< Previous20 CONSTRUCTION WEEK DECEMBER 2020 EDITOR’S LETTER WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM T he economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and volatile oil prices has put serious question marks on the region’s up-and-coming projects for years to come, but there does seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel through private sector partnerships. Historically governments have invested heavily into infrastructure projects and public assets such as hospitals, schools, transport and more, but public-private partnerships (PPPs) have previously been slow to get off the ground. This has been due to a variety of reasons: lack of supportive legal and institutional frameworks, projects that are not attractive to investors, and the hesitation to hand over state assets to private developers. In a post-COVID-19 world, we are witnessing the latest trend within the construction industry. Governments across the region are turning their focus to alternative project finance solutions, and PPP contracts are taking shape. PPPs provide a model that allows governments to continue developing strategic projects and services without the need to increase direct state capital spending. According to industry reports, the latest pipeline of PPP projects stands at 242 worth an estimated $223bn being developed within the region. Interestingly, before the pandemic arose in February 2020, the Abu Dhabi government intended to procure nearly $2.7bn worth of tenders for infrastructure projects in 2020. The most recent example of large- scale PPP contract announcements came from Saudi Arabia’s gigaproject, The Red Sea Development Company, where they awarded a major PPP utilities package with ACWA Power. Others from the Kingdom include the Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) and the KSA Ministry of Housing through its residential construction programmes. During our Leaders in Construction KSA Summit in September, Mott MacDonald’s managing director, Christopher Seymour, alluded to PPP’s growing significance in the Kingdom, adding that “KSA is the largest PPP market at present and is far stronger than Dubai.” In the UAE, there is movement with using internal resources to leverage public-private partnerships to not only increase in-country value, but boost industrial development. Dubai’s RTA Union 71 project, Saahat Deira project, as well as its Bus Shelters project have been spurred on by PPP initiatives. A key enabler for future success in the construction industry will be active engagement, increased collaboration and enhanced transparency with both the public and private sector to ensure that regulatory and legislative frameworks are optimal, relevant and adapt to the realities of today. Through PPP’s, we have a formidable opportunity to realise ambitions that are flexible enough to provide the right platform for the change and growth that we will need in the decades ahead. Why PPPs are crucial to re-ignite the industry For construction stakeholders, public-private partnerships are arguably the most exciting and lucrative source of future business opportunities “ACCORDING TO INDUSTRY REPORTS, THE LATEST PIPELINE OF PPP PROJECTS STANDS AT 242 BEING DEVELOPED WITHIN THE REGION” Ashley Williams EditorKOOHEJI DEVELOPMENTS’ ONYX BAHRAIN BAY WINS HONOUR AT ARABIAN PROPERTY AWARDS KOOHEJI DEVELOPMENTS ONYX BAHRAIN BAY WINS HONOUR AT ARABIAN PROPERTY AWARDS The Bahrain real estate developer secured a five-star status for the High-Rise Residential Development category from the Arabian Property Awards during an online virtual ceremony Bahrain real estate developer, Kooheji Development, has been honoured at the Arabian Property Awards online virtual ceremony on 5 November for the Onyx Bahrain Bay project. Kooheji Development competed against the best property professionals across the Arabian regions and was acknowledged in the High-Rise Residential Development category. Onyx Bahrain Bay project secured five-star status from the Arabian Property Awards, which is a widely recognised programme throughout the region. The project is being developed by Kooheji Contractors, one of Bahrain’s leading real estate developers with 50 years of experience in delivering world- class projects. The project consists of two towers, Tower A is Onyx Bahrain Bay and Tower B the hotel serviced apartment. Construction work is in full swing, as Tower A reaches the last floor, the 44 floors, and will be celebrating the crown installation. Tower B reached 27 floors and will appoint the hotel serviced apartment operator. Located in Bahrain Bay, Onyx Bahrain Bay is a global business, leisure and lifestyle destination. According to the firm, the safety, security and innovation with sustainability methods used in the project were showcased through the cutting-edge latest technology and methods used in the construction of Onyx Bahrain Bay project. Residential apartments in Onyx Bahrain Bay project range from one bedroom, two and three bedrooms apartment with 220m2 built up area and four to five bedrooms SkyVillas from 300 – 500m2 built up area. The developer added that the safety, security and innovation with sustainability methods used in the project were showcased through the cutting-edge latest technology and methods used in the construction of Onyx Bahrain Bay project. Commenting on Onyx Bahrain Bay project, Eng. Mohamed Abdulghaffar Al Kooheji, general manager of Kooheji Development said: “Winning this award is recognition of the excellent service and the constant look for