. Last year also saw it break into the retail market with the launch of

Suggestions of further activity in the bond market this year by the Abu Dhabi government’s Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) have recently increased following unidentifi ed comments to a newswire that the fi rm was preparing a sale in the next three months.

Two sources confi rmed to Bloomberg, the news and data wire, that Standard Char-tered, BNP Paribas, and Citigroup were among the institutions organizing the sale – expected to be for 10-year bonds – due to be completed between now and August.

TDIC is in the early stages of a multi-billion dirham regeneration of Abu Dhabi

QUESTION MARK HANGS OVER TDIC BOND ACTIVITYBy Ben Roberts

that includes hotels, villas, golf clubs and housing, along with signifi cant develop-ment to Saadiyat island.

At a media briefi ng last month, Lee Tabler, CEO of TDIC, said the developer will not need to return to the international bond market this year after raising fi ve-year US $1 billion and then $1 billion through a Sukuk – an Islamic bond. “I don’t believe we need to raise further bond fi nancing for the rest of 2010,” he said.

TDIC’s fi nance spokesperson denied that the company was looking to sell more bonds and was instead updating its prospectus.

nine stores, called Danube Buildmart, selling its materials and tools direct to trade consumers.

The company is also looking to go pub-lic in the next five years. Sajan says the company is considering both the Saudi and Dubai indices, and did not rule out a dual-listing.

He added that a tentative market capi-talisation for the company has a target of US $1 billion, though he said this is still early days.


FRONT

CONSTRUCTION WORK ON SAADIYAT ISLAND: TDIC RAISED $2 BILLION IN STANDARD AND ISLAMIC BONDS.

KA

RIM

SA

HIB

-AFP

-GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES

PAIN AND NO GAIN FOR SAUDI CEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION STOCKSBy Ben Roberts

Indices for cement and construction companies on the Tadawul Stock Exchange made no overall gains in three months up to last week.

The cement index closed last Sunday at 4,038, exactly the same level on 17th February having reached a high of 4,374 on 7th March. The construction sector index closed at 3,725 on Sunday, returning it to the 3,724 on 17th February after a high of 4,135 on 14th April.

The lack of overall gains shows the challenge among companies to turn over a profi t in today’s environment, despite the strength of the KSA relative to neighbours, a ban on exports for cement and a tariff on steel imports last year, and multi-million riyals of investment.

Among construction fi rms in KSA, Makkah Construction & Development Company mirrored the shape of its index, closing at SR29.6 on 17th May to come within a whisker of the SR29.7 closing price on 20th February.

Among the cement fi rms on the index, Arabian Cement Company fell more than four riyals over the period, and Yanbu Cement Company fell from SR49.8 in February to 42.9 last Sunday.

Saudi Arabia is to outstrip the UAE in the next few years, though Dubai will eventu-ally bounce back to be globally unbeat-able for growth, believes the chairman of Danube Building Materials.

In an exclusive interview with Con-structionWeek, Rizwan Sajan, head of the diverse materials and tools supplier, said the kind of growth seen by the company itself would be reflected in the Kingdom before a return to the boom days of three years ago for Dubai.

DANUBE BOSS: SAUDI TO THRIVE BEFORE DUBAI RETURNSBy Ben Roberts

“With Saudi – which the company has just ventured into – I have a strong feel-ing that it will go faster than the UAE. However, Dubai is a brand, and that gives it strength. I am very optimistic that in a year or so it will be much further ahead of its current position to be one of the best places in the world.”

Danube Building Materials is currently riding high after posting turnover of AED 1 billion in 2009. Last year also saw it break into the retail market with the launch of

Suggestions of further activity in the bond market this year by the Abu Dhabi government’s Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) have recently increased following unidentifi ed comments to a newswire that the fi rm was preparing a sale in the next three months.

Two sources confi rmed to Bloomberg, the news and data wire, that Standard Char-tered, BNP Paribas, and Citigroup were among the institutions organizing the sale – expected to be for 10-year bonds – due to be completed between now and August.

TDIC is in the early stages of a multi-billion dirham regeneration of Abu Dhabi

QUESTION MARK HANGS OVER TDIC BOND ACTIVITYBy Ben Roberts

that includes hotels, villas, golf clubs and housing, along with signifi cant develop-ment to Saadiyat island.

At a media briefi ng last month, Lee Tabler, CEO of TDIC, said the developer will not need to return to the international bond market this year after raising fi ve-year US $1 billion and then $1 billion through a Sukuk – an Islamic bond. “I don’t believe we need to raise further bond fi nancing for the rest of 2010,” he said.

TDIC’s fi nance spokesperson denied that the company was looking to sell more bonds and was instead updating its prospectus.

nine stores, called Danube Buildmart, selling its materials and tools direct to trade consumers.

The company is also looking to go pub-lic in the next five years. Sajan says the company is considering both the Saudi and Dubai indices, and did not rule out a dual-listing.

He added that a tentative market capi-talisation for the company has a target of US $1 billion, though he said this is still early days.


FRONT

HIGHLIGHTS

ProjectsBAHRAIN TO BUY SAMA DUBAI PROJECT, SAYS BEDB CHIEFBahraini investors are in talks with Sama Dubai LCC over a possible purchase of its stalled luxury seashore Salam Resort Bahrain project, according to the head of the Bahrain Economic Devel-opment Board.

Mohammed Bin Essa al-Khalifa, chief executive of the BEDB, told report-ers last week in Manama that the AED2 bil-lion project, which stopped construc-tion in January, might be snapped up by investors.

It is the latest retreat from a project for Sama Dubai LLC, which merged with two units of Dubai Hold-ings - Dubai Properties Group and Tatweer – last August.

Sama Dubai stopped the AED11.01 billion Amwaj development in Morocco on 6th April, according to the country’s government, and work was suspended on the AED6.244 billion Salam de-velopment in Oman, accord-ing to the tourism ministry.

Al-Khalifa said a number of real estate ventures from UAE companies in Bahrain had run into fi nancial diffi culty.

BuildingsMASSIVE FIRE AT NATIONAL PAINTS HQ IN SHARJAHA fi re broke out at the Na-tional Paints headquarters in Sharjah last week - the second time in two months

that the business park has been ablaze.

The premises were evacuated and fi refi ght-

ers battled to contain the blaze. The cause of the fi re and the extent of the damage

are yet to be assessed.However, a local fi re

service confi rmed that the blaze was substantial. Flames leapt from the roof of the building, and a large black cloud billowed from the site.

Staff in the Sharjah head offi ce could not be reached. However, a spokesperson for the Dubai showroom said they have not been able to contact anyone in the Sharjah head offi ce to assess the dam-age, adding that it would have an immediate effect on the

promotion of products.Two warehouses were de-

stroyed on 10th March on the Industrial Area 13, opposite the National Paints building.

FinanceGCC SPEND ON NEW HOTELS TO HIT AED4.29BN IN 2010Countries in the Gulf Cooper-ation Council will spend more than AED4.29 billion (US $1.17 billion) on hotel projects this year, defying the linger-ing pressures on the tourism sector globally, according to study fi gures.

Proleads, a Dubai-based research company, has predicted that the United Arab Emirates will see the largest spending levels at around AED1.7 billion, closely followed by Oman which, surprisingly, is to overtake Saudi Arabia with an ex-pected AED988.7 million against AED901.7 mil-lion.

The report was produced and an-nounced ahead of last week’s The Hotel Show, one of the Middle East’s leading

dedicated trade event for the hospitality and leisure sector that was held at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Elsewhere, Business Moni-tor International estimated that retail spending in the MENA region would rise from AED393.9 million in 2009 to AED552.7 million in 2014 (fi gures originally in US dollars). Such a trend may spur the construction of further shopping malls.

ProjectsDUBAI PROPERTY PRICES NEAR TO FLOOR, SAYS BOAMLProperty prices in central Dubai may be reaching a ‘fl oor’ after values dropped by 45%, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

“We see an emerging fl oor for prime assets, particularly in the retail sector, which has

the smallest supply pipe-line,” wrote two Dubai-

based analysts in a note to investors, reported by Bloomberg.

The bank gave Emaar Properties PJSC a

“neutral rating” and a year share

price target of AED4.4.

the GCC economy attributable to Saudi

Arabia (Source: SIAL Group)

NEWS IN NUMBERS

the number of tonnes that the Dubai Mall Aquarium’s acrylic

window weighs

245

unoffi cial percentage of unemployment rate

in Yemen

80%

the number of Kuwaiti Dinars that the

government is to invest in non-oil sectors

2.8 billion

47%y di

uuuuof

Associatemember

Tailor made distribu�on

solu�ons to suit your

requirements

Distribu�on 100% controlled

by Blue Truck employees

(no external management

or distributors)

Comprehensive in-house

audit and repor�ng

structure - We also

welcome external audits

from the company of

your choice

A full solu�ons package

including;

Design

Photography

Prin�ng

Distribu�on

+971 4 282 6333

The market leader in mass door-to-door

distribu�on and controlled bulk distribu�on of

magazines within the UAE.


FRONT

1. Progress on the Mecca Royal Clock Tower in

Saudi Arabia continues ahead of the project’s

offi cial launch date next month. The complex

will overlook the Grand Mosque that Muslims

face for daily prayers, will feature the world’s

second-tallest building, topped by a clock

six times bigger than London’s Big Ben.

Mohammed al-Arkubi, general manager and

vice president of the new Fairmont Makkah

Royal Clock Tower said the hotel would be

817m high – second only to the 828m tall Burj

Khalifa in Dubai.

2. Workers without full safety gear begin

foundation works on a small bridge in central

Baghdad that will help ease traffi c congestion

in the Iraqi capital. While the country may

be sifting through a snakepit of legal issues

following the general election, construction

in the city continues unabated as investment

trickles back in to the city. The General Secre-

tariat approved the referral of the Al Raheed

residential complex last week to an unnamed

UAE company at a cost of more than US $20

billion (AED 73.4 billion) – heralding one of

the largest investment projects in its history.

3. Construction in Malaysia is riding high after

the country’s economy leapt 10.1% during

the fi rst quarter of 2010. This is it’s highest

economic jump in over a decade and comes

on the back of news that the country has

implemented new economic reforms to gain

developed-nation status by 2020.

NEWS IN PICS4. Housing construction continues at a pace

in China with the news that authorities have

tightened restrictions on the sale of new

property developments to existing home own-

ers in the country. The restrictions curb loans

for third home purchases and have raised the

minimum required deposit for second homes

in a bid to help fi rst time buyers in to their

own homes.

5. Qatar’s deputy premier and energy minister

Abdullah bin Hama al-Attiyah (right) talks to

delegates at the Opec-50: Doha Energy Forum

in the Qatari capital this week. The emirate is

hosting the forum to mark the 50th anniver-

sary of the formation of the Organisation of

Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which

currently has 12 member states.

2

3

4

5

AFP

/GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES

1

ALI

AL-

SA

AD

I /A

FP/G

ET

TY

IMA

GES

SA

EE

D K

HA

N /

AFP

/GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES

LIU

JIN

/AFP

/GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES

Make the most of 2010!

May 25 – 27, 2010Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre,Dubai, United Arab Emirates

www.automechanikaME.com

Metropolis of Mobility

RegisterNow


BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY

I t has been an eventful year in the construction industry across the Middle East. One beacon of hope for many contractors and suppliers is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia’s electricity sec-tor alone is seeing over $100 billion worth of investment.

The housing sector has been injected with around US$6 billion; $5 billion is being spent on hospitals and roads; and $2 billion is going towards schools and universities. Further billions are being funneled into commerce and tourism development projects, and into expansion of the country’s high-performing industrial sector.

Current hotel and offi ce building projects in Riyadh alone are valued at over $1 bil-lion. With an array of lucrative investment opportunities for construction fi rms from across the world, Saudi Arabia is drawing international investor attention.

