Abdullah A AlMoosa, chairman of A A Al Moosa Enterprises (Arenco) - which owns Golden Sands Hotels and Arenco Real Estate - engaged the services of Carlos Ott, an internationally-renowned Canadian architect, to carry out the design concept for the Hilton Dubai Creek.

The chairman's aim was was clear and simple - to create a modern minimalistic 'boutique hotel', totally different to what current exists in Dubai but in keeping with hi-tech 21st century styles. His brief was that the architecture and design should blend with the current architectural styles being adopted in Dubai.

Arenco is a real estate developer and one of the UAE's largest architectural practices which has been involved in some of the Dubai's prestigious projects including a large number of hotels.

AlMoosa's experience and foresight as owner of Arenco provided the basis of his brief for the new hotel.

This project creates another landmark within Arenco portfolio which already includes 1,700 projects to date under the guidance of its chairman.

In-house company, Arenco Interior Architects, headed by Robin Thessman, further enhanced Ott's design concept by carrying out design development which forms the backbone of a successfully executed project.

Arenco's engineering team, headed by contracts manager Sanjeev Ghulati, carried out the project management, design and design development of the engineering services, without which, any hotel cannot function efficiently.

"The project took almost 24 months from design to completion and has been well accepted by the local population. The innovative design of the glass staircases has received rave reviews," says Ghulati. "This is probably the first hotel in Dubai with a minimalistic design, specially targeted at the business executives on the move.''

''On a brief provided by Hilton's F&B team, kitchen designs were carried out by Stefanie Jeric of Trend Foodservice-Ontario, Canada, in conjunction with Arenco's MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) engineers,'' he adds.

The furniture has been imported from reputed European manufacturers, based on Ott's design concept and selected by Arenco Interior Architects.

"We appreciate the efforts put in by the main contractor, Al Amar Engineering and Contracting Company and MEP contractor, Reliance Electromechanical Company. The interior fit-out contractors, Castle Concepts and Arabtec Hotel Interiors have carried out works to everybody's satisfaction and have well interpreted the design concepts and details of the interior designs," he adds.