Paradise Found

The new Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai is one of the most amazing construction feats accomplished in the UAE. Frank Stamford talks to one of the contractors involved to discover what it took to build this amazing ocean front resort.

Like a phoenix from the ashes, the recently-completed Jumeirah Beach Hotel rises from the coastline with majestic brilliance, making it one of the most astonishing features to be found on the UAE skyline.

The five-star haven is undoubtedly one of the most amazing hotels in the world, and part of the credit for its construction falls at the door of Dubai-based Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises Co.

Contributing to one of the engineering feats of the decade Al Habtoor carried out two of the 10 major contracts that went into creating the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

The finished product is not only breathtaking but a credit to UAE craftsmanship and its ability to work in partnership with some of the world’s leading companies.

The result is a landmark that enhances Dubai’s uniqueness as it heads towards the Millennium as one of the world’s premier cities. The project, which began in September 1994, is one of the biggest and most complex that Al Habtoor has been involved with.

“We were there at the start and continued through to the end,” said Nigel Poole, Contracts Manager.

“We were involved at the start with the concrete superstructure and at the finish because we dealt with joinery in the rooms and the furnishings and fittings.”

Al Habtoor joined the monumental construction work in May 1995 and at its peak had 1,000 staff and 400 sub-contractors working on the project, which is around 20 kilometres south of Dubai. The company also had to open a high tech drawing office on site to cope with the demanding contract.

“Work on the superstructure started in May 1995 using a steel tunnel-form type of deck shutter which allowed a quick turn round so that 25,000 cubic metres of concrete work was completed in 12 months,” said Poole.

“The finishing work executed by Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises included all ceramic tiling, joinery and ceilings in the bathrooms, wall plaster to rooms and all joinery to rooms and suites,” said Poole.

“Joinery works were carried out by Khansaheb as Al Habtoor’s joinery division was busy with another large hotel project in Abu Dhabi.” But that wasn’t where Al Habtoor’s involvement ended. They were also responsible for receiving, storing and placing in position all the client-supplied loose and fixed furniture items for the rooms and suites. This mammoth operation involved storage in 18 warehouses and daily tracking of all items as they were placed into position.

“It was the most challenging project I have ever been involved with,” said Nasr A. Nasr, Al Habtoor’s Project Manager for the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

“It is a magnificent hotel and we were privileged to be a part of creating such a skillful architectural concept.”

The hotel opened its doors for business in November and one of the first customers was the Australia football team managed by Terry Venables, who used the Jumeirah Beach Hotel as a one-week base before playing a vital World Cup match in Tehran against Iran. It has been designed in the shape of a wave and is 100 metres high, but seems smaller because currently under construction in the background is the resort’s tower which will be home to 200 suites and is scheduled to stand at over 300 metres high when completed.

Among the Jumeirah Beach Hotel’s 600 rooms are 551 single rooms with the rest incorporated into 49 suites. You can only get a magnitude of the hotel’s size when you approach it and you soon realise that the view from the nearby Abu Dhabi Highway can be misleading.

“I think that because of the scale of the development, you lose the height of the building when you look at it from a distance,” said Nasr, referring to the hotel’s length which is 300 metres.

“It is quite unique as it is such a slender building. Its width is quite simply a room and a corridor. From one side of the building you are looking out from the room, and the other side you are looking out from the corridor. There are not many hotels in the world like that I’m sure.”

The hotel contract as a whole was managed by WS Atkins who elected to divide the project into several packages with each running as a separate contract. This meant that the interface between contracts was extremely demanding and required good co-ordination. The credit for designing such a unique building also lies with WS Atkins.

A total of 40 companies were called upon to carry out the task of completing the project. The work that has gone into constructing this premier location is breathtaking and would leave most expert mathematicians astounded. As well as the astronomical amount of concrete that Al Habtoor was responsible for, there are also one million paving blocks surrounding the hotel. It contains enough electrical wire to stretch from Dubai to Karachi, while the man hours gone into the resort to date total an estimated 18 million, including construction time and operational time.

The gardens are filled with over 200 species of plants adding up to a total of 40,000 planted in 20,000 square metres of land. The swimming pools contain over 3.5 million litres of water while glazing the hotel required 40,000 square metres of panel to go along with the 25,000 square metres of aluminum.

Astonishing stuff and the statistics are endless so it is not surprising that Mr Poole, one of the most experienced engineers in the Gulf, describes his part in it all as “very challenging”. The walls of Mr Poole’s office on Airport Road are emblazoned with pictures of success stories that Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises has been involved with.

The company was formed in 1970 and soon became renowned throughout the Middle East for the excellence of its work and its innovative approach to tackling projects. It now boasts some 5,000 employees. The company is also well known for its client-conscious operation and its commitment to completing projects on time, within budget and to specifications.

Al Habtoor Engineering now has offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Jordan and is represented in the US and UK. Poole arrived in the Gulf in 1977 as site agent for Dubai Hospital and has progressed through the ranks to his position as Contracts Manager, which means he is in overall charge of all jobs the company undertakes.

Other big projects carried out by Al Habtoor include Dubai Hospital, Dubai Petroleum Company in Jumeirah, Al Wasl Hospital and the Armed Forces Officers Club in Abu Dhabi.

More recent success stories include Dubai Creek Tower, Holiday Centre on Shaikh Zayed Highway and the magnificent Metropolitan Palace Hotel. Early this year Al Habtoor will begin work on the new terminal at Dubai Airport which will take two years to complete.

Another piece of engineering magic the company is carrying out is the construction of the new Dubai Customs headquarters, opposite Port Rashid, which is designed in the shape of two huge concrete dhows.

The company’s contribution to the sparkling growth of one of the world’s most rapidly developing countries is everywhere to be seen and they aim to be at the leading edge of developments.

Both Poole and Nasr have not been surprised with the speed at which the country has developed.

“The way Dubai is progressing is like nowhere else in the world,” said Nasr. “These magnificent buildings are built with a statement to put Dubai clearly on the map.

“As a company we are delighted to be involved with such growth and hope to tackle bigger and better things in the future.” Poole said.

As the skyline of the UAE and elsewhere in the Middle East increasingly reflects the advances of modern architecture and construction technology, Al Habtoor Engineering looks set to realise the dreams of its partners to help build some of the finest structures in the world and to continue to grow as one of the leading construction companies in the region.

“A bird needs to be worked every day of the year for about three hours a day. For anyone willing to dedicate themselves to spending this much time looking after their falcon they are usually going to take good care of them.”