quality. As one of the key players in Bahrain’s real estate industry, Kooheji Contractors and Development strives in maintaining its entrepreneurial spirit while finding a better way of delivering projects.” ADVERTORIAL DECEMBER 2020 CONSTRUCTION WEEK 21WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM Kooheji Developments has secured the High-Rise Development accolade at the Arabian Property Awards 2020-2021 [Image: Supplied] Kooheji Developments general manager Eng.Mohamed Abdulghaffar Al KoohejiINTERVIEW 22 CONSTRUCTION WEEK DECEMBER 2020 The managing director of NuLumenTek, Jim Healy, speaks exclusively to Construction Week’s deputy editor, Anup Oommen, about one of the largest LED lighting retrofit projects in the Middle East, and breakthroughs in energy efficiency and air quality systems Ireland-headquartered sustainable energy solutions firm NuLumenTek, which has offices in Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, as well as in Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia has completed one of the largest LED lighting retrofit projects in the Middle East – an LED lighting retrofit project for Almarai in Saudi Arabia – in partnership with the KSA division of the Jones Engineering Group. NuLumenTek designed, manufactured, and supplied energy efficient LED lighting systems to cover approximately 200,000m2 of manufacturing facilities for a central processing plant for dairy products. The retrofitting project included five distribution depots covering an area of 80,000m2; offices in the headquarters spanning 40,000m2; as well as accommodation facilities for 3,000 people. As part of the project, NuLumenTek installed more than 37,000 lights, and replaced more than 40,000 lights, generating annual energy savings of approximately 20 gigawatt hours (GWh). More than 14 million kilograms of carbon were reduced as part of the project, equivalent to removing the carbon footprint left by 3,000 cars The project achieved annual savings of approximately $1.5m (SAR5.62m), with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 15%. Subject to inflation calculations, the project is expected to generate lifetime savings of more than $15m (SAR56.25m) over a period of 15 years. In an exclusive conversation with Construction Week, the managing director of NuLumenTek, Jim Healy, says: “Through our offices in both the UAE and KSA, we continue to be a key partner of choice in the region to deliver a lighting solution that is fit for purpose and based on the lowest energy consumption possible. “As specialists in developing bespoke solutions for our clients, we are delighted to generate more savings for them and by doing so, we are helping to improve our environment and ensure a safe clean world for the coming generations. WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEE WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM Let there be (LED) light “In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we have completed multiple retrofit projects for Almarai and also for Kapsarc, all of which were focused on transitioning to LED lighting to support their sustainability programmes.” The lighting products have been specifically designed for the retrofit market with life spans of more than 100,000 hours particularly as all lights have either remote or built-in absence and day light sensors. Healy adds: “Our partnership with the Jones Engineering group is based on project specific solutions including data centres, manufacturing plants, and large- scale retrofits. Jones Group has more than 100 years of experience in delivering international high-quality projects. “They executed this complex retrofit project safely and in textbook style over a period of 12 months, while at all times ensuring the facilities were kept operating. They achieved this through in-depth project knowledge, high level planning, and constant engagement with all stakeholders. “Jones Engineering also carried out all measurement and verification for this project to demonstrate existing loads and prove savings for new loads.” Energy efficiency and air quality steal the spotlight NuLumenTek has also played an important role in supporting and enabling its clients to operate more efficiently in terms of energy consumption and making significant improvements on their carbon footprint, which comes with the added benefit of seeing financial savings on their balance sheet through lower utility costs. “Our clients depend on us to support them with all their lighting systems using the most up-to-date and efficient technology and to continue optimising their building portfolio to ensure they are operating at maximum efficiencies,” Healy says. While net-zero and net-positive carbon systems remain an ambitious target for buildings in the GCC region, its implementation will require utility grade support, although the optimisation of building energy use is critical. Healy explains: “The fastest way to net-zero is to become much more energy efficient. If we look at the majority of building stock in the region, it is easy to identify ways to reduce their energy use by approximately 50% through a range of optimisation options such as the integration of monitoring, smart controls, and technology upgrades to lighting and HVAC systems. “Optimisation combined with sustainable generation such as on-site solar is very clearly the way forward, especially so in a region that has such abundant sunshine. This combined with government-level generation of clean energy will support the government’s ambitious plans for