Procurement of special marble, limestone and granite and the curved nature of the building were the major hurdles that Al Hilal Construction had to manoeuvre across on the Citibank Headquarters Building project.

"But these aspects were not too challenging for Al Hilal Construction as we have handled a lot of building projects and have gained a lot of experience in the field since we set up operations nearly two decades ago," says a spokesman for the company.

The parent firm, Al Hilal Construction, has been operational for around three decades. Specialising initially in granite and marble cladding materials, the company recently boosted its products portfolio to include limestone, sandstone and ceramic tiles.

Most of the limestone and marble for the Citibank Headquarters Building was imported especially for the project and used for the first time in Bahrain, he points out.

The project utilises a variety of stone, including Chantilly limestone from France, Crema Bello limestone from Spain and Verde Tinos and Cremo Tirreno marbles from Turkey.

Marble and limestone has been installed for the flooring of the lift lobbies on all the levels, the ground floor and the atrium area. The overall colour scheme uses beige, green and off-white hues.

"We have also clad the walls and floor of the ablutions rooms on the fourth floor as well as the executive washrooms with marble," says the spokesman. "Vanity tops in washrooms on individual floors comprise grey granite from the US."

Al Hilal Construction signed the contract for the project in July last year and immediately set about procuring materials from all parts of the globe, according to him. The firm started work on site last November.

As circular designs and curves are a dominant feature in the architectural plan, great care had to be taken to cut the marble to fit the design provided by the consultants, he says. "There are no straight lines in the flooring plan of the building, every side in curved - the atrium, for example is boat-shaped," he points out.

The company was engaged in cladding the walls on the ground floor in marble when GCM spoke to the company last month. Mechanical fittings were used to install the marble panels on the walls.

Commenting about business levels for the trading division, the spokesman says: "We have generally being doing good business. The last two years have been slack but business is picking up again."

Among the other major projects which the company has worked on are the Gulf Air Headquarters, where Al Hilal Construction was responsible for all the marble and granite works, the National Bank of Bahrain tower and the Seef Mall extensions.