A large amount of formwork and falsework from RMD Kwikform Middle East is being used by construction specialist J&P to create what will  be one of the largest hospital complexes in the world.

The new $118 million Hamad Medical City in Doha – which replaces the original Hamad Hospital – is set to become a centre of excellence in many ways.
Capable of housing over a thousand patients/beds at any one time, the vast site comprises numerous buildings, including apartment blocks for on-site nursing and staff accommodation, shops and hundreds of car-parking spaces. With a footprint of more than 350,000 sq m, the main framework of the structure consists of three tower blocks departments connected by three podium levels and an underground car-park, all of which will be constructed using Alshor Plus formwork and falsework from RMD Kwikform Middle East.
The vast scale of the project saw 1,100 tonnes of RMD Kwikform Middle East equipment used to form 285,000 sq m of slabs that are 285 to 1,000 mm thick. Averaging 18,000 sq m a month for 16 months, the largest pour in any one month saw 26,000 sq m of slab formed.
Commenting on the use of Alshor Plus, J&P project manager Ken Patterson says: “We recently worked with RMD Kwikform Middle East on a large project in Dubai, using their Kwikstage Propping and Decking product, which we purchased to complement our existing stock. Having completed the Dubai project, we were looking for a cost-effective solution for Hamad Medical City, when Michael Oates representing RMD Kwikform Middle East, introduced us to Alshor Plus, before the project formwork and falsework had been signed off. Comparing alternative solutions with Alshor Plus, we were able to make serious reductions in erection time and labour cost that made the hire of Alshor Plus much more cost effective than other available options.”
With a complex design and tight deadlines to meet, J&P approached RMD Kwikform Middle East to engineer and supply all of the necessary falsework and formwork equipment to build the complex.
Due to the scale and integrated nature of the project, RMD Kwikform Middle East created a specialist team and opened an office location in Qatar to allow personnel to be on hand to ensure the project’s tight deadlines were achievable.
Calling upon technical support from its UK head office, RMD Kwikform Middle East invested a substantial amount of technical engineering time to design more than 300 drawings in order to ensure the most cost-effective and time-efficient falsework and formwork solution was delivered to the client, says RMD Kwikform Middle East representative, Michael Oates.
“With the availability of skilled labour and time being a key issue in the project, the use of RMD Kwikform’s industry-leading aluminium shoring and support system, Alshor Plus, was specified as the main equipment for the job. Using the product for the first time, J&P soon recognised the numerous possibilities made available by the versatile Alshor Plus system, figuring out additional uses for the system before the first delivery arrived on-site. In addition to the more traditional use of the product, flying tables, mobile back propping tables and heavily loaded 26-m-high supports have been designed to assist with the construction,” he says.
Commenting on the construction method used for the project, Oates says: “The main building and attached car-park were a post tension construction, making it a rapid construction cycle. Unlike other similar projects, there is no duplication until J&P reach the typical floors of the tower block. So on 70 per cent of the project, every pour area is different. In order to reduce the programme management time, the project required a product that was versatile enough to handle all the building design changes. By using Alshor Plus, J&P was able to erect and dismantle the system in a quarter of the time it would have taken with the Kwikstage option.”
Due to the scale of the project, RMD Kwikform Middle East not only had a team of engineers on hand to ensure the safe use of equipment and erection to the correct plans, but also a specially-located supply yard, housing move than 80 trailers of equipment – weighing some 1,100 tonnes – to cope with the the sheer volume of equipment called for. With changing stock and equipment constantly being delivered or removed from site, the management of the whole supply chain process was both complex and time critical, he adds.
Funded by the Qatar government, the construction of the new hospital complex commenced in August 2005 with the main concrete construction completed in June last year.
The hospital itself will provide free healthcare to all and become home to a world-class oncology department, with the overall development becoming the most prestigious project ever undertaken in the country.
With the formwork and falsework part of the project now completed, the next phase of construction is already seeing the new Hamad Medical City take on its future shape. Following on from the successful work on the project, RMD Kwikform Middle East has been awarded another world record-breaking contract to help construct 26 bridges, being built to connect The Pearl – Qatar, a major man-made island being built off the mainland of Qatar.