net-zero and carbon-positive buildings, thus, and to a more sustainable future.” The introduction of Internet-of-Things (IoT)-enabled smart sensors, combined with sophisticated data analysis and monitoring, have provided an opportunity to understand how buildings operate and to better manage their energy use accordingly. “Wireless sensors and integration of IoT to get data from a building over time can now be shared with building management systems to manage lighting and HVAC systems for ventilation, cooling, and heating. This will be based on real-time knowledge of occupancy, temperature, time, and air quality,” Healy says. “Combinations of sensors such as temperature, humidity, absence detection, and CO2 can measure occupancy and significantly reduce fresh air requirements. New air hygiene sensor technology, now on the market, can take this to another level and measure the air quality to determine how clean and safe it is. “This is a massive breakthrough and will provide a better understanding of our fresh air quality. This will lead to safer, healthier, and low-carbon buildings.” The need for energy efficiency to be taken into consideration right from the design and planning stages of construction DECEMBER 2020 CONSTRUCTION WEEK 23 INTERVIEW WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM RUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM in order to integrate it into building fabrics and structures is slowly becoming a best practice in the region. However, it remains a bit of a challenge in implementation in ongoing projects as real cost savings can only be determined through whole life-cost analysis. Healy explains: “Value engineering is a long-misunderstood phrase in construction as CAPEX is generally the driver and OPEX is considered someone else’s problem. “High-performing buildings with the use of good daylight; high-performing building fabrics; and built-in PV are not cheap, so this involves a premium at construction stage. The cost savings are generated through the operational costs over the lifetime of the building.” Therefore, sustainability has become much more than merely looking at energy efficiency, but rather, has begun to take on-board the carbon footprint of goods manufactured and their life span. “The need to drive sustainability may lead to locally sourced products, which may be a little more expensive but saves on shipping and logistics, and also contributes to the local economy,” Healy adds. “From a perspective of cost, it is likely in many cases to be higher than standard systems or structures. This is a significant challenge especially for developer- driven projects, where once the project is completed, the developers will not operate the buildings. “This will change in the future where premiums will be paid in taxes for poorly performing buildings and high-performing sustainable buildings will generate higher rents. This will not happen in isolation but through government guidance and policy.” As a result, integration of technologies which can communicate with IoT-enabled devices and can share information with smart platforms and applications will be key to success. Upgrading technologies and allowing data sharing across multiple devices and platforms are likely to be a common method of managing buildings in the future. The rampant move towards smart cities in the Middle East has increased the standards, regulations, and protocols for lighting control systems, boosting demand for LED lights, and increasing the demand for integrated lighting control systems. Healy says: “It makes commercial sense especially for buildings with long operating hours to integrate smart controls with an LED upgrade or new lighting systems. These smart lighting systems are intuitive and self-learning so they can dim and switch off based on occupancy and daylight and also take advantage of AI so it predicts patterns and movement over time. In addition, self-learning intuitive smart controls provide users with the option for remote management and device-controlled lights, from smart phones and tablets. Instead of using light switches, next-gen controls could soon be voice-activated, automatic, or device-based as opposed to old generation hard-wired methods. “The mass roll out of new technologies could lead to year-on-year price drops and higher efficacy’s on products through further research and development,” Healy concludes. The future we envisioned in movies, is just around the corner and one that is highly anticipated. COVER STORY WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM24 CONSTRUCTION WEEK DECEMBER 2020 INTO DUBAI” GATEWAY “THE INTERVIEW BY ASHLEY WILLIAMS | PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY ALEC ALEC’s managing director Barry Lewis sits down with Construction Week’s editor Ashley Williams to reveal how the One Za’abeel project is continuing to put Dubai on the map COVER STORY WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COMDECEMBER 2020 CONSTRUCTION WEEK 25COVER STORY 26 CONSTRUCTION WEEK DECEMBER 2020WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM ALEC is the main contractor for Ithra Dubai’s One Za’abeel project Regarded as the next iconic project to take shape in Dubai, One Za’abeel – the twin-tower development near the Dubai World Trade Centre – is among a pipeline of developments attempting to break world records for its architecture and engineering excellence in the UAE. Featuring Michelin-starred restaurants, a 500-room luxury hotel, executive offices, and an infinity pool, the mixed-use project is