Building on excellent standards at Downtown Jebel Ali

Stretched across Sheikh Zayed Road for eleven kilometres between Jebel Ali Free Zone and Dubai Waterfront, Downtown Jebel Ali will eventually cater for around 235,000 people...

Downtown Jebel Ali is the first major project in the Downtown area, and Al Habtoor Engineering is currently constructing four buildings in this mammoth project. Limitless, the real estate development arm of Dubai World, unveiled the details of its first development project in Dubai back in November 2006.

Less than two years later, the project - Downtown Jebel Ali – is rapidly taking shape. Stretched across Sheikh Zayed Road for eleven kilometres between Jebel Ali Free Zone and Dubai Waterfront, Downtown Jebel Ali will eventually cater for around 235,000 people. With 326 buildings, 237 of which will be residential, the development’s design includes pedestrian walkways and congestion-free areas.

Downtown Jebel Ali consists of four quarters - East Quarter, East Central, West Central and West Quarter. Each quarter is divided into three individual districts with business, residential, shopping, dining and entertainment facilities.

Al Habtoor Engineering was selected to begin the construction of the first four commercial buildings. Akhbar AlDar met with Brendon Baines, who at the time was the Project Director for the first phase of development and also the Operations Manager for Al Habtoor Engineering Dubai, to find out a little more about how the project has progressed. He is now the Operations Manager for the Sorbonne University project in Abu Dhabi.

The scope of the construction required comprises four Class A office buildings and the project value totals AED 580 million. Each structure has two basement levels, a ground floor, a podium level and 12 floors, and the four towers are linked by a glass façade which connects the frontage and conceals the extremely fancy design of the lobby interior.

According to Brendon, the erection of the common façade was a complex process involving two 250 ton cranes. “We had to place three major trusses in between the buildings, and then hang a further 12 individual wind-braced trusses before we could even think about fitting the glass.

It was all completed relatively smoothly, once the initial logistics had been dealt with. ” The glass cladding had been specially shipped in from Italy so it was essential there were no problems, as to reorder items would have caused a lengthy delay.



Brendon ensures the project runs like clockwork with daily meetings in which he briefs on-site staff, which include two project managers and four construction managers. Brendon says he likes to keep them in healthy competition with each other, encouraging them all the way and empowering them to make strong decisions and further their careers.

The project also utilised a new stone cladding system for the first time in the UAE. The MASA system was developed by Spanish company, Sistema Masa, and is an innovative way of applying stone cladding to the frontage of a building. The weight resistant and durable fixings can be adjusted in 3D without forcing the cladding panels. They are also safe and easy to mount, plus require no maintenance. This pioneering method of attachment effectively creates ventilation, as an ‘air chamber’ is formed between the two elements, providing continuous insulation.

The development features its own dedicated chilled water plant and sewerage treatment plant, both of which will eventually be available to other Downtown Jebel Ali projects in the vicinity as they come on board.

In addition to the construction contract, Al Habtoor Engineering has been awarded the additional AED 80 million contract for the surrounding landscaping, which includes rooftop gardens. Furthermore, Al Habtoor Interiors has secured the interior design of the building’s common areas, installing wooden doors, feature walls and the lavish reception area. Stone has been imported from Italy, with ceramics from China; a truly global operation.

Safety is paramount at Al Habtoor Engineering, and Downtown Jebel Ali is no exception. There is a tremendous emphasis on safety issues, and the UK-based project management company, Bovis Lend Lease, has additionally implemented a special Injury and Incident-free system.

With up to 2,500 personnel on site at any one time, it is essential that safety standards are strictly adhered to; hence the scheme includes regular workshops for project managers and engineers, and rewards employees with certificates and prizes for initiative.

Building standards are also key, and Burt Hill, the American project engineers and architects, has incorporated the UL - or Underwriters’ Licence - system. This classification has extremely high standards and is another excellent system being brought to the local construction industry. With time critical on the project, a challenging development schedule was proposed at the outset, which was even more testing when you consider that there were almost twenty subcontractors working at the development. But despite the short timelines, the project has been an interesting one.

Brendon and his team are enjoying the process of working with Limitless and he is hoping that this may be the start of a longer term relationship. Limitless is the developer of the Arabian Canal, the biggest and most complex civil engineering project ever undertaken in the Middle East.

To work on such a high profile project would be a great challenge for many of the employees at the Al Habtoor Leighton Group, so the team is hoping they will have the opportunity to replicate the successes of Downtown Jebel Ali for the Arabian Canal.