SSH ranked among the top 100

SSH, a leading master-planning, infrastructure, building design, construction supervision and project management firm in the Middle East, said it has been ranked amongst the top 100 architecture companies in the world for the fifth year in a row.

Ranked by World Architecture 100, SSH was positioned number three among the top 10 architecture practices in the Mideast, while on a global scale it topped the charts at number one for culture, number eight for heritage architecture, and number three in infrastructure and construction management.

Now in its 22nd year, the BD Online World Architecture 100 survey gathered data from more than 1,400 practices to compile this year’s top 100 firms worldwide. The survey, conducted by BD Online, collects data such as the number of architects employed, signature projects, fee income and plans for 2015.

Bids invited for warehouse projects

Qatar has invited tenders for four warehousing projects that are to be built as part of an economic zone.

The Gulf state plans to have three economic zones and the first one near the Hamad International Airport (HIA) is expected to have extensive logistic services, said a report in The Peninsula.

Four storage projects will be part of Economic Zone One. The Peninsula quoted Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed Al Thani as saying that work will start soon on the four logistic projects, tenders for which have been invited.

Bahrain road project on schedule

The work at the Abdul Rahman Al Dakhil Avenue in Block 321 in Manama, Bahrain, is progressing well and is expected to be completed in the next two months, said the works ministry.

The BD288,034 ($758,264) project awarded to Jahcon Engineering Services involves re-constructing and revamping of 1,970-m-long roads at Abdul Rahman Al Dakhil Avenue, re-constructing the infrastructure by removing the old paving layers, levelling works, asphalting and paving works, implementing a stormwater drainage network, constructing parking spaces on the sides of the road and implementing speed humps.

Rezidor to open two new hotels

Carlson Rezidor, a leading hospitality brand, is further expanding its portfolio in the Middle East with the opening of two new hotels in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the first quarter of 2017 and 2018.

The mid-market Park Inn by Radisson Dubai Motor City, UAE is slated to open in Q1 2017 and the upscale Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence, Jeddah Gate (Saudi Arabia) will open in Q1 2018. Park Inn will feature 147 rooms while The Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence will feature 452 keys, including 302 rooms and 150 serviced apartments.

Riffa Views villas to get off ground

More than 200 villas at the luxury Riffa Views development in Bahrain that have stood unfinished for years on end are finally set to be completed, it has emerged.

The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) said that an agreement between Riffa Views and its major creditors had been reached for the 212 incomplete villas.

This would also lead to the 140 existing homeowners getting title deeds from Riffa Views Company within a stipulated time-frame.

The project is expected to be completed over the next two years with funding to be provided by the NBB and the four contractors, Projects Construction Company, Poullaides Construction Company, Cyprus Cybarco Tabet JV and Cyprus Building and Road Construction Company.

Kalebodur wins best design award

Kalebodur, a Turkish manufacturer of products and technology for luxurious living spaces, has won the ‘Best Design Award’ at the Design Turkey Industrial Design Awards for its new Hexagon line.

Hexagon line, known for its innovative approach to coating materials, comprises tiles that come in various colours and dimensions such as 20 by 20 cm and 20 by 60 cm. The rich decors available in the Hexagon line combine two different worlds – ‘Bold’ and ‘Heritage’. These decors offer modern and architectural geometric details, it said. Organised for the fourth time in Turkey, the awards featured 352 products in 13 categories.

KEO wins Saraya Bandar Jissah deal

Saraya Bandar Jissah, the developer of the upcoming luxurious Integrated Tourism Complex (ITC), has awarded a consultant supervision contract to KEO International Consultants (KEO), which will oversee construction of residential zones Zaha, Nameer and Wajd along with the recreation club, ancillary buildings and staff accommodation.

As a supervision consultant, KEO will oversee the residential complexes, recreational facilities, landscaped areas, ancillary services and accommodation blocks for the hotel staff. The significance of this contract lies in the size of manpower expected to be deployed for a full-fledged engineering team, knowledgeable of all engineering disciplines.

Go-ahead for 15 transport projects

Some 15 transportation projects will soon go ahead in Oman’s Al Dakhiliyah governorate, which will boost the movement between the wilayats, a report said.

The bidding process for 15 road projects with a total length of 531 km is under way, Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications told the Oman Observer.

Meanwhile, seven road projects with a total length of 345 km are also in the pipeline, he added.

OPWP to sign up firms for IWPs

Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) is set to sign up two separate companies for the development of its independent water projects (IWPs) at Sohar and Barka region of the sultanate, said a report.

OPWP had issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) seeking detailed qualifications from developers interested in bidding for licences to implement the giant desalination plants, reported the Oman Observer.

The winning bidder will develop, finance, design, construct, own, operate and maintain the IWPs, each costing a ballpark $600 million, it stated.

While one of the projects will be located within the Sohar Industrial Port Area, the other will be set up adjacent to the existing Barka IWPP/IPPs (independent water and power projects/independent power projects). These projects will boast a total capacity of 531,000 cu m per day, said the report. The last date for submitting the bids for the two projects has been set at March 25. Both the IWPs are slated for commercial operation by April 1, 2018.

The Omani firm is also planning a new IWP at Salalah with production capacity in the range of 18 to 20 million gallons per day (mgd).

A technical study will be carried out soon and the request for qualifications (RfQ) for the project will be floated by October this year.

Work on Fairmont resort to start

Work on the five-star Fairmont Bahrain Resort is due to start soon in the Al Jazair Beach area of the kingdom.

The new hotel, operated by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, is set to open by 2018. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, the Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, and FRHI Hotels and Resorts for the project. The project is being overseen by Mumtalakat subsidiary Bahrain Real Estate Investment (Edamah), which develops and manages government properties and lands. The hotel will include 215 luxury rooms and cover an area of 2,000 sq m on the coast near the Bahrain International Circuit.

Nass and Haldor Topsoe sign deal

Bahrain-based Nass Industrial Services (NIS) and Danish company Haldor Topsoe have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to undertake the design and engineering of DeNOx systems and catalytic volatile organic compounds (VOC) combustion installations in the chemical, petrochemical and power plants across Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and UAE.

Sameer Nass, chairman of Nass Corporation, said: “Our partnership with Haldor Topsoe will enable us to manufacture technology-based engineered products to manage the emission of nitrogen oxides into the air, thus we take part in emissions control.”