Against this billion dollar backdrop, sustain-able building is an issue developing strong foundations. Construction Week’s Building Sustainably conference, being held in Riyadh in June, will look at the continuing evolution

1 JUNE, 2010 RADISSON BLU, RIYADH

of green trends and initiatives, and the role they will play in the country’s construction sector over the coming years.

The conference will also look to cover best practices in project operations and provide a legal overview for being active in the Sau-di market. The event will also provide an opportunity to share experiences and ideas on how environmental building practices can be encouraged and implemented.

PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTSJohn Harris, national director of Jones Lang LaSalle in Saudi Arabia will present an analysis assessing the state of the real estate and construction sectors in the Kingdom. His presentation will uncover the state of the commercial, retail and residential construction sectors, and help you understand what the future holds. It will look at how commercial real estate in Saudi Arabia has been impacted by the global economic downturn; what the demand is in the retail sector for new malls and shopping centres; and how the nation will meet demand for high-rise residential developments.

EVENTS

Attendees will also learn about progress at the US $10 billion (SR 37.5 billion) King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), cur-rently under construction alongside King Fahd Highway in central Riyadh. Speakers from the leading architects and consultants on the project will share their extensive expertise of the design and construc-tion of high-rise buildings and complex MEP installations.

The conference will feature a mix of speaker presentations and interactive discussions with the audience. �

BUILDING SUSTAINABILITYFor details of how to attend, visit

www.constructionweekonline.com/

conferences


COMMENT> For more legal advice log on to www.ConstructionWEEKonline.com/comment

The opinions expressed in this column are of the author and not of the publisher.

Climate change and the sustainability agenda have grown in international importance and recognition.

As the building sector is responsible for higher levels of CO2 emissions than any other, it forms an integral part of the global sustainability agenda. Consequently there has been a mounting requirement for buildings and developments to be designed and con-structed in a more sustainable manner.

GROWTH OF THE MARKETKey drivers sparking the emergence of sustainable development include growing government regulation, coupled with increasing consumer demand for more sustainable buildings. The market for sustainable buildings is growing rapidly and forecasters predict this trend to continue.

However, in the current climate of limited liquidity, developers are naturally vigilant of the perceived capital cost premium associated with green buildings, despite the life cycle benefi ts. This is currently a major deterrent to developers adopting sustainable design and construction practices. Any news of government legislation mandating increased levels of sustainability is frequently met with a degree of resistance and panic.

This need not be the case. Approaching sustainability in the right way, at an early stage of a project, can provide the potential for developments to achieve a high level of sustainability at little or no capital cost premium.

One of the challenges facing design teams today is to ensure that designs comply with the latest sustainability regulations, while also aligning with what the end-user needs and values. This approach ensures that any sustainability features incorporated into the development are not simply expensive bolt-ons for compliance, but provide real value to the project.

MEETING THE CHALLENGEIn dealing with the current challenge of cost effectively incorporating sustainability into construction projects, I look back to

the end of the 1990s and aeronautical engineering; a time of growing demand for increasingly low-cost air travel in an era of rising and largely unstable fuel prices. The emergence of the budget air travel market offered an enormous opportunity to aircraft and component manufacturers, despite the fi nancial challenges.

Consequently, during this time, an engi-neering design management philosophy known as concurrent engineering emerged at the forefront of the industry, as a means of reducing lifecycle costs and shortening design and manufacturing programmes. There are many principles to concurrent engineering, but in essence it is a systematic method of considering and optimising all aspects of a products lifecycle – from conception to disposal – by carrying out project tasks concurrently, instead of sequentially.

DELIVER WHAT THE USER NEEDSIn order to maximise the probability of market success, the aerospace industry uses systematic tools that transfer customer requirements directly into designs. A clear understanding of what the customer wants is determined right from the outset and quality management tools are used to translate these requirements into the product. This is in contrast to construction projects, where the end-user is frequently far removed from the design and construction process.

Such an approach to delivering what the customer wants could ensure that the proj-ect focuses on the sustainability issues most valued by the project’s key stakeholders.

Establishing exactly which sustainability issues are considered valuable to the project can be complicated.

To manage the complexity of implement-ing sustainability on the large multidisci-plinary projects that Halcrow works on, we have collaborated with the University of Bristol to develop a tool that systemati-cally identifi es and manages the sustain-ability issues that are most important to the key stakeholders. The tool, HalSTAR (Halcrow Sustainability Toolkit and Rating

Engineering sustainability

Saeed Alabbar is a sustainability consultant at Halcrow and is currently involved in the sustainable design of various master planned developments and large infrastructure projects. He holds a first class masters degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Bath and is a LEED Accredited Professional.

“ONE OF THE CHALLENGES FACING DESIGN TEAMS TODAY IS TO ENSURE THAT DESIGNS COMPLY WITH THE LATEST SUSTAINABILITY REGULATIONS.”

SAEED ALABBAR LOOKS AT HOW CONCURRENT ENGINEERING CAN BE USED TO CREATE COST-EFFECTIVE SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

System), provides us with a means of focussing the project on the key sustainability issues so they are integrated into the project, rather than bolted on.

A CONCURRENT APPROACH TO DESIGNOne of the main areas where concurrent engineering was able to achieve signifi cant benefi ts in the aerospace industry was in the integration of the product and manufacturing design processes. Integrating the architectural, engineering and construction design processes can have similar benefi ts. There has been a signifi cant drive in the construction industry to adopt concurrent engineering. The results of these initiatives can be seen in the industry today in the form of ‘partnering arrangements’, design and build contracts, value engineering and other less formal means of promoting integration in the procurement of construction projects.

An integrated approach to construction projects can also yield benefi ts in terms of achieving cost-effective sustainability. Embed-ding sustainability goals across the entire project team at the very start of the project can promote inter-disciplinary collaboration and cooperation, optimising designs in an iterative manner with respect to the project’s sustainability objectives.

Similarly, the involvement of contractors, material suppliers and other downstream disciplines, in the design phase ensures that proposed sustainability features are feasible to construct.

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of sustainable design, it is now accepted that an integrated approach is the most effective means of achieving sustainability. HalSTAR allows us to embed a project’s sustainability objectives across project teams right at the start of projects, providing the means to promote an integrated, collaborative approach to design from the outset. The tool provides a systematic process to enable designs to progress towards the most effective sustainability solutions, without impacting design programmes, by utilising its database of global precedents and best practice. Using HalSTAR we are able to align planning and building code requirements as well as rating systems, such as LEED or Estidama, against the framework so that risks associated with code or credit rating compliance can be managed effectively, delivering optimum sustainability results on our projects.

CONCURRENT ENGINEERING CAN BUILD SUSTAINABILITY INTO A DESIGN.

WORLD PIONEERSIN STEEL BUILDING INDUSTRY

We'll apply our vast engineering resources,

manufacturing capabilities, along with the international

experience of our certified builder and sales network,

to provide a total solution for your building needs.

Low-Rise buildings for all applications: industrial, commercial,

and institutional

… ranging from warehousing to multi storey shopping

complexes and aircraft hangers.

w w w . z a m i l s t e e l . c o m


LEGAL> For more legal advice log on to www.ConstructionWEEKonline.com/comment

What’s the worstthat could happen?

All construction projects carry with them inherent risk. Every standard form of contract requires certain types of insurance to be put in place. What most employers and contractors don’t consider are the other risks that exist, which may or may not be provided for within the contract, but which could be mitigated by putting additional insurance in place.

For instance, there is always the risk that a contractor or sub-contractor may not perform their duties correctly or declare bankruptcy before completion. To address this risk, adequate retention should be held on all amounts paid under the con-tract. Alternatively (or in addition) pay-ment and/or performance bonds could be requested.

All standard forms of contract require that the contract works are insured. This can be the responsibility of either the contrac-tor or the employer. Before commencing a project an employer should ensure that adequate insurance provisions are in place against possible loss or damage to the con-tract works. This can be achieved through project specifi c insurance or through the contractor’s ‘all risks’ policy.

On every project there is a risk to third parties. Insurance can be put in place by the employer or the contractor to provide for these risks. The types of insurance that may be considered are third party insurance against loss or damage, pub-lic liability insurance, insurance against damage arising from the works to existing and surrounding buildings (if not covered under project insurance) and non-negli-gence insurance.

There is a risk that the designer, or other consultants involved with the project, may be professionally negligent. Before engaging any architects, engineers or consultants, the employer should ensure that they have the required experience as well as the adequate professional indem-nity insurance for the activities that are being undertaken.

Plant and materials supplied by the con-tractor may be defective. An employer should put collateral warranties in place to ensure that they have a direct contrac-tual link with suppliers, particularly the suppliers of the high value and mainte-nance items.

There is a risk that the building will con-tain latent defects not evident prior to completion. A client and employer can put latent defects insurance in place against such an eventuality.

A client and employer may incur conse-quential loss as a result of the late delivery of the project. They can insure against this risk by taking out consequential loss cover, advance loss of profi t insurance, delay in start-up insurance or loss of liquidated damages insurance.

All insurance policies should be main-tained on ‘jointly named’ basis where possible with clearly defined contract provisions allocating responsibility for providing the insurance. The benefit of maintaining policies on a jointly named basis is that the full risk can be trans-ferred to the insurance company while at the same time ensuring that the insur-ance company cannot use subrogation against either the employer themselves or any of the project works contractors or sub-contractors.

While it would be ideal to have all of the aforementioned policies in place on a project this may not be practical from a commercial point of view as each insur-ance policy will come at a cost which will either be acceptable or unacceptable to the employer/contractor.

Insurance actuaries no doubt have com-plicated formulas and equations to work out. I on the other hand have a more simple equation; divide the cost of putting the insurance in place by how foolish you would feel if the insured event actually happened and you lost out as a result. This will tell you if you should have put the policy in place or not.

COLM O’SUILLEABHAIN ON PROJECT RISKS AND THE INSURANCES THAT CAN BE PUT IN PLACE TO EASE THEM

The opinions expressed in this column are of the author and not of the publisher.

Colm O’Suilleabhain is a Senior Consultant with Trett Consulting in their Abu Dhabi office. He is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor with extensive experience in a variety of fields. As well as having a Masters in Project Management, he is currently completing the second year of a three-year legal Masters (LLM). Colm is also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

“BEFORE COMMENCING A PROJECT, AN EMPLOYER SHOULD ENSURE THAT ADEQUATE INSURANCE PROVISIONS ARE IN PLACE AGAINST POSSIBLE LOSS OR DAMAGE TO THE CONTRACT WORKS.”

CONSTRUCTION WEEK MAY 22–28, 201022 CONSTRUCTION WEEK MAY 22–28, 201022

A general election, which at fi rst, was too close to call, marred by a series of bomb attacks and recently disputed by the current leader

of the country, will have only increased the ubiquitous nerves surrounding Iraq and its capital.

As the Justice and Accountability Com-mission continues to root out former mem-bers of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, who might have won seats as current candidates, fears mount in Baghdad of prolonged instability.

Developers in the Middle East who may have taken a cursory glance at some of the many infrastructure and residential-related opportunities that will reinvent the city will be keeping their cards close to their chest.

BEN ROBERTS FINDS THAT MIDDLE EASTERN

FIRMS ARE DIVIDED AS TO WHETHER THE

IRAQI CAPITAL IS WORTH THE RISK

Project plans are still coming – including a planned one million new houses - though the issue of security remains the bottom line for both contractors and suppliers.

Mr Govia of Emirates Buildmat is one example of those giving the city a wide berth. “The situation in Baghdad is tense, and we’re waiting for it to be resolved,” he said. “Law and order and safety are very important – [to know that] when you go over there your investment is protected. People are hoping for security.”

Mr Govia said he believed that the majority of the one million homes would be built in

Kurdistan, in the north of the country.Dinesh Nainani is another who believes

that the risks – and the costs associated with security and potential losses – are just too high. As the general manager of Shaker Trading, a mid-sized supplier of steel products such as pipes, sheets and tubes, he said: “We have seen more orders from the country in the last year, year-and-a-half, but we would not send men there.”

