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Al Habtoor Engineering All Habtoor – Murrray & Roberts Joint Venture were awarded the project in June 2000 in an invited tender, making it a first for the Joint Venture in securing new work outside of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The project, due for completion in June 2001, is a 42,000 m2 shopping centre similar in concept to its big brother in Dubai, where the main trading floor is set one floor above the ground. Parking will take up the ground floor with a capacity for some 1,500 vehicles. Air conditioning plant rooms are set above the trading floor. A separate road contract will upgrade the surrounding road system to cater for the increased traffic flow, in an area where traffic is already easily congested.
The line shops were completed ahead of programme in late February. “We were set some pretty demanding milestones which we have managed to meet, and we are confident the job will be finished in time for June 15,” said the Project Manager Grahame Waite. “It is a smaller version of the City Centre in Dubai and it will be a tremendous addition to Sharjah.” The design of the structure is based on pre-cast slabs fixed onto cast in-situ concrete beams and then covered with a concrete and mesh topping. At peak the 6000m of beams were constructed at 650m per week and the precast slabs, cast in Jebel Ali by Concretec, installed at 700m2 per day. Murray and Roberts’ sister company BRC Al Fahdl supplied about 3,000t of reinforcing steel and mesh from their Sharjah factory.
The hypermarket is fully covered by a structural steel frame, installed by Al Nasr and then sheeted in a double layer insulated aluminum sheet installed by Middle East Insulation. The aluminum sheeting was imported from Hulletts Aluminum in South Africa. The tenant is undertaking the hypermarket fit-out as a separate contract. It is hoped the centre will be operational later in the year. The bulk of the structure is complete and MEP sub-contractor, Sensaire, together with the finishing subcontractors, have their hands full completing all installations ready for the power switch on and commissioning from late May. Access into the centre will be via escalators, travellers or lift from the ground floor parking or directly from Al Wahda ‘ Street. Double volume entrance lobbies give access into brightly decorated malls which accommodate 65 line shops.
The project marks a significant move into new territory for the Joint Venture, which has rapidly become a leading force in the construction industry in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi over the last four years.
It is the second such retail project undertaken by Al Habtoor – Murray & Roberts Joint Venture following on from the Marina Mall Development in Abu Dhabi which has become an instant success in the city since opening its doors for business earlier this year. That project sparked a flurry of activity for the Joint Venture in Abu Dhabi which had previously concentrated on major jobs in Dubai.
With the order book continuing to fill up, one only has to look back on some of Al Habtoor – Murray & Roberts Joint Venture’s previous jobs to realise how it has become the UAE’s premier construction company. After playing a major role in the erection of the magical Burj Al Arab off the coast of Jumeirah, the Joint Venture undertook key jobs in the creation of the new Dubai Airport Concourse, Kendah House, Marina Mall Abu Dhabi and National Bank of Abu Dhabi. |
Majid Al Futtaim Developments, developers of the well-known Deira City Centre in Dubai, are expanding their business interests into Sharjah with a Dhs100 million building contract for a new shopping centre in Al Wahda Street.
The contract set some demanding milestones, requiring the offices to the Continent supermarket (now Carrefour) to be completed 16 weeks after driving the first of 1,650 piles, undertaken by Swissboring, and then the shell of the remainder of the hypermarket three weeks later. This was achieved three weeks ahead of schedule!
The bulk of the perimeter façade is clad in precast concrete panels with an aggregate design cast into the face, capably undertaken by Concrete Technologies.
The project is headed by Project Director Nasr A Nasr with Project Manager Grahame Waite. “Together with engineers, foremen and chargehands, and the subcontractors, the team has done a great job in the nine months we have been on site and from all reports it has impressed our client and we are all pressing hard for a good finish,” said Waite, a South African who has been with Murray and Roberts for the past 22 years and Al Habtoor – Murray & Roberts Joint Venture for three. He previously worked on the Burj Al Arab project, as project director and is therefore well qualified when he says: “I hope this will be the first of many projects for Al Habtoor – Murray & Roberts Joint Venture in Sharjah. I believe our efficiency and expertise in carrying out this job will be recognised and it will lead to Al Habtoor – Murray & Roberts Joint
Venture carrying out future projects in the emirate.”
The new development’s location in the heart of the city is expected to make it every bit as successful as its big brother in Dubai.
As well as the Marina Mall, The Joint Venture has successfully embarked on constructing the $50 million National Bank of Abu Dhabi building on the corner of Khalifa and Lulu Streets. The 45,000 square
meter building will stand at 173 meters tall, making it the highest building in the capital, and it is scheduled for completion in June of next year.