The highly successful Joint Venture between Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises and Murray & Roberts is involved in the construction of Madinat Jumeirah, a spectacular beach resort combining world-class facilities with traditional Arabian architecture and hospitality. Ben Smalley reports.

   Dubai has rapidly established itself as one of the most desirable tourism destinations in the world, and the latest resort being built in the emirate is sure to help attract even more international visitors seeking glorious weather, pristine beaches and world-class hospitality.

    Madinat Jumeirah promises to be one of the most complex and extensive hotel and leisure development to be built in the world in the last 25 years, and will also become the largest luxury beachfront resort in the UAE, extending more than a kilometre along the Jumeirah coastline.

    Combining two five-star ‘Grand Boutique’ hotels and clusters of 300 rooms and suites in traditional Arabic courtyard-style villas, the resort will also include an extensive spa, as well as a souk and cultural village featuring over 120 shops, cafes and restaurants.

    Madinat Jumeirah, being constructed next to the Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotels, will also feature a 3km canal winding throughout the resort, allowing guests to visit its different areas using traditional abras, while additional facilities will include a 9,000 square metre meeting and conference centre, a 2,000 square metre ballroom and an amphitheatre with the capacity to hold 1,000 people for shows and entertainment events.

    “The resort is designed to encompass and promote the rich heritage and traditions of Arabia, allowing visitors and guests to experience the history and roots of the Arabic culture within an exclusive environment,” said a spokesman for the Dubai-based Jumeirah International luxury hospitality group, which will run the resort on behalf of owner HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and UAE Defence Minister.

    The resort is being constructed in three phases, with the first phase scheduled to open in September this year when the first hotel - Mina A’Salam (translated as ‘Port of Peace’) - will receive the first guests in its 280 rooms and 12 suites.

    The Dh 535 million contract for the construction of the second phase was awarded to the Joint Venture (JV) between Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises and Murray & Roberts and, according to Project Manager Peter Fell, is progressing on track for completion in March 2004, with the whole resort scheduled to open fully in Autumn 2004.

    “ The second phase primarily involves the construction of the 300-room Al Qasr Hotel and 30 villas, which are each like a 10-bedroom room hotel built in the traditional Arabian style with rooms leading off from a central courtyard,” Fell explained. “There is a restaurant amongst the villas, and then we have the Palace Beach Restaurant along the coast which is like a beach club – there is a huge swimming pool and other facilities for guests, and there is also the health spa.”

    The Joint Venture team headed by Project Director Duncan Merideth is responsible for every aspect of the construction of Phase Two, including landscaping and fit-out, with the exception of kitchens, carpets, furniture, fixtures and equipment.

    “Our official start date was July 27 last year, but we actually got the site about two weeks earlier, and our completion date is March 15, 2004,” Fell explained. “At present we have completed 27 per cent of the contract value in just over 50 per cent of the time so we have a long way to go, but at this stage we are on track and do not envisage any delays to the completion time.”

    The first major milestone for the JV team will be the flooding of the seaward side of the canals, which run through the heart of the resort, in time for the September 1 opening of the first phase.

    “The water comes in at Phase One and goes right through our site,” Fell explained. “We have already flood-tested the canal and that aspect is complete already – we are just doing some landscaping around it and adding the finishing touches.”

    Project Developers Mirage Mille, who were involved in the development of the Sun City resort in their home base of South Africa and also the Royal Mirage hotel in Dubai, have designed the canals in such a way to divide the resort into a series of islands with the Al Qasr Hotel, which is eight storeys tall at its highest point, standing on its own island in the centre of the resort.

    But the impending arrival of so much water has not posed a problem for the JV construction team.

    “The water level in the canal is actually five metres above sea level so we are not working in water,” Fell explained. “The hotel is on an island, but it isn’t an island at the moment. All the villas will also be on an island and each section will be accessible by bridges as well as boats, so what we actually did was excavate the canals very early in order to use them as access roads to the site.

    “But the water is not a challenge – the biggest challenge is basically building this project in such a short period of time. We are operating on probably five or six fronts at once, and this requires a huge staff. We have project managers working on different sections, and at present we have nine project engineers and 19 site engineers with a total labour strength, excluding subcontractors, of 1,350. If you include subcontractors, the number of people working on the second phase of this huge project comes to around 3,120.

    “One of the unique things about it is that one of our construction managers is a woman who is doing a wonderful job, and we have also brought in some young engineering graduates from South Africa to work on the project.”

    Fell is part of the Murray & Roberts half of the Joint Venture, and previously worked on the fit-out of the neighbouring Burj Al Arab - which was also constructed by the JV between Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises and Murray & Roberts.

    “The Joint Venture is working very well yet again,” the South African said. “One of the beauties of the JV is that it is operating on established relationships - there is a core of guys from Murray & Roberts, including myself, who have been here for a number of years and have worked on JV sites before. We know the Al Habtoor people and they know us, and the relationship works exceptionally well.”

    As well as the Burl Al Arab, the JV has built some of the most impressive structures in the UAE, including the Dh 540 million Sheikh Rashid Terminal Concourse at Dubai International Airport, and Fell believes Madinat Jumeirah is poised to become another of Dubai’s famous icons with its sophisticated blend of five-star resort facilities and authentic, traditional style inspired by the architectural legacy of the Arabian Peninsula.

    “I don’t know of any other project like this, it is certainly unique, “ he said. “The architecture is in a traditional Middle East style – the designers actually went around to various places in the region and took photographs of different sites in order to recreate their authenticity here.

    “For example, a lot of the detailing on the doors and fixtures has been reproduced from those at Dubai Museum and the Bastikiya area of Dubai. There are also influences from Oman and other countries, which makes the project quite unique. Even when it comes to the plaster of the external finish they don’t want it to be uniform in colour - they want variations that reflect the character of traditional Arabia.

    “You can go to five star hotels that look pretty much the same wherever you are in the world, but one of the beauties of this project is that it is very much of this region in terms of its authentic style and design - it’s extremely elaborate, and there is some very fine detailing in terms of the mosaics and intricate paneling.”

    Jumeirah International says the spa at Madinat Jumeirah will be the largest and most versatile in the Middle East region, offering both European and Oriental style relaxation therapies and treatments, as well as traditional style steam rooms, baths and other facilities.

    “In addition, the main Souk and cultural village, with over 120 shops, cafes and restaurants, will be designed to represent the traditional trading culture where gold, spices, fabrics as well as curios will be on sale to both guests and visitors of the resort,” the spokesman said. “As many as 36 restaurants and cafes will be small and intimate and will be located in the alleys within the Souk and throughout the lush, landscaped gardens.”

    Jotun UAE has provided paints in different areas of the project.  The Gulf Villa Complex is using Jotashield Heritage for the Interior. The full project is using Fenomastic Silk in various colours those colours are especially produced with the hue the consultants requested.  Jotafloor Coating is used to caot the floors of mechanical areas and plant rooms.  And special effect techniques are created by skillful applicators.

     According to the World Tourism Organisation, Dubai saw the world’s highest growth in international visitors in 2002 – a rise of 31.1 per cent to over 4.7 million - and Madinat Jumeirah is destined to boost interest further in the emirate as the city’s tourism bosses seek to attract 10 million visitors by 2007, and 40 million by 2015.

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