This view is not the consensus, however, and some companies are reviewing the risk-reward factor and coming down on the side of the former.

Khaled Saqqaf, head of the six-year-old Iraq offi ce for law fi rm Al-Tamimi, said the fi rm has seen more companies look-ing to enter Baghdad in the last two years requiring the fi rm’s advisory service.

“I think there are lots of opportunities. The important thing to know about con-struction in the country is the business

“WE HAVE SEEN MORE ORDERS FROM THE COUNTRY

IN THE LAST YEAR, YEAR-AND-A-HALF, BUT WE WOULD

NOT SEND MEN THERE.” Dinesh Nainani

ANALYSIS


classifi cations; that is, what type of work you are allowed to carry out. So the fi rst class would be that a company can oper-ate on any project, the second class only on a few projects, and so on.”

He adds that if a foreign company has the project already signed before they enter the country, it is a far more stream-lined process.

“Companies are asking us about security issues and taxation among other things.”

Tom Barker, director of G4S Secure Solutions Iraq, part of the international security group G4S, also says that there has been a significant upturn in incom-ing businesses.

“In terms of threat, the country is a lot more peaceful since the height of the sec-tarian confl ict,” he says.

“Now there are opportunities realised by all parties and there is a fairly opti-mistic outlook as the election passed off reasonably peacefully. Voter turn-out was high, but we’ll have to see how it turns out – whether the people unhappy with the result will resort to violence or whether they will accept it.”

The company provides ‘Gateway Iraq’, a full suite of services for fi rms new to the country that includes secure villas for setting up meetings and headquarters

as well as transport. In the past it has worked largely with the Iraqi government for major projects such as the security at the Baghdad International Airport and a number of power stations, along with big international companies that include exponents of the fi nancial and telecom-munications sectors.

AN IRAQI LABOURER WORKS AT A CONSTRUCTION SITE IN CENTRAL BAGHDAD: REGIONAL FIRMS ARE DIVIDED ON THE RISK OF SENDING STAFF TO THE COUNTRY.

IRAQ MAY PROVE TO BE A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY.

“Iraq needs a lot of support, though there are a lot of companies coming in that have the stomach for the risk and we help them from an intelligence point of view.”

FIAFI Group, an Iraqi infrastructure service firm, tells CW a similar story. Ragdan El-Akabi, the company’s CEO, said: “The global economic downturn has prompted companies to seek opportuni-ties in new markets that were once not ever considered, including Iraq, due to the instability.”

He believes the security concerns must be tempered with a wider perspective.

“Security does remain a concern for every-one, but you have to mitigate the risks where possible. There are many dangerous places in the world where opportunistic companies brave those risks and come out on top. You simply have to do your homework, conduct a risk assessment and implement a robust security policy that reduces those risks where possible to acceptable levels. Busi-ness is never without risk wherever in the world it may be.

“The situation in Iraq has improved dra-matically of late and with the elections now complete there is hope that it will improve further, providing greater stability and an environment that attracts more investment and business opportunities.” �

WATHIQ KHUZAIE / GETTY IMAGES

AH

MA

D A

L-R

UB

AY

E/A

FP/G

ET

TY

IMA

GES


HEALTH CHEQUE

A s one of the biggest concerns for today’s construction indus-try, the matter of health and safety is attracting more attention than ever

before. Recent research by UAE University indicated that approximately two-thirds of occupational injury admissions to a Middle Eastern hospital in 2008 involved accidents common to construction workers. Falls from height particularly, have been identifi ed by experts as the primary cause of death in the construction workplace.

Taking the lead on the subject in early May, the emirate of Abu Dhabi established a new building and construction sector environ-ment, health and safety (EHS) department in its Al Ain municipality. Having incorpo-rated international principles with existing federal laws to set minimum standards for EHS, government offi cials are now look-ing forward to a more standardised system of working, whereby small contractors as

ELIZABETH BROOMHALL ASKS WHAT NEW HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATIONS WILL COST THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN ABU DHABI

well as large fi rms can reap the benefi ts of healthy, safe and sustainable workplaces. By compelling 190 high-risk fi rms across the sector to devise and implement their own EHS management systems before 2012, they hope to breed a new ‘health and safety culture’ throughout the emirate, and in the future, across the whole of the UAE.

But like all new pervasive and regulatory frameworks affecting entire industries, con-cerns exist over how the scheme will work in practice, as well as the day to day impact on contractors. This is in addition to appre-hension over how the scheme might affect business in the region and how smaller fi rms might go about implementing it.

ANALYSIS

‘NOMINATED ENTITIES’To begin with, the scheme is only going to affect what are currently being referred to as ‘nominated entities’. Essentially, these are high risk companies (including contrac-tors, sub-contractors, developers, consul-tants and suppliers) with projects in Abu Dhabi who have been nominated by the municipality. In effect, this means that any large company in the GCC region should already be working towards a formal health and safety policy, and indeed, many have already begun preparations without notifi -cation. Formally, once notifi ed, nominated entities will have a year in which to devise their own EHS management system spe-cifi c to their individual companies’ risks, and then a further year to implement the system internally and across their network of subcontractors and suppliers.

The general consensus is that there will be no signifi cant impact on large companies, most of which already have solid health and safety management systems in place. “Any good international contractor will already

“ANY GOOD INTERNATIONAL CONTRACTOR WILL

ALREADY BE COMPLIANT WITH THE NEW

REGULATIONS, SO IT IS NOT REALLY GOING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO THEIR

BUSINESS.”

be compliant with the new regulations, so it is not really going to make a difference to their business,” Aldar’s Head of Safety Andrew Broderick explained. “At Aldar for example, we already have an EHS manage-ment system in place which we have imple-mented across all of our active sites. And, Aldar being Aldar, we tend to employ good contractors who are also already compliant with ISO standards.”

Niall McLoughlin, Senior Vice President for real estate developer Damac Proper-ties said that his company is also already practising an HSE Management system in line with Dubai and Abu Dhabi authority requirements for its major projects. He added that to ensure the system is implemented by contractors and engineers, Damac actu-

ally includes a clause on health and safety compliance within its contract, and regu-larly monitors the system’s implementation along with government agencies.

ECONOMIC IMPACTOf course, where such systems are not already in place, concerns have been raised about the economic impact the scheme could have on the region, both in terms of the direct cost implications for those fi rms who have a lot of work to do on the subject, and the effects that a new regulatory environment could have on the winning of new contracts. For smaller fi rms, the price of implementing a formal EHS management system particu-larly could be signifi cant, from the direct costs of purchasing safety equipment and employing an EHS offi cial, to the time and resource associated with implementing the system itself.

However, Elias McGrath at BuildSafe does not believe this is a valid reason for avoiding health and safety on construction sites. “Implementing this scheme will be a challenge, but it is something that has to be achieved. Right now there are too many excuses for not improving regulations.” And

“IMPLEMENTING THIS SCHEME WILL BE A

CHALLENGE, BUT IT IS SOMETHING THAT HAS

TO BE ACHIEVED. RIGHT NOW THERE ARE TOO

MANY EXCUSES FOR NOT IMPROVING HEALTH AND

SAFETY REGULATIONS.”

THE EHS LAUNCH SEMINAR IN AL AIN, ABU DHABI.

Innovation Insul-phen Phenolic Insulation.

BGT- Fort Steel Doors, Frames & Hardware Fire Rated & Non-Fire Rated


rather than having a negative impact on business, McGrath believes that the new scheme offers real opportunities for economic growth and prosperity. “This scheme is a fantastic tool for the industry and the next generation of construction. It will actually be used to increase competition, because organisations who comply will win more work. The reality is that a quality company protects its workers, and if an organisation wants to achieve competitive advantage, then it needs to have proper health and safety systems in place.”

Related to this issue is the cost of the acci-dents and fatalities themselves. Aside from the obvious loss of life or health, fi rms who witness incidents on site are at a high risk of paying out a substantial amount of money in compensation and legal fees. “The con-struction process contains many risks – and the consequences of accidents can be quite devastating,” said McLoughlin.

“The costs are often way beyond any fi nan-cial implications of implementing health and safety policies, while adopting best practice need not be a cost-prohibitive exercise. It is more about sharing ideas and standards.” In accordance with McLoughlin’s views, Broderick confi rmed that fi nance is a popular motive behind the majority of health and safety systems internationally. “Everyone knows that if you have a good, safe site it can

save you a lot of money,” he said. “Ultimately the three key international drivers when it comes to health and safety are moral, legal and fi nancial factors.”

Unfortunately and in truth, there are still a large number of contractors across the region without adequate health and safety systems. Not only is this apparent from a frequent number of accidents and fatalities in the industry, but also due to the need for a more standardised health and safety system in the fi rst place.

A LACK OF UNDERSTANDINGUltimately then, the main concern with the new regulations is the anticipated impact on smaller fi rms, since it is they who tend to be among the non-compliers. According to Broderick, the reason for this is simple, and boils down to a lack of understanding among the smaller contractors, who in the past have been somewhat unfamiliar with health and

safety, both of in terms of the dangers of poor policies and the benefi ts of safe construction sites.

“The whole point of this scheme is to bring the smaller companies up to speed, as there are still a lot of contractors out there who are breaking the law,” said Broderick.

“More often than not it is because they simply don’t understand the benefi ts of having a proper system in place. A saf-er site is a more productive site, where workers often do the work more quickly. But you can’t keep barking orders at con-tractors, you need to explain to them and show them.”

Evidently as part of the new system, govern-ment offi cials are taking the soft approach of trying to encourage and assist smaller fi rms to improve standards rather than bullying them into it. As well as assuring companies that they will not be penalised for non-compliance within the fi rst two years, they have reiterated the existence of a new incentive scheme, issuing rewards for top performers.

General Manager of Al Ain Munici-pality Dr Matar Al Nuaimi said: “Our aim goes beyond enforcement. By edu-cating the sector, we hope to infl uence behaviours and develop a positive EHS culture that values both human life and the environment.” �

“THE COSTS ARE OFTEN WAY BEYOND ANY FINANCIAL

IMPLICATIONS OF IMPLEMENTING HEALTH AND

SAFETY POLICIES, WHILE ADOPTING BEST PRACTICE

NEED NOT BE A COST-PROHIBITIVE EXERCISE.”

THE GOVERNMENT AIM GOES BEYOND ENFORCEMENT.


BUILDING AT HEIGHT, SAFELY

Legislation and the challenges of maintaining a health and safety culture were key themes of the Construction Week Building at Height Safely conference held in Dubai last week. Hundreds of health and safety delegates attended the conference, and panel discussions during the afternoon sessions were particularly lively as

industry experts were grilled by Wayne Harris, HSE director with Qatar Project Management.

Harris interrogated panel members on the issue of international safety practices. Over the last fi ve years safety practices from UK and other European countries have been adopted locally in the development of health and safety legislation. Harris asked whether the cultural and geographical differences are really being addressed when applying these guidelines across continents.

“Instead, are we just creating a generic, common set ofstandards, and should we tackle the problem in a management perspective to health and safety, rather than just routine task based legislation?”

Garry Crighton, vice president of Emirates Safety Group, said he did not think there was anything wrong with generic guide-lines, but it was necessary that the business was involved and that it understood the cultures within its own company.

“They need a goal-setting regime that goes beyond the pre-scriptive,” he said.

Stephen Storey, senior health, safety and environmentmanager at Masdar, said health and safety had transformed over

BETTER MANAGEMENT WILL CUT FALL DEATHS AND INJURIES

The number of falls from height, the industry’s biggest killer, could be reduced if companies implemented more effective ‘control measures’.

By minimising the chances of injury or death, ‘control measures’ help fi rms to lower the number of hazards in the workplace and better manage on-site safety risks.

