Work on the Shangri-La hotel – part of the iconic ‘Between the bridges’ luxury resort project in Abu Dhabi – is now complete with the contractor due to have handed over the project last month (July).

The luxury resort comprises the five-star Shangri-La hotel, seven luxury villas, exclusive apartments and full service retail and spa facilities. Located on a 1-km water frontage between the Al Maqtaa and Al Musafah bridges, the resort complex is on schedule for complete handover by the end of the year in a 30-month contract. Handover of the retail facility is planned for November and the spa by September this year.
The centrepiece of the resort is a pool deck overlooking the sandy beach with seven waterfront ‘groynes’. From the largest of the groynes, a six-storey lighthouse restaurant constructed to a height of 21 m provides a floor area of 1,500 sq m.
The 12-storey hotel, featuring a 50,000 sq m area as well as two five-storey wings, includes 214 luxurious rooms and suites, all with balconies, fully-equipped business centres and a variety of themed restaurants such as an all-day dining outlet as well as exclusive French and Chinese cuisine restaurants.
In addition, the Shangri-La residence offers 161 spacious serviced apartments ranging from studios to four-bedroom units with a communal swimming pool facility, which are also under construction and set for completion by the end of this year.
Throughout the construction of the resort, the main contractor Al Jaber Engineering and Contracting (Alec) in a joint venture with Al Jaber Energy Services (AJES) has been utilising eight Liebherr tower cranes for all lifting duties on the project.
The fleet of cranes included five Liebherr 154 EC-H 10s, two Liebherr 245 EC-H 12s and a refurbished 245 EC-H 12. Currently three Liebherr cranes remain on-site.
With the project located directly under the flight path into Abu Dhabi International Airport, the contractor has to strictly comply with restrictions in terms of crane heights, with a maximum hook height of 42 m being stipulated,” says Hans-Martin Frech, a spokesperson of the Germany-based Liebherr-Werk Biberach, the manufacturer of the cranes.
The cranes feature a variety of jib lengths between 60 and 65 m with a maximum lifting of 10 tonnes and 12 tonnes by the 154 EC-H 10s and 245 EC-H 12s, respectively.
A spokesman for Alec confirmed that the contractor opted for the Liebherr cranes as a result of its experience with the cranes’ proven reliability and ease of installing and dismantling compared with other cranes.