Green HQ wins two awards
Daikin Australia’s (DAS) new $5-10 million head office in Sydney, which was designed by Martin McGrane Architects, has won the New South Wales Master Builders Association (MBA) 2008 Excellence in Construction Award for the category of commercial buildings, as well as the National 2008 Commercial/ Industrial Construction Award.

The office is designed to achieve five-star Australian Building Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) and is fitted with energy-efficient Daikin VRVIII air-conditioning, says Ola Sadeq of Daikin McQuay Middle East.
The building also has water collection tanks, waterless urinals, dual-flush toilets, and low-energy lights and Daikin’s energy efficient hot water heat pump system, while using sustainable ma-terials throughout the structure.

8,250 km of new roads on way
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Transport has earmarked $3.07 billion for road construction projects in order to facilitate the growing movement of people and freight, according to a report in the Arab News newspaper. A total of 8,250 km of roads will be built with this allocation during the current fiscal year (2009-2010), the report added.

Design solutions market growing
The design solutions market in the Middle East is expected to rise by 5 per cent in 2009, as more developers identify the advantages of adopting technology-driven solutions to fast track their projects and thereby reduce losses amidst the current downturn, says ProMedia, which is part of Omix International of the UAE.
Towards this end, ProMedia last month hosted a seminar to raise awareness on Autodesk Revit and Civil 3D 2009 solutions in Doha, Qatar. The seminar also highlighted the building information modelling (BIM) concept upon which these revolutionary Autodesk solutions are based, said Omnix’s CAD division director Jayant Deshpande. “The seminar was prepared by experts at ProMedia in response to Qatar-based customers’ specific requirements and also to give a clear idea of how Autodesk’s state-of-the-art solutions can enhance their operations in terms of productivity and efficiency.”

IWPP financial close by March
The $2.2-billion Al Dur independent water and power project (IWPP) in Bahrain is expected to reach financial close at the end of March after a delay caused by tight international credit market conditions, according to Calyon, Mashreqbank and Standard Chartered Bank.
Financial close was delayed from December 2008 as a result of the financial turmoil but has been launched with revised terms and conditions, the banks said.
The three lead arrangers are each to commit $100 million to the $1.2-billion international tranche of the $2.2-billion financing, which is the first significant project finance deal in the Middle East this year.
The project is equally owned by a consortium of GDF Suez and Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) and benefits from a 20-year power and water purchase agreement with Bahrain’s Electricity and Water Authority (EWA). The EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor is Hyundai Heavy Industries. The construction schedule was adapted to the new timetable, but Hyundai Heavy Industries has already started work on the site and works are currently being funded by the sponsors.

Consultancy boosts team
Following a number of substantial new business wins, Faithful+Gould, one of the world’s largest project and cost management consultancies, has bolstered the senior team in its Middle East and India office with the appointment of Abdel Khan and John Cowling.
Having recently completed a post-graduate course at Cambridge, UK, Khan joins the company as sustainability consultant to respond to new requirements being imposed by various regulatory bodies on clients across the UAE.
And with risk management strategies increasingly being required in the Middle East, John Cowling joins as risk and value manager.

Kirby does well at industry fair
Bahrain’s Kirby Building Systems, one of the leaders in pre-engineered steel buildings in the region, has termed its participation at last month’s Gulf Industry Fair in Bahrain as a good experience.
“We had a good number of visitors at our stand and were successful in establishing good contacts,” said K Vasudev, regional sales manager, Bahrain and Oman.
“Through our participation in the show, we have been able to reach a lot of potential customers whom we would not have met otherwise,” he said. “Also we have re-established contacts with our old customers here,” Vasudev added.
Kirby is executing many prestigious pre-engineered steel building projects in Bahrain including the Enma’a Mall and multiple industrial workshop projects in Bahrain Industrial Investment Park (BIIP).”

Kuwait invites desal plant bids
Kuwait’s Electricity and Water Ministry has issued a tender for the installation of a water distillation unit at the Al-Zour South power and water plant. The deadline for bids is March 15. The ministry has prequalified 11 companies for the scheme including four Italian firms: Termomeccanica Ecologia, Ionics Italba, Unidero, and Idroconsulting.
Other prequalified companies include France’s Vivendi Water Systems, South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, the US’ Aquatech, and India’s Thermax, the UAE-based Metito Overseas, Austria’s VA Tech Wabag, and the UK’s Eco-Tec Europe.
The successful bidder will design, supply and install the distillation unit at the Al-Zour South plant.

New Four Seasons for Doha
Work on a new Four Seasons hotel in Doha is expected to start by the middle of this year. Located at The Pearl-Qatar’s Masa Arabia island, the property will be the hospitality brand’s second hotel in Qatar.
“We expect that by the middle of this year, construction will be under way,”  Four Seasons general manager Simon Casson told The Peninsular newspaper.
The 300-room hotel would have four or five restaurants, significant banquet and conference space, a spa and recreation facilities. The six-storey building, being designed by architect and designer WATG, is in its final design stages, and will be built over an area of 75,000 sq m, the report added.

Expansion of mosque under way
Construction of a new airport at Al Ula in Saudi Arabia is on track and the project will be completed by next year, according to local press reports.
General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) director of engineering Hani Jamalullail was quoted as saying that the SR143-million ($38.17 million) Prince Abdul Majeed Airport about 28 per cent complete.
Located near Madain Saleh, a famous historical site, the project includes a passenger lounge to accommodate 190, a runway with a length of 3,050 m and width of 60 m, and a 6,800-sq-m facility to park MD90 and Boeing 747-400 aircraft, according to the reports.
Designed to serve 100,000 passengers a year, the airport is expected to boost the kingdom’s tourism industry by attracting more visitors to Madain Saleh.