According to the industry’s most experienced safety experts, the best control measure available was to reduce the number of falls is to avoid working at height altogether by better management of the project at the planning stage.

This creates safety-management opportunities for designers and project managers, whose role at the beginning of a project can dictate whether a structure needs to be put together at height at all.

Independent expert at Combisafe UAE Barney Green, said: “To remove the need to work at height we need to avoid the need to work to tight schedules, and to plan the work more effectively.”

Second to avoiding working at height altogether, Green emphasised the need to establish more passive, collective safety systems over active, personal systems which, by defi nition, relied less on the worker’s individual actions and more on company policies.

First and foremost, he advised collective, passive systems that prevent falls, using the example of an edge protection system verses a safety harness, which would prevent workers from falling even if they were incorrectly attached to their lanyard.

In the event that working at height could not be avoided, and preventative systems still posed a degree of risk, Green proposed that companies minimise the possible consequences of falling from height, again, through more passive, collective systems.

An example would be using a safety net over personal fall protective equipment, which in this case, does not depend on a worker having or wearing their equipment. It was still better, Green said, to reduce the need to work at height with thorough project planning.

LEGISLATION AND THE CHALLENGES OF MAINTAINING A HEALTH AND SAFETY CULTURE WERE KEY THEMES OF CW’S CONFERENCE

ON THE SAFETY CHALLENGES OF BUILDING AT HEIGHT

SPECIALREPORT

WAYNE HARRIS CHAIRED A PANEL DISCUSSION ON PRACTICAL SAFETY MEASURES.


the years he has been in the UAE, although the region today might be a little too fragmented in applying standards.

Mark Warrington of project manager, Al Ain Municipality HSE, for Atkins (Middle East) concurred, adding: “We

saw over the last few years that there were different regulations applied across free zones in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. However, if you look at what is coming out of Abu Dhabi there is a great opportunity to have specifi c regulations.

“The decree goes further and a number of different industries. To answer the question as to whether it needs to be prescriptive or implemented from

a management perspective, the answer is both. There have to be guidelines, and I think it has

to be tailored to the region.” He added that there has to be a continued drive toward overcoming communication problems between employees, something

that remains a ‘barrier in the region’, and self-regulation has a future.

“One of the fundamental things we’re doing is empowering each entity that falls

30

under the decree to allow them to regulate themselves, giving them the ability to do what benefi ts them,” he said.

Harris noted that what is driven by management is what is prescribed by company law. “The question coming from this is: if in place, will it be enforced?”

“This could be a ‘soft focus’ initially, as at the moment it is more about getting entities to certain standards. Most certainly there will be teams – such as from Abu Dhabi Municipality – that ensure that systems are complied with.”

Here he referred to Saeed Semaihi, head of HSE at the Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management, who represented a different kind of safety – event safety rather than a project – and said it is imperative to get right due to the profi le of the sport.

Semaihi, who worked with F1 teams to ensure the fi rst ever Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ran withg out a hitch, said event safety is slightly different as there is the signifi cant issue of crowd safety. There was some push and pull with event organisers, he added, who wanted to make sure that what is, in effect, a dangerous sport is not subsumed into health and safety too much.

“A lot of things happen during the race and we tried to do it in the way that makes sense,” he said. “There is still a huge gap to cover all the legislation to cover sporting events. There was some resistance from teams to our health and safety plans, simply because they thought it may get in the way of their sport. We just had to make it clear that while we understood their sporting concerns, our business was to provide a safe event for our visitors.”

The panel was then encouraged to focus on safety culture in construction. “Over the years there have been many different safety schemes in companies,” said Harris. “A lot of companies will say ‘safety fi rst’ and it’s become the most overused phrase. Companies also say that they are following best practice.”

“But in the economic crisis, is it diffi cult to put in long term schemes that might be cut back in six months?”

Andrew Broderick, HSE director at Aldar Properties, said motivating and encouraging staff towards a collectively safe workplace could be a challenge when there is a threat of redundancy. “When you’re an expatriate, it can be quite a challenging time,” he said. “If you lose your job it’s not just a question of going home and searching for a new one – it means you have to leave the country. You have got to keep pushing to encourage collectively, including higher management.”

Stephen Storey said MAS-DAR had been able to attach key performance indicators for health and safety to the

“MASDAR HAS ATTACHED KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY TO

THE BONUS OF THE CEO”

bonus of the CEO. This was also tied to people’s bonuses when it fi lters down the management chain. “If you show the top man is committed to safety, it does fl ow down and it is an added ‘bonus’ to get people on your side,” he said.

A representative from the Ministry of Labour in the audience said that the Ministry had started solidifying building HSE regulation for UAE, not just Dubai. “It will be for building and construc-tion. That’s very good news for UAE,

but I’d like to ask: what is the situation in Qatar?”Doha-based Harris said Qatar compared to Dubai or Abu Dhabi

seven years ago, and that much of the progress in health and safety standards emanated from their most mature industries: gas and petroleum. He said safety measures in the gas fi elds

were very good, and that many people were coming out of gas and petroleum and into the construction

industry and bringing their experience with them.“Qatar has a long was to go but they have achieved quite a lot,” he said.

Another member of the audience asked if there was an initiative to combine the many regulatory authorities in setting standards in construction. A Ministry of Labour representative stated that there were only four key authorities - TECOM, the Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority , Dubai Municipality, and the Jebel Ali Free Zone - and that there is a drive to unify this

regulation, but it required time. Harris closed by commenting: “It’s always

quite interesting when legislation starts to change, moving from

the procedures of free zones to making them federal stan-

dard. It’s not an easy process. Sometimes there is criticism that it takes too long, these things take a lot of work and negotiation.�

ALDAR’S ANDREW BRODERICK (LEFT) AND MARK WARRINGTON, ATKINS.

SAEED SEMAIHI SAID RUNNING A SAFE F1 RACE IN ABU DHABI WAS HIS TOP PRIORITY.



Directors of construction fi rms in the UAE will soon face corporate manslaughter charges should a fatality occur on their site, a safety offi cial has revealed.

Speaking at CW’s Building at Heights summit, Dodsal’s HSEdirector and vice president of the Emirates Safety Group Garry Crighton confi rmed that “it wouldn’t be long” before the UAE started holding company directors accountable for accidents.

The new approach to health and safety, which has already been established in the UK, is reportedly gaining popularity in the region as authorities try to clamp down on poor health and safety practice.

Crighton said: “New laws in the UK focus on directors andcorporate manslaughter, and it won’t be long until the same thing happens here.”

“Some of my colleagues have already been approached by the authorities here to start sitting on panels to help them come up with a new set of rules and standards.”

Stressing the need to focus on manage-ment, he added that it was unfair to blame accidents on safety offi cers, who could not implement policies, only devise them, and who had no control of health and safety budgets.

Later in the day, he explained further how the case for targeting management was developing.

“Previously, safety offi cers and site operators have been held responsible for accidents, but in the last two years there have been incidences of project managers and project engineers going to jail in the UAE. So we’re gradually moving up the pecking order.

“The truth is that we need more focus on the managementsystem, as many of the accidents that occur are a result of system failure. There is no point in putting a hundred crane operators in

CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER CHARGES TO TAKE EFFECT IN THE UAE

jail because that isn’t going to change the system, they will continue with another hundred accidents. If you prosecute the worker who made a mistake because he hasn’t been trained properly, then you create a negative HSE culture.

“But the fi rst time you prosecute a project manager,” he added, “you know that it won’t happen on his next project, because you infl uence his company to say ‘don’t let this happen anymore’. The fi rst time a director of a company goes to jail or even gets a fi ne, he or she will say, ‘this can never happen again’.”

Whilst currently the law isn’t written in such a way as to hold executive management teams directly responsible for poor health and safety practice, Crighton expects the situation to change quickly.

He suggested that unlike the UK, which was slow to realise the benefi ts of hold-ing top management more accountable, authorities in the UAE were “raising their sights fairly quickly”.

When asked how he thought executive management teams could better live up to

their responsibilities, he explained that it was important for directors to take an interest in their own policies, whilst reiterating the need for safety leadership and for directors to retain accountability.

“Directors need to take an interest in health and safety systems and show commitment to them,” he said.

“They need to know their policy, their management system and its structure, they need to be more familiar with health and safety best practice and they need to be safety leaders.

“But above all they need to retain accountability. There is a ten-dency for directors and top management to delegate accountability when it suits them.

“IT’S IMPORTANT FOR DIRECTORS TO TAKE AN

INTEREST IN THEIR OWN POLICIES AND RETAIN

ACCOUNTABILITY.”

SPECIAL REPORT NEWS

DODSAL’S GARRY CRIGHTON SAID THAT IT COMPANY DIRECTORS NEEDED TO HEED HSE GUIDELINES.


While the safety message may be getting through to many of the construction industry’s larger players, smaller companies also need to look after their workers with comprehensive training and monitoring says Qatar Project Management HSE director Wayne Harris.

Harris says that larger companies were aware of the impact any lost time injuries had on projects, and that it was important to ensure workers were kept safe on the job, but the message needed to fi lter down to smaller companies too.

“We’ve seen it in the UK where most fam-ily owned, family contracting companies couldn’t always afford to hire in an HSE consultant to draw up a plan and train staff. That’s where big business has a role to play,” he said.

“It’s not always a case of wielding a big stick: Abu Dhabi has taken the lead by devel-oping a framework for the whole of the UAE, and initiatives like BuildSafe UAE are great for spreading the message – but big business can help too.”

Harris said that bigger fi rms often brought smaller company workers in to their proj-ects to work for short periods to instill in them a safer working practice.

Construction companies should be dedicating approximately 80% of their health and safety resources into the active monitoring of safety standards, according to the region’s top safety experts.

Active monitoring, which involvesmeasuring the company’s compliance with certain codes and standards, needs to take precedence over reactive monitoring and the assessment reports of incidents, if companies are to maintain a safe work-ing environment.

By focusing on more preventative mea-sures, companies can reduce the number of accidents more effectively and increase the extent to which workers and managers feel part of the company’s safety culture.

Addressing the audience at theConstruction Week Building at Height conference earlier this week, offi cialssuggested that active monitoring facilitates the improvement of health and safety and gives companies more control over accident numbers.

How often, and what kind of active monitoring should be done, was also highlighted as important.

Dodsal’s HSE director and vice presi-dent of the Emirates Safety Group Garry Crighton said it was reasonable to expect an executive manager to do a walk about every three months, a project manager to conduct weekly checks and for a safety offi cer to be monitoring hazards and risks several times daily.

He added: “You’ve got different levels of monitoring, you’ve got walk abouts, you’ve got inspections, you’ve got audits and then you’ve got thorough examinations by third parties. There are thus various degrees of active and preventative mea-sures and organisations need to be taking a multi-pronged approach.”

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were also identifi ed as effi cient tools for report-ing and monitoring health and safety, giving a benchmark against which they can measure safety activity, as well as opportunities to raise overall health and safety standards.

SMALL COMPANIES NEED SAFE PRACTICE TOO80% OF HEALTH AND SAFETY PROCEDURES SHOULD BE ACTIVE

“We don’t build as we did 10 years ago, so we can’t work the same way. We also work closely with them to replicate ideas on a smaller scale, just to spread the word and give something back.”

Delegates agreed that adopting best practice principles were also key, and motivating staff to follow safety training was simply a matter of motivating them to do so. One delegate said

that his work-ers responded well to rewards like phone cards, which were inexpensive but made a huge dif-

ference for young foreign workers living away from their families.

Harris said incentives were just one way of motivating the workforce, but that safety should be foremost on everyone’s minds.

SPECIAL REPORT NEWS

“IT’S NOT ALWAYS A CASE OF WEILDING A BIG STICK: ABU

DHABI HAS TAKEN THE LEAD IN DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR

THE WHOLE OF THE UAE”

PERCENTAGE OF ACCIDENTS ON SITE THAT OCCUR BECAUSE

OF BEHAVIOUR

85%


Even with a stringent safety message and regular training, the key component in any safe working environment is the worker himself, says Arabian Construction Company’s Health and Safety head Geoff Bottomley.

Bottomley said that 85% of on-site accidents and lost time injuries were behavioural – and that project managers, crew chiefs and foremen had an exceptionally important role to play in ensuring workers did their bit.

“When you sit down and anal-yse the fi gures, it’s surprising. It’s not, as you may expect, a lack of support, lack of proper training or lack of task briefi ng. In some cases, it’s as high as 94% - where workers simply don’t wear their gloves, take unnecessary risks,” he said.

ACC puts each of its workers through a six hour course to ram home the company’s safety message.

“We’re very keen to develop and retain our safety culture. ACC’s attitude is that there is nothing so important or urgent that we cannot take the time to do it safely,” he said.

In high stress, noisy environments with a multitude of differ-ent languages spoken, communication was a key component in developing a safe working environment. Construction sites were, he said, no place for complacent attitudes or relaxed safety mea-sures. Heightening worker perception to the dangers of tasks at

WORKER SAFETY STARTS WITH BETTER WORK PRACTICES AND GUIDANCE

hand was one of the main focuses of the training and ongoing support – but it didn’t stop workers from reverting in to old habits and forgetting to wear their safety gear.

“You can have the best safety training systems and policies in place, but it doesn’t stop a guy from doing his job as he wants. It’s up to us, as managers, to develop that safety culture and ensure that it is ingrained,” Bottomley said.

He said that workers should be encouraged to point out safety issues they felt were relevant and, where appropriate, action be taken by his supervisors and the issue dealt with. ACC’s system of Don’t Walk By cards and safety notices worked well, as did morning Tool

Box meetings where foremen briefed their workers about the day’s plan of action.

Worker confi dence was also key – and workers needed to know that they had the backing of their superiors should they raise safety concerns. There wasn’t, Bottomley said, much point in having a system in place and workers being to afraid to use it because they feared they’d be shouted at, physically abused or even sacked.

“They need to know that they have the full back up ofmanagement. If issues are pointed out, it’s important they see that something is done about it. They action is stopped, addressed, and a notice posted about it. Everything happens before the notice is posted,” he said.

“YOU CAN HAVE THE BEST SAFETY TRAINING SYSTEMS AND POLICIES IN

PLACE BUT IT DOESN’T STOP A GUY DOING THINGS HIS JOB AS HE WANTS”

SPECIAL REPORT NEWS

ACC’S GEOFF BOTTOMLEY SAYS WORKERS MUST TAKE A LEAD IN THEIR OWN SAFETY

The Arabian Business Achievement KSA Awards 2010The premier event for business leaders in the Middle East.

For nominations contact: [email protected] sponsorship enquiries: Rabih Naderi +966 50 3289818

Retail Bank of the Year

Investment Bank of the Year

Retail Company of the Year

Telecoms Company of the Year

Insurance Company of the Year

Special CSR Award

Businessman of the Year

Fast Growing Company of the Year

Hospitality and Tourism Company of the Year

Technology Company of the Year

Most Innovative Investment Bank of the Year

Construction Company of the Year

Logistics Company of the Year

Best Commercial Developer

Best Residential Developer

Industrial Company of the Year

Lifetime Achievement

An ITP Executive Event

1st June 2010 | Al Faisaliah Hotel Riyadh www.arabianbusiness.com/ksaawards2010

Gold SponsorPowered by Silver Sponsor


CONSTRUCTION WEEK VISITS A LARGE CONCRETE WORKS, OWNED AND RUN BY THE SAUDI BINLADIN GROUP

By Greg Whitaker

You went where?’ was the general reaction on return-ing from our latest site visit. Going to a precast and post-ten-sioning yard would

not normally be considered anything excep-tional, even one which is around three times the size of a typical operation.

However, this yard is situated just past the black, basalt rocks outside Jeddah in Saudi Arabia – which at the best of times is hardly media friendly, but what made this site visit particularly exciting was the sign outside the gate: Saudi Binladin Group for Industrial Precast.

Anybody thinking of doing business in the kingdom, and in Jeddah in particular, needs to know about the Binladin Group. Pretty much every building in the gateway city has something to do with the fi rm, which has interests in every step of the construc-tion process, from raw materials through to building management. There is a whole street in the city with offi ces for the company and on the outskirts there are enormous factories and holding yards.

Bizarre, black terrain surrounds Jeddah, apparently caused by prehistoric volcanoes, and it is a 45-minute drive through this jut-ting, basaltic landscape to get to the Binladen

SITE VISITSAUDI BINLADIN

JEDDAH JEDDAH PRECASTPRECAST


site. Once there, there is time to enjoy some Turkish coffee with Ahamed Omer Bahareth, a manager at the site who welcomes us and explains briefl y how this precast facility is a very important part of the Binladin Group operation. He then introduces us to Eng. Said A. Al-Khair Al-Hloul who agrees to show us around the plant.

Security is tight, but everybody at the plant seems keen to show us what they are doing and what and how the products will be used. There is a lot of work for the factory to do

as well. Currently it is supplying a number of projects across the country, including the Princess Noura Bint AbdulRahman University for Women in Riyadh, a vast female-only campus under construction in the country – itself a symbol of how much the kingdom has progressed in recent years.

BATCHINGFirst of all, we see huge piles of aggregate being shoveled up by a pair of Liebherr wheel loaders for processing in a large 300tph

BINLADIN GROUPThe Saudi Binladin Group (occasionally

spelt ‘Binladen’) is a multinational

construction conglomerate and holdings

company based in Jeddah, founded

by one Mohammed Binladin back in

1931. There are not many construction

contracts in the Western Region that don’t

involve this group in some way or another.

Current projects include work for the

Princess Noura women’s university, the

King Abdullah Knowledge Economic city,

and the 775km Al Quassim motorway, as

well as many others.

THE PLANT MANUFACTURES PRE-CAST CONCRETE.


batching plant, branded ‘Master Tec’. These machines graze the piles night and day, and as Eng. Said explains, German machines were picked for perceived reliability. In fact there are several machines from the same fi rm: the transit mixers on Renault truck chassis are also Liebherr, as are the dozen or so tower cranes that work elsewhere on the site. It is worth noting that the basic materials such as the aggregate and raw steels are supplied by a company called CPC Holdings, another major operation in the Western Region’s close-knit business community, and closely associated with the Binladin Group.

Once a suitable mix is achieved, the con-crete is then applied to the molds. These molds are obviously very large, and it seemed that a fair amount of manual fi nishing work was needed to smooth the concrete down.

Interestingly, it isn’t just grey old concrete that is poured and cast here. Eng, Said is only too pleased to show off the many and various types of stone that can be produced, with a variety of effects that mimic the look of quarried rock.

Once the product has hardened, moving it becomes an issue, as each section could weigh several tons. For this, a number of large overhead gantry cranes are employed to hoist the sections outside for prepara-tion and fi nishing.

Making precast sections is rarely as simple as just pouring concrete into a mold, of course. First, the rebar needs to be shaped and a frame made for the concrete form. To do this, the company has bought sev-eral CNC-controlled bar benders. If you haven’t seen one before, steel bar is fed onto a machine resembling two large, fl at

discs, with a pair of chucks to keep the bar in place. The discs then spin in opposite directions, bending the bar to a preset pat-tern, and before you can think about what has happened, another bar has been fed in and the process repeated.

Mind you, a lot of shaped metal is needed for the amount of work which is carried out by the plant. If there has been a slowdown in the industry it certainly isn’t evident here. Out of the warehouse and into an outside yard, the scale of this operation becomes apparent, as about a dozen rail-mounted gantry cranes are ready to winch the iron into place, so that it can be made into forms.

The lunch whistle has just blown, so the yard was quiet, but that allowed us to clam-ber over the steels in relative safety. As an aside, there are a number of different brands

THE EXTENSIVE YARD USES GANTRY CRANES TO MOVE LARGER PRE-CAST PIECES. THE CONCRETE IS CAST IN MOLDS AND CAN BE GIVEN A SELECTION OF FINISHES.


of gantry crane here, we noted labels such as Cimolai, Hangzou Hoisting Machinery and Pellegini – suggesting that the amount of plant in the yard has increased as it has got busier over the years. Currently, the yard appears to be in a state of organized chaos, with curved bars sitting in piles, as site welders are working on what appears to be viaduct sections. Welding pile cages and the like can of course be done auto-matically, but complex structures such as these need a steady hand and a buzz from the MIG.

POST-TENSIONThe factory also deals with post-tensioning, a construction method where cables are cast into concrete and tightened up ‘post’ the event. We met a young chap working

a lathe, which turned the threads on the bars, and could also be used to cut the bespoke nuts and plates required for the high-tension beams.

The work was fast and furious, and it was clear that the fi ttings are tailored for an individual thread, rather than just being off-the-shelf parts, similar to the ball joint on a car. Interestingly, a couple of tower

cranes had been built up inside the units in order to service the radius of the outside yards.

Outside again, some men were fi nishing the precast units prior to shipping. As well as checking the quality and sizes, a man gave each cured unit a blast with a pres-sure washer.

After this, a couple of forklifts shifted the units into neat rows, from where they will be shipped out to site on one of a number of Volvo FH10 lorries. Once on site, the order that the ‘kit’ of parts arrives should be logical for the site manager to assemble. �

Our thanks go to Dr. Faysal Alaquil of CPC Holdings who facilitated Construction Week’s visit to the Saudi Binladin Group plant.

PRINCESS NOURA UNIVERSITYWork has started on this vast university project, situated near the airport in Riyadh.

Scheduled to open in 2012, the college is named after Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman,

described as the ‘nation’s favourite aunt.’ Lead contractors are Saudi Oger and Saudi

Binladin as well as El Seif Contracting. Johnson Controls have been appointed to handle the

district cooling, while Vision Company (owned by the CPC group) will install the rest of the

building services.

THE TEAM AT THE PLANT DOES ITS OWN PREPARATORY METAL WORK.


THE STATUS AND FUTURE OF SAUDI ARABIA’S RELENTLESSLY AMBITIOUS PROGRAMME

OF ECONOMIC CITIES POINTS TO THE COUNTRY’S DESIRE TO DIVERSIFY

By Chris Sell

I n 2005, Saudi Arabia revealed its plan to diversify away from an oil-based economy by launch-ing the fi rst of six planned economic cities. Under the direction of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Author-

ity (Sagia), King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) would rely on private investment rather than government backing. Located on the Red Sea Coast, KAEC would precede a further fi ve cities designed to tackle pressing issues facing the kingdom, such as fi nding employment and housing for a young and expanding population – 70% of the popula-tion is under 30 and half is under the age of 15 – and act as a catalyst to attract foreign investment, global trade and commerce.

Emaar Properties established its subsid-iary, Emaar The Economic City to develop KAEC, while Malaysia’s MMC Corporation was brought in to work with the local Saudi Binladin Group (SBG).

However, such ambitious schemes were seen in more prosperous and less fi nancially-challenging times. Not only huge on a physi-cal scale, each required billions of dollars in private investment, and access to such swathes of capital – even in Saudi Arabia – has understandably been curtailed in the wake of the global fi nancial crisis.

Sagia claim the six cities will contribute US$150 billion to the kingdom’s GDP by 2020. Though this timescale is obviously unlikely, Saudi is seemingly committed to its economic city programme.

The massive, multi-billion dollar proj-ects would target various industrial and knowledge-based economies and ensure the kingdom’s future is not entrenched solely with oil. To do this, international develop-ers were brought in to attract regional and international investment, as well as provide the technical know-how. Notably Dubai’s

SPECIAL REPORTKSA ECONOMIC CITIES

THE PRICE OF DIVERSITY

“KEC PLANS TO CREATE 20,000 JOBS IN ITS NEW

INDUSTRIAL, ACADEMIC, CULTURAL AND

COMMERCIAL SECTORS AND WILL ALSO BENEFIT FROM THE UPGRADE TO

PRINCE MOHAMMED BIN ABDULAZIZ AIRPORT.”