being developed by property giant, Ithra Dubai, which is wholly-owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD). But among the most eye-catching parts of the project is ‘The Link’ - a panoramic sky concourse that connects the two towers of One Za’abeel and is expected to be the longest cantilevered building in the world, floating 100m above the ground. The project marked a significant milestone in October 2020 with the completion of the final lift of the 900-tonne second section of The Link. The Link is 226m-long and has been constructed of seven steel modules – named Assembly A-G – that were slid into place before they were lifted into their final position on the building. The lift of the 192m-long first section of ‘The Link’, which is one of the heaviest lifts in the region with a total weight of 8,720 tonnes, took place in September 2020 and was carried out over a period of 12 days. Stakeholders of the One Za’abeel twin tower development include industry leaders ALEC as the main contractor, who said that the concept of the mixed- use development is being designed on the basis of a Japanese gate which represents “the gateway into Dubai”. Speaking exclusively to Construction Week, ALEC’s managing director for construction, Barry Lewis, explains how the contractor has managed to navigate through engineering obstacles faced at the One Za’abeel project and how they initially wanted to conduct the lift of The Link in one go. “It’s been a lot of years of planning and it was visualised many years ago from a concept stage, but the engineering that has gone into making this a reality has been quite significant. The piece that we have lifted now is a small section, and is only 30m long and 900 tonnes,” says Lewis. “We came up with a robust engineering solution where the proof is now in the pudding as The Link is now up in the air. The last section has around 45 days of welding that needs to take place to ensure the structure is effectively fused together.” He adds: “It’s a significant lift and in order to do this, it took thousands of manhours of engineering, validation and verification. By using heavy jacks and strands, we were able to design the lift of The Link through a series of leavers, which transfers the forces back into the permanent structure. “In order to make that happen, we had an obligation to ensure that we engineered our construction sequence considering all temporary conditions, ensuring that at all times the permanent structure was never compromised.” The verification and validation of the temporary and permanent conditions was a huge task and one of the biggest challenges, Lewis admits. “The loads incrementally increased as the construction develops. The Link that has been lifted is only 30% of the final load that is actually in the air,” Lewis explains. “We have to put the balance of the MAY 2020 CONSTRUCTION WEEK 27WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM COVER STORY structure, place a façade on it and finishes, as well as fill the infinity pool.” He adds: “All these loads will be systematically introduced and because it’s a steel structure, we have to design it with sufficient tolerance to allow for the settlement as the various loads are imposed. We have to theoretically model the load transfer that we’re expecting to take place, so that eventually when the building is fully loaded, it comes back to a neutral or flat condition.” Both concrete towers were built with a camber of 1.5mm per level to allow for the COVER STORY 28 CONSTRUCTION WEEK DECEMBER 2020WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM deflection, which will take place when the load of the lift is introduced. “We’ve achieved a significant milestone in terms of getting The Link bridge up into position. We have around two months left of consolidation of the bridge in terms of welding and making sure The Link is complete,” says Lewis. “We still have another 35 floors to add onto Tower A and a couple of floors on Tower B. It’s a mixed use facility, which is very complex, high-end and iconic. It’s got a way to go, but we are pushing as hard as we can.” ALEC has around 5,500 people on- site and 250 engineers working on the project collectively with the firm’s sub- contractors, according to Lewis. Lewis also discusses how constant monitoring of its workforce has allowed them to continue working on the project during the COVID-19 pandemic. “One of the biggest challenges for us is that we are moving a lot of people every day at several times of the day. Logistics, even without COVID-19, is a massive challenge,” says Lewis. “Our initial planning for the One Za’abeel site was without COVID-19 and in terms of moving people vertically, we have lost capacity.” “In order to deal with that loss in capacity, we have had to create further shifting to allow workers to be more staggered. Between our own direct workforce and sub-contractors, there is a lot more scheduling that takes place and we use software that assists us with that.” He adds: “It is constant monitoring “WE HAVE AROUND TWO MONTHS LEFT OF CONSOLIDATION OF THE BRIDGE IN TERMS OF WELDING AND MAKING SURE THE LINK IS COMPLETE” Barry Lewis ALEC managing director ALEC has around 5,500 people on-site and 250 engineers working with their sub-contractorsDECEMBER 2020 CONSTRUCTION WEEK 29WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM COVER STORY fantastic projects in this region. From a technical and iconic point of view, the One Za’abeel is right up there with the best. This project will enhance Dubai’s reputation