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The Joint Venture between Al Habtoor
Engineering Enterprises and Murray &
Roberts has produced some of the UAE’s
most stunning buildings and the
relationship continues to grow from
strength to strength through the
impressive Shangri-La Al Jaber Complex,
which has risen from the ground at an
incredible speed.
Ben Smalley reports.
Anyone
who has traveled down Dubai’s Sheikh
Zayed Road over the past 18 months
cannot have failed to notice the
emergence of the spectacular Al Jaber
Complex that will soon become home to
the Shangri-La hotel.
The 50-storey building towers 200 metres
into the air and is set to become
another of the city’s landmark
skyscrapers when construction is
complete in June of this year - adding
another luxury five-star hotel to cater
to the emirate’s expanding tourism and
business travel industries.
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Archive image of Shangri-la site
taken in November 2001 |
Essentially two joined towers, the
building comprises two basements for the
kitchens and laundry, the main entrance
with a triple volume feature, two floors
of restaurants, a business centre on
level three, a health club on level
four, four floors of offices, banqueting
halls on level nine, eight floors of
unfurnished apartments, eight floors of
furnished apartments and topped by a
300-room hotel with a presidential
suite, executive health club,
restaurants and owner’s penthouse.
The Dh 305million construction contract
was won in May 2001 by the Joint Venture
between Al Habtoor Engineering
Enterprises and Murray & Roberts, with
work beginning on site in July 2001 and
progressing at a rapid pace under the
highly experienced management team of
Project Director Nasr A. Nasr and
Project Manager Grahame Waite.
“We are in the process right now of
handing over elements of the building,”
Waite explains. “We have handed over the
laundry floor, the kitchen floor,
certain elements of the office floors,
the unfurnished apartments and a couple
of floors of the hotel. They are all now
being made available to the operator
(Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and
Resorts) for fitting-out, and we will be
going through a phase of progressive
handover between now and June.”
The South African project manager says
the main challenge has been the battle
against the clock to complete the
project within two years – a remarkable
achievement considering the sheer size
and scale of the building.
“Right now we have some 3,000 men and
about 65 subcontractors on site and
there is huge pressure as it is
effectively being constructed on a
fast-track basis,” he says. “We have had
visitors to the site from Europe, the US
and Japan and the general comment we
have been getting is that the sort of
building we are putting up here in two
years would actually take three years to
complete in the US or Europe. So the
main challenge is time, and people being
able to keep pace with the demand of the
programme.”
Despite the pressures, there has been no
compromise on safety with the on-site
team having just clocked-up a staggering
five million accident-free man-hours.
“That is something not too easily
achieved on a construction project like
this and something that we are pretty
proud of here, “ Waite says. “We have to
push the programme, but it is always
safety first. We have actually stopped
certain activities to get the safety
right. Projects like this can put
enormous pressure on people to say:
‘Forget about safety, lets get on and do
the job.’ That temptation is always
there, but it is our policy to change
people’s mindsets to think safety first
and then proceed with the work.
“When you get the safety right it does
wonders for your productivity because
you don’t have people fearing how they
might get hurt. When people are
comfortable in their work environment
they are able to get on and do the job
to the best of their abilities - so the
investment in safety is vitally
important.”
Waite, who worked as the Joint Venture’s
project director on the fit-out of the
Burj Al Arab and then as project manager
on the Sharjah City Centre development,
joined the Shangri-La Al Jaber Complex
team in March 2002 once the project in
Sharjah was complete.
“We were on about Level 16 at that time,
so I have seen the project grow and been
part of it from that point on,” he says.
“If you are out in Al Aweer and look at
the Sheikh Zayed Road skyline you see a
lot of the standard 30-floor high rises,
but it is only when you see the
silhouette and the bulk of the
Shangri-La set against that that you
begin to fully appreciate that this a
building which stands out.
“The construction business is a pretty
tough industry and there are certainly
times when you wonder: ‘What we have got
ourselves into.’ But when you step back
at the end of the day, every individual
involved in a team effort like this has
a great sense of fulfillment and can
say: ‘Look at what we have achieved’.”
The experienced team of HM&R JV at Al
jabber Complex-Shangri –la is headed by
the Project Director Naser A. Naser and
also include:
Grahame Waite, Project Manager
Andrew Durrant, Finishes and Fitout
Manager
Munjid Obaidi, Construction Manager
Hassan Bleibleh, Construction Manager
Walid Hatem, Engineering Manager
Tony Penington, Project Commercial
Manager
Neil Lategan, Site Planning Manager
Paul Dunn, MEP Manager
M. Dinesh Kumar, Site QA/QC Manager
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