KEC WILL BE LOCATED WITHIN THE CITY OF MADINAH. THE CITY IS EXPECTED TO FEATURE A TECHNOLOGICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE COLLEGE, THEME PARK, ISLAMIST CIVILISATION STUDIES CENTRE, RESIDENTIAL AREA AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND HEALTH SERVICES.


of over $40 billion already announced, the 168km2 project is expected to be completed by 2030. Though sources close to the project have questioned its ability to attract suffi cient investment and speed of its progress, the project is going ahead and will certainly be fi nished. To put it into context, Saudi Arabia is attempting to build a city the size of Washington DC in 15 years.

When fi nished it is expected to house a population of two million and create one million jobs. It is comprised of six integrated components: sea port, industrial zone, central business district (CBD), waterfront resort area, education zone and residential zones. Emaar EC released the fi nalised design for

“SAGIA CLAIM THE SIX CITIES WILL CONTRIBUTE

US$150 BILLION TO THE KINGDOM’S GDP BY 2020.

THOUGH THIS TIMESCALE IS OBVIOUSLY UNLIKELY, SAUDI IS SEEMINGLY COMMITTED

TO ITS ECONOMIC CITY PROGRAMME.”

Construction Week takes a look at all six projects and assesses the status of each, and the likelihood each will be built, or refl ect the pressure of a nervous economy in its fi nal guise. Consequently, the ambi-tious time lines and masterplans set out for all six city-sized developments bears no resemblance to the current state of progress. Each has come in for criticism as observers question the viability of such schemes.

KING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY The fi rst and most likely to succeed of all six cities. KAEC bears the king’s name and represent the blueprint for all subsequent cities. Its location, 100km north of Jeddah in Rabigh is designed to capitalise on its Red Sea setting and links to the holy cities of Medina and Mecca. With investment

MINING IS ONE OF SAUDI ARABIA SECONDARY INDUSTRIES, THOUGH IT HAS RICH SEAMS OF PHOSPHATES, BAUXITE AND GOLD.

the sea port in 2009 and it is planned to be operational by the fi rst quarter 2011. It will consist of a multi-pur-pose cargo terminal and a 10 million TEU (twenty-foot equiva-lent units) container

terminal, which will be increased in several phases. Late in 2009 Emaar EC also signed an agreement with DP World to develop and operate the port.

An EPC award for the industrial zone – which will feature downstream petro-chemicals, pharmaceuticals, research and development activities – is expected in the third quarter 2011. Amr al-Dabbagh, governor of Sagia has claimed the smelter would create 2,500 direct jobs and 7,500 indirect jobs.

43MAY 22-28, 2010 CONSTRUCTION WEEK

HAIL ECONOMIC CITY One of the most troubled economic cities. Hail – also known as Prince Abdulaziz bin Mosaed Economic City, in the northern-central region is being developed as a transport and logistics hub, with the aim of attracting up to $8 billion in investment over 10 years. The original developer, the local Rakisah Holdings was replaced by Kuwait’s Al-Mal Investment Company in 2008, following a number of years of minimal activity. Previously, two fi rms, KEO International Consultants and Singapore’s Jurong International were understood to be in the running for the contract. However at the end of April it was announced that a possible consultant to draw up the masterplan had been selected. The contract had been expected to be awarded in November 2008. Covering an area of 156km2 – 92km2 for industrial use

and 64km2 for non-industrial space – Sagia claims it will create 55,000 jobs and comprise a population of 300,000, with 1.16 million visitors and an additional 215,000 jobs by 2060. In February the General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca) announced it had signed an MoU with Al-Mal to redevelop Hail International Airport to serve the economic city. Hail will also include agriculture and food processing, mining and commerce and infrastructure.

Until now, of all six cities, Hail was identifi ed as the most likely to stall or face signifi cant re-modelling as those close to the scheme question its ability to attract suffi cient investment. However, enabling works are ongoing and bids are expected to be submitted in Q3 2010 with an award due at the end of the year. It is expected to be completed in 2025

KNOWLEDGEECONOMIC CITYKnowledge Economic City (KEC) in Medina was the third city to be launched back in June, 2006. The developer, Seera City, is a consortium comprised of the Savola Group, PMDC, Taibah Investment & Real Estate Development Company, Quad International Real Estate Development Company and the King Abdullah Foundation. The 4.8 km2 site is expected to take 10-12 years to complete and will have a built-up area of nine mil-

“[JIZAN’S] INDUSTRIAL ZONE IS SET TO ACCOUNT FOR

MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS OF THE OVERALL PROJECT,

WITH THE ALUMINIUM REFINERY EXPECTED TO

CREATE 12,000 JOBS.”

lion square metres. In July 2009, US-based consultant Aecom was appointed as the project manager for the $8 billion city. An IPO (initial public

offering) has been expected for a number of years but as yet there is no time frame for this. The city is expected to feature a technological and administrative college, theme park, Islamist civilisation studies centre, residential area and biological sci-ences and health services. KEC plans to create 20,000 jobs in its new industrial, academic, cultural and commercial sectors and will also benefi t from the upgrade to Prince Mohammed Bin Adbulaziz Airport. Up to 30,000 residential units and 150,000 inhabitants are planned.

Bids for the construction of fi rst stage residential projects including a gated villa community and apartments are to be sub-mitted in the third quarter 2010. Bids for the second stage are expected to be submitted in the fourth quarter 2011.

JIZAN ECONOMIC CITYDeveloped by a consortium led by SBG and the MMC Corporation, the group has been awarded a 30-year license to develop the site on the Red Sea coast, 60 km north of Jizan. It will be spread over 117 km2. It is set to contain a port, aluminium smelter, steel plant, copper processing plant, oil refi nery, fi sh processing and agricultural factories as well as a commercial business and cultural centre. An IPO is expected to be launched

HA

SS

AN

AM

MA

R/A

FP/G

ET

TY

IMA

GES

KAEC WILL BE 100KM NORTH OF JEDDAH, ADDING TO THE KINGDOM’S PORT CAPACITY ON ITS WEST COAST.


in mid-2010 by SBG and MMC Corporation to raise funds to part-fi nance the projects within the city. While the project is cur-rently underway, there has been some delay to the power plant due to some develop-ment changes to the aluminium smelter. The EPC winner, CPI Power Engineering Co (CPIPEC) is in the process of re-sub-mitting the budget. Parsons Brincker-hoff International and Mott MacDonald are consultants on the scheme. The industrial zone is set to account for more than two-thirds of the overall project, with the aluminium refi nery expected to create 12,000 jobs. In July 2009, construction work began on the power sub-station on a 40,000 m2 plot, and is expected to take 24 months. Within the industrial zone, the detailed design of the port has been completed and is undergoing fi nal review. The tender award for the construction of the harbour is on hold while the tenants requirements are fi nalised. Other aspects

of the city, such as the residential and CBD districts are still in the early design stages with a tentative timescale of Q1 2012 for an EPC award. Following a number of delays, Saudi Aramco was awarded the contract to build the Jizan refi nery and will be com-

pleted by 2015.Although their

locations have been announced, the fi nal two economic cities have not been offi -cially launched by

Sagia unlike KAEC, KEC, Prince Abdu-laziz bin Mosaed and Jizan, although some details have been released, allowing a clearer understanding of their possible function and scope.

TABUK ECONOMIC CITYSagia is currently carrying out a study in-house for the economic city in the northern region of Saudi Arabia. The development will have residential and commercial dis-tricts, resorts, medical city, colleges and universities. It has an estimated investment

“TO PUT IT INTO CONTEXT, SAUDI ARABIA IS

ATTEMPTING TO BUILD A CITY [KAEC] THE

SIZE OF WASHINGTON DC IN 15 YEARS.”

value of $30 billion and a tentative date for an initial EPC contract has been mooted as the fi rst quarter 2011, with completion earmarked for the end of 2020. This could clearly change however.

RAS AL-ZOURECONOMIC CITYAlso known as Ras al- Zour Resource City, it will be developed in the Eastern Prov-ince on the Gulf Coast and, as befi tting its location will be dedicated to downstream industries. The site will capitalise on the existing export port at Ras al-Zour and surrounding mineral deposits, notably Al-Jalamid phosphate mines in the north and Al-Zabira bauxite mines in the northeast. Moreover the site is already the location of an aluminium smelter complex and a phosphate and fertiliser complex being developed by the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden).

Like Tabuk, there is no specifi c timeline apart from an EPC contract due in Q1 2011, and a proposed completion date of Q42020. It has an estimated value of $25 billion.�

OM

AR

SA

LEM

/AFP

/GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES) ULTIMATELY KAEC WILL BE A 168KM2 PROJECT.

RIGHT: The university during its

construction phase back in early 2009.

BELOW: The King Abdullah University of

Science and Technology (KAUST) is Saudi

Arabia’s fi rst LEED-rated project and the

world’s largest projects with a platinum

rating. It was recently ranked in the top

ten green projects in the world by the

American Institute of Architects (AIA).

BELOW RIGHT: A development model

of the university’s solar tower, which has

been designed to harness evergy from the

sun and contribute to the structure’s use

of renewable energy.


SHOWCASEKAUST

KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (KAUST)Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has been ranked one of the world’s top ten green projects by the

American Institute of Architects (AIA). HOK designed the 6.5-million ft2 campus, which consists of 26-buildings, on a 9,000-acre site along the

Red Sea, 50 miles north of Jeddah. Solar panels and heating systems feature widely on the site, as does shading designed to block the sun from

buildings and pedestrian walkways. HOK design principal Bill Odell said that since much of the research due to be conducted at KAUST would

relate to the development of renewable resources, it was only fi tting that the campus was developed with sustainable initiatives in mind.

LEFT: The building’s solar tower draws energy from the sun, resulting in 27.1%

annual energy cost savings, 7.8% on-site renewable energy.

BELOW: The building has enjoyed a smooth transition from drawing to reality.

BELOW LEFT: The project delivers exceptional performance in the areas of water,

with 100% waste water reusage and 42% water reduction.

BELOW RIGHT: The Arabic Bedouin tent inspired designers to create a

monumental roof system that spans across building masses to block sun on

building facades and into pedestrian areas. An estimated 80% of glazing is shaded

year-round by a masharabiya screen.


48

SITE SECURITY AND HEALTH AND SAFETY ARE PART OF THE SAME ISSUE AND SHOULD BE HANDLED TOGETHER

By Elizabeth Broomhall

Volcanic ash disruption from Iceland, van-dalism on site, theft, and damage to property as a result of fi re. These are just some of the unforeseen challenges faced by today’s con-struction industry in the GCC. As if the pres-sures of achieving sustainability in the context of a global recession aren’t enough.

Companies in the region are under very little obligation to main-tain tight security on their construction sites. Unlike health and safety, there are no penalties or sanctions for companies who do not prepare for say, a natural disaster. Though the UAE penal code does enforce some level of security, companies need only secure their sites enough so as to protect their workers from injury or death, a statute which may be widely interpreted.

Then there is the added impact of a slowed economy, which as well as slashing security budgets, increases the safety risks to properties and structures left unsold or unfi nished respectively. These factors in mind, it is easy to understand why only 38% of businesses with between two and just under 10,000 employees have an emergency plan in place in the event of theft, vandalism, a fi re, medical emergency or other “workplace disaster”, according to research from the Ad Council.

The good news is that the industry is starting to become more

PLAN AND PREPARE

PRODUCT FOCUSSECURITY


CAMERAS CAN MONITOR DANGEROUS ZONES THAT SECURITY GUARDS WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO PATROL WITHOUT BREACHING HEALTH AND SAFETY.

security-conscious. Amid oil spills, tsunamis and volcanoes, reces-sion and economic volatility, the industry cannot afford to be com-placent, and it has started to realise that health and safety offi cers alone cannot respond to the wide variety of possible workplace disasters, and that the risks associated with these disasters are much higher than was once thought.

But while change never happens over night, many fi rms continue to deal with security and health and safety independently because police investigations are dealt with separately from safety offi cer’s reviews. Perhaps, as the industry veers toward the beginnings of a more standardised safety culture, now would be a good time to take an integrated approach to safety and disaster planning?

Dodsal’s HSE director and vice president of the Emirates Safety Group Garry Crighton, is certainly in agreement. “Taking an inte-grated approach brings quality into safety,” he said, “this should include security and preparation for disaster, particularly since the international standard for security ISO/PAS 22399 is head-ing our way.”

Compliance with international standards it seems, have become increasingly popular across the GCC construction industry as a means of separating leading suppliers from their rivals. But accord-ing to Claymore Security and Safety Consultants’ managing direc-tor Hussain Alyasi, the benefi ts of taking an integrated approach

to safety and security have more to do with site effi ciency, cost-effectiveness and safety.

“In my opinion, safety and security should be handled together,” he says. “When construction fi rms have to use two different com-panies for safety and security, often these companies will make contradicting recommendations, creating a workplace that is less safe, less effi cient and more expensive to maintain.”

Unfortunately, it is very rare for safety and security consul-tants to inspect a site which has been broken into or vandalized, as this is considered to be a police responsibility. Indeed, they tend only to be approached to carry out an independent review where police suspect that formal health and safety standards have been neglected.

This gives rise to two additional arguments for a single approach to safety and security. Firstly, authorities are likely to encounter diffi culties when deciphering where safety ends and where security begins . Secondly, establish-ing whether an employer’s duty of care extends to protect employees against intruders, natural disasters and other non-typical safety risks may be complex.

According to Richard Lang, managing director of British-owned Tag Guard Systems: “In many cases, the risks faced by site owners are as much to do with health and safety as theft and vandalism.”

Some would argue that no company can be blamed for not inte-grating health, safety and security where there is no product available to help them do so. Only recently have systems which can provide protection against accidental, on-site (health and safety) risks as well as those resulting from external, criminal or other factors (security risks) been available. Increasingly popu-lar are integrated wireless systems, otherwise known as a com-bination of wireless perimeter intruder detection and wireless CCTV systems.

These technologies can establish a perimeter around a construction site in much the same way as security fencing, while patrolling the site for security breaches and safety risks in a similar manner to a security guard. But, more effi cient than traditional security systems, they can monitor an entire perimeter, 24-hours a day, even when lighting is non-existent or low, improving a company’s capacity to

“IN MY OPINION, SAFETY AND SECURITY SHOULD BE HANDLED TOGETHER.

WHEN CONSTRUCTION FIRMS HAVE TO USE TWO DIFFERENT COMPANIES FOR SAFETY AND SECURITY, OFTEN THESE

COMPANIES WILL MAKE CONTRADICTING RECOMMENDATIONS, CREATING A

WORKPLACE THAT IS LESS SAFE, LESS EFFICIENT AND MORE EXPENSIVE TO

MAINTAIN”

INTEGRATING SAFETY AND SECURITY IS LINKED WITH COST EFFICIENCY.

CCTV CAN WORK IN LOW LIGHTING. TECHNOLOGY CAN BE PLACED ON SITE.


report accidents in criti-cal site areas (and manage health and safety) while at the same time ensuring full site security.

Further, an integrated wireless systems can make sure that a site does not neglect health and safety in the process of maintain-ing security. For example,

they can monitor dangerous and unlit zones which security guards would not be able to patrol without breaching health and safety regulations. Wireless, they are also not subject to cable damage, reducing the chances of an on-site electrical fi re and making them better suited to construction sites specifi cally.

Integrated wireless systems are also designed to be particu-larly useful for protecting temporarily vacant sites or completed structures, which are common during periods of recession when properties are harder to sell and projects are dropped half way through construction. Requiring no power supply, the systems remove the need for the power to be left on, which in itself can be a safety hazard, and, with greater effi ciency than traditional systems, reduce the risk of arson that would otherwise be much more diffi cult to prevent.

Access control systems can also maintain site-security at the same time as ensuring health and safety. Security solutions provider G4S for example, a 19-year-old company that provides security, safety and project management solutions in one hit, says its access con-trol system has the double benefi t of guaranteeing site security and improving workplace safety. Based on the idea of worker identity cards, the system monitors and controls site-entry to keep out poten-tial intruders, while monitoring worker numbers and whereabouts in case of a fi re, and keeping track of worker training records to ensure staff are competent when carrying out their duties.

Of course, no one product can possibly protect a construction site from natural disaster, theft, vandalism, fi re, medical emergencies and power cuts. No one product can protect a company from an array of workplace disasters while at the same time ensuring all company health and safety standards are being met. More impera-tive, is the need to recognise the importance of site security in light of health and safety regulations, and ensure risk management strategies compliment each other as the boundaries between safety and security become more blurred. �


From their humble beginnings as simple extensions to super-markets and key depart-ment stores, shopping malls have become more than simply a place to

buy clothes and search for a bargain. Mega-malls have sprouted up everywhere, offering shoppers more variety and an ever widening range of associated activities to keep them entertained. Malls are no longer simply places to shop: they’re one-stop entertain-ment, shopping and social venues.

Dubai’s landmark Mall of the Emirates, with its indoor ski slope, Dubai Mall – with its aquarium, underwater zoo, multiplex

cinema and four cornerstone retailers, and the newly opened Mirdif City Centre mall, with its Leeds Gold rating for environmental design, are premium examples of just how far mall development has advanced in recent years. With other countries in the GCC and MENA regions set to follow suit, the future of mall design is an exciting one.

Majid Al Futtaim Properties is one of Dubai’s leading mall development and management companies – and senior vice president of Project Management Jonathan Emery joined the team in 2008 to re-establish an internal project management department, set up in response to an increased work load for the company in the UAE and MENA region.

It is Emery’s job to pull developments, such

SECTOR FOCUSMALLS

as the recently opened 196,000m3 Mirdif City Centre, through to delivery. Even when faced with the double whammy of an ambi-tious, immovable deadline and a construction boom that put a premium on some building supplies and packages, Emery’s team was able to manage costs, keep suppliers happy and move at a speedy pace to deliver the project on time.

“Having built malls before we sort of knew some of the risks associated with a project this size anywhere in the world, but also some of the particular local issues. Essentially, we worked hard at mitigat-ing those risks so we identifi ed them at a very early stage and put in place the mitigation measures.”

SHOP ‘TIL YOU DROPTHE DEVELOPMENT OF SHOPPING MALLS IN THE REGION SURGED IN RECENT YEARS, BUT

MANY OF THE MALL PROJECTS THAT WILL BE COMPLETED ARE COMING TO A CONCLUSION By Carlin Gerbich


cooling the centre required a considered approach. “The servicing of a large build-ing from central locations is always a chal-lenge to the architecture; the impact on visual aesthetics both inside and outside the mall from exposed services needs to be addressed by screening and co-ordination. The concept design philosophy was to use the roof for services distribution, causing the primary structure to be increased to allow for the considerable load from the primary header services.”

Majid Al Futtaim will implement simi-lar systems with its future developments throughout the MENA region. Along with its three key Dubai malls, and seven further malls in Bahrain, Sharjah, Ajman, Oman (Muscat and Qurum) and Egypt (Alexandria city and Maadi), Majid Al Futtaim also has plans for another six malls. Work on one of Africa’s largest malls, a super regional mall in the 6th October area of western Cairo, is due to start on the project later this year. At 185,000m2 it will be of GLA on completion.

Cairo will also get a mid range mall (50,000m2 GLA) in central Cairo and a further com-munity Mall in Eastern Cairo. Fujairah will get a community mall, construction on the 28,000m2 Sohar City Centre mall in Oman, will be completed in 2011.

Qatar’s Downtown Entertainment City in Lusail, Doha, is a joint venture between Majid Al Futtaim and Abu Dhabi Investment House, and includes a super regional mall with Carrefour hypermarket, hotels, offi ces – and will form the heart of the region’s US $275 million (QAR1 billion) 1 million m² mixed-use development, scheduled to open by the middle of 2012 – while new projects in Saudi Arabia (the $50bn King Abdullah Economic City and Madina’s $8bn Knowledge Economic City) will call for equally innova-tive ecological and commercial ideas.

As a new development, designers are able to stipulate the roading infrastructure required. Dubai Mall, with 1000 shops, at present, and a total fl oor area of 12 million ft2, the four-storey mall not only needed a network of roads for the public and taxi services, but service roads for management staff, suppliers and maintenance workers. Public access to the site from Sheik Zayed Road, which runs parallel to the Gulf Coast and right through the heart of the city’s sprouting Al Satwa area, funnel cars in to the mall’s three car parking areas and their 14,000 car parks. Road links back to the main highway are still underway, while the Dubai Metro stop at the nearby Burj Khalifa delivers shoppers almost to the door. An expansion project at the iconic 222, 967m2 Mall of the Emirates is adding an extra 750 car parks and 10,000m2 of retail space for new shops. �

“We worked very hard with the retailers and our leasing team, as well as our construc-tion team to explain to them our ambition to open on March 16 and we put in extra resources so that we can turn around their designs and supporting technical documen-tation early,” says Emery.

Constant climate conditions and terrain provide unique challenges for mall develop-ers in the Middle East. Mirdif has its own cooling plant and sub-station, but a num-ber of passive elements were designed into the building by architects, to minimise the draw on demand from the HVAC systems. A minimal use of glass reduces demand on the cooling systems, while natural light, interior landscaping and ventilation help create a comfortable environment. Mirdif is also the fi rst mall in Dubai to achieve Leed Gold status for its ecological design and construction, due in part to its environmentally-friendly HVAC systems.

As Richard Reid, senior vice-president of Majid Al Futtaim Properties, explained,

“RETAIL SALES IN THE UAE ALONE HIT $107.26BN IN 2009, RISING TO A STAGGERING $150.52 BN BY THE END OF 2014”


BIG INVESTMENT TAKES FLIGHTJUBAIL IS IN THE MIDST OF A FLURRY OF PROJECTS COVERING AN INCREASING NUMBER OF SECTORS

By Ben Roberts

May: Solid waste collection‚ disposal &

general sanitation services O&M (Follow-

On No. 10)

June: Site development of Mardumah

district

June: Operation and maintenance for the

Royal Commission Medical Center and

Health Care Clinics at Madinat

July: Road linking to Ras Al-Zawr, phase 1

SUMMER JOBS - PROJECTS STILL UPCOMING

CITY FOCUSJUBAIL INDUSTRIAL CITY

It is nearly a year to the day that it was announced that more than SR54 billion was to fl ow into Jubail Industrial City, at a grand ceremony inaugurated by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and included, among others, HH Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thanyyan, chair-man of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY) and Jubail Governor Abdul Mohsin Al-Otaishan.

This was on top of the SR174 billion value of active projects, and continues the “great interest to get the maximum benefi t from the state resources by allocat-ing the biggest budget for development in the history of the country,” in the words of the chairman.

The Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu lists 30 projects scheduled to start

last year in the industrial city twinned with Yanbu, and the last eight months have seen an astounding number of projects either award contracts or start. These projects are split between the familiar stories of industrial plants springing up, as well as launching big plans for its residential dis-trict, including schools, apartments and a culture centre. The next eight months show no sign of slowing.

“Jubail is a little more advanced in the number of industries compared to Yan-bu,” believes Abdullah Ibrahim, general manager at Riyadh-based National Con-tracting Company (NCC), “but they are twinned and based around petrochemi-cals and oil.”

NCC is one company taking advantage of community-focused projects. It is into its fi rst month building a girl’s elementary school in the city, a US $21 million joint project with the construction arm of its

parent company, Rezayat Co. Ibrahim is overseeing both teams. “The project was signed in the last week of April and started the fi rst week of May at the mobilization stage. We’ve actually merged the teams, there’s no real separation of responsibility,


trial City. The construction includes roads and parking, grading and storm drain-age, sanitary waste-water system, potable and fi re water distribution system, sew-age treatment and irrigation system, and electrical power system. The project total area is 33,000 m2 approximately.

Project manager Mohammed Kalim con-fi rmed to CW that it began laying the foun-dations and pre-cast work last November, adding that the company would in fact build everything, including the utilities infrastructure. “All [utilities] will begin after the foundation and pre-cast stage,” he says.

Another project, the building of a $4 million passport building in Jubail, also hints at an increased desire to upgrade facilities due to an expected increase in residents. Kuwait-based Al Khonaini Trading & Contracting won the contract in Q3 in 2009 and is now half-way through a construction period that still aims to meet its target of the fi rst quarter next year.

But such deals remain on the periph-ery compared to the mega projects sur-

rounding petrochemicals and oil. It has meant a greater number of countries are represented by the companies looking to procure contracts.

At the beginning of this year Daelim Industrial Company, a Taiwanese fi rm, won the contract to build a low-density polyethelene plant in Jubail. S I Kim, gen-eral manager for the Damman offi ce, said the construction of the plant in was ‘much higher’ than the $300 million initially reported, though he would not be drawn for the exact fi gure, which could be more than double.

The company is looking at this proj-ect exclusively in this specifi c region of KSA. Kim adds that big, general projects in Jubail had been a long time in the plan-ning and had been delayed, but now they are coming to fruition, with many more to come.

The delays he says to CW, were “not con-nected to the current market [downturn]. We have a special interest in oil and gas and petrochemicals and we have been preparing for several projects.”

One unforgettable announcement from last year was for the new $1.1 billion petro-chemical plant, tendered by Saudi Interna-tional Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) with Hanwha Chemical Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation winning the main contract and technical consultants contracts respectively.

Hanwha Chemical Corporation and Sip-chem signed a joint venture agreement, with 75% owned by the latter. The facili-ties will produce 200,000 mt/year of eth-ylene vinyl acetate and 125,000-mt/year of polyvinyl products, and the plant is scheduled for the end of 2013.

No such delays either for the 380/115 kV 8AB Substation, an $80 million proj-ect won by Saudi

Services for Electro Mechanic Works Co. Ltd. (SSEM) ten months ago. The scope of work of this project includes engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of 380/115-kV Power Substation at the com-munity area in Jubail Industrial City.

Some projects are already out for tender, including at least one other additional large petrochemical plant, according to other sources. �

1. Al Bayroni Ammonia Plant

Client: Al Jubail Fertiliser Company

Contractor: KBR

Started: Q4 2009

Expected: Q1 2011

2. Development of Jubail 2, stage 2,

phase 1 – 75 million

Client: Royal Commission for Jubail and

Yanbu (RCJY)

Main Contractor: Al Harbi Trading

From: Q3 2009 Actual

To: Q4 2011 Actual

3. Amines Plant – Q1 2010

Client: Saudi Kayan, part of Saudi Basic

Industries Corp

Building of an amines plant that will

produce 210,000 tonnes per year in

Jubail Industrial City

CTCI Corp. was awarded the engineering,

procurement and construction contract

in January.

OTHER BIG PROJECTS:PROJECTS IN JUBAIL ARE ATTRACTING SIGNIFICANT

INVESTMENT AS INFRASTRUCTURE IS BUILT UP AROUND THE CITY’S

INDUSTRIAL BASE.

“THE MORE GROWTH IN INDUSTRIES, THE MORE

REQUIREMENTS FOR ACCOMMODATION,”

and there is a central source for procure-ment. We’re trying to utilize the experi-ence of each company for better output, sourcing manpower, getting resources – to cross reference between them.”

Ibrahim adds that infrastructure related projects have been ongoing and now require expansion. “The more growth in industries, the more requirements for accommoda-tion,” he says, adding that a contract for a clinic has already been awarded.

Rezayat itself has been busy with the latest smaller projects. At the end of last year it won a contract to build a 2,261 m2 Social and Cultural Center City with its ancillary facilities.

Dammam-based Al Kifah Contracting Co. has also targeted population projects, last year winning a $37 million contract to build nine, four-storey family apartment buildings, including one mosque, located in Makkah South Sector in Jubail Indus-


�SPECIALIST SERVICESCONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS AND SERVICES MADE EASY IN CONSTRUCTION WEEK’S DIRECTORYTO ADVERTISE PLEASE CALL +971 4 210 8351, OR EMAIL [email protected]

To a

dve

rtis

e p

leas

e ca

ll +

971

4 2

10 8

35

1 o

r em

ail j

aso

n.b

owm

an@

itp.

com

SP

ECIA

LIST

SER

VIC

ES �

Future Pipe Industries Group (FPI) was established in 1984. Over the past two and a half decades, the company has evolved from a local manufacturer to an international company within the fi berglass pipe industry, with headquarters in Dubai.

Designing, manufacturing and supplying fi berglass pipe systems, its operations include nine factories and a global network of sales offi ces. The fi rm’s customers include developers and end users in oil, gas, water and industrial industries, with a particular demand for the company’s products in the GCC where fi berglass pipe systems have become a popular substitute to other types of pipe systems fabricated with traditional materials.

Having evolved over the last 50 years, fi berglass has become a product of choice for many construction fi rms for a number of reasons. Firstly, as a lightweight material, it incurs much lower transportation and installation costs than steel and concrete. Anti-corrosive and durable, it is also able to survive a variety of atmospheric conditions with minimum leakage. In addition, it has a better hydraulic performance than steel, ductile iron and concrete, and is

Supplier focus

FUTURE PIPE INDUSTRIES GROUPMANUFACTURER OF FIBERGLASS PIPES

versatile, making it effective for a multitude of applica-tions and end-markets.

Currently, Future Pipe Industries has 61 machines, set to increase during the next 12 months, and 10 factories located across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Lebanon, the Netherlands and the United States. The com-pany has over 4,500 employees and an annual turnover of approximately AED 3,047,000. �

FPI PIPE COULD GO ROUND THE EARTH THREE TIMES.


� SPECIA

LIST SERV

ICES To

advertise p

lease call +9

71 4 4

210

83

51 o

r email jaso

n.b

owm

an@

itp.com

BUILDING MATERIALS

> For directory information visit www.ConstructionWEEKonline.com/directory

PP CORRUGATED SHEETS RECRUITMENT

STEEL

STEELSTEEL

CONSTRUCTION/MANUFACTURERS

CONSTRUCTION/MANUFACTURERS

Full range of plaster, tiles and gypsum tools

OTAL (LLC) Dubai, U.A.EPhone: (+971-4) 267 9646 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.otal.ae


DIALOGUERAHAMATHULLA

Tell me a bit more about EHS software solutions. HSE management software is a powerful tool where businesses want to ensure employee safety and compliance with legislative standards. Organisations tend to have fewer safety-related incidents, more streamlined HSE processes, as well as clearer corporate HSE performance metrics. It can also help companies manage their environmental impact, particularly useful to construction companies. For example, they can monitor air emissions and wastewater effl uent discharges, track waste from the cradle to grave, check their own compliance with standards and report on and analyse environmental parameters. It also helps companies keep up with legal standards.

How do the systems fi t in with the new health and safety regulations coming into force in Abu Dhabi?Our systems are built on global best standards like ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 and regulatory standards like OSHA, US EPA and HSE Executive. Recently, we mapped Intelex features and functionalities with Oman Regulation on Occupational Health and Safety. In the future, we plan to analyse and map the Abu Dhabi regulations with Intelex and confi gure the reporting templates into our system.

How cost effective are they?Pricing depends on modules, business area and company size. It ranges from US $15,000 to US $ 700,000 depending on a company’s individual requirements.

Are they easy to implement and use?Nowadays, solutions tend to be web based, allowing the implementation to be done within weeks or months (not years). Employees do need training on the system but that is all included in implementation. The HSE Manager will decide who has access to the system but there are some reports which everyone can have access to.

How are companies managing without these systems? Most companies are still using paper based systems or spreadsheets to manage health and safety, but this can cause problems when collating information from different departments or projects. It also means the

Moving with the timesIntelex Technologies’ HSE and Sustainability Specialist Rahamathulla caught up with CW to explain about the growth of HSE management software in the region and the need to keep up with fast-changing HSE legislation

By Elizabeth Broomhall

information is not secure, and there are no notifi cations to let remind HSE managers when training is due. Generating and analysing reports manually can also be tough and time consuming.

Surely other products and services need to be prioritised? Tracking HSE performance has become a priority now for a number of reasons. Firstly, information needs to be reported to shareholders and stakeholders and this can be inaccurate without the right systems. Second, translation of HSE data into management key performance indicators, especially those related to risk (costs) and opportunities (revenue) can be diffi cult without effective reporting. More obvious reasons are the increasing pressure on companies to comply with local regulations and standards and to improve health and safety practices for the sake of their company reputation.

Where are your biggest markets within the ME?Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Are many companies taking advantage of your solutions? Yes. Occasionally companies are reluctant to purchase these types of systems typically because they’re used to the “old way” of doing business, and they don’t realise that their approach makes it more diffi cult to comply with rapidly changing legislation. Sometimes they don’t have the time to conduct an assessment of HSE vendors or prepare packages for management, as they are literally too busy putting out fi res - fi res that HSE software would reduce or eliminate!

Any market segments you plan to target in the future?The Middle East is still an untapped market and we have plans to expand into the North Africa region.

What do you expect for H2 of 2010?So far this year has been really exciting with some big projects, but there is still a lot to come. We are in a much better position than last year.

When will you next be showcasing your products?We are hoping to exhibit at the Middle East fi re and safety conference in Dubai this September.

Intelex Technologies Inc. has been a global

provider of health, safety, environment and quality

software for 17 years. The fi rm’s main role is to help

organisations comply with government regulations

and industry standards. Intelex is currently growing

its Middle Eastern portfolio, its biggest clients in

the region including Laing O’Rourke, Dubai Supply

Authority and Sarooj Constructions.

On May 29th, Construction Week will reveal the GCC’s 50 Most Admired Companies. From a shortlist of over 250 companies, our editors have spent the past three months studying a range of companies across all sectors of the industry – developers, contractors, engineers, suppliers and product manufacturers.

Each company has been examined carefully, looking at its profi ts, management, leadership,

innovation, technological excellence, R&D and the range of projects it has been involved with.

The publication of “The GCC’s 50 Most Admired Companies” is the most anticipated event in construction publishing this year, and will take place both in print on Saturday 29th May and online at www.constructionweekonline.com from 9am on the same day.

To ensure you are part of this historical issue, contact me immediately.

Jason Bowman, Publishing Director T: +971 4 210 8351 E: [email protected]

ConstructionWEEK

Framed formwork Frami Xlife

Build on formwork expertise

The lightweight framed formwork for walls, columns and foundations

05/2

010

en

Safe. Fast. Effi cient.

Come and see us:

Jeddah Tel. +966 (0)2 669 10 08Riyadh Tel. +966 (0)1 479 10 03Dammam Tel. +966 (0)3 832 06 06Dubai Tel. +971 (0)4 881 80 96Abu Dhabi Tel. +971 (0)2 622 16 77Sharjah Tel. +971 (0)6 556 28 01Umm Al Quwain Tel. +971 (0)6 766 78 14Bahrain Tel. +973 (0)17 402 810Qatar Tel. +974 (0)450 06 28Kuwait Tel. +965 (0)2 482 24 62Lebanon Tel. +961 (0)1 612 569Jordan Tel. +962 (0)6 554 55 86

Oman Tel. +968 244 844 45

Date post:	28-Mar-2016
Category:	Documents
Upload:	itp-business-publishing
View:	270 times
Download:	0 times

Construction Week - Issue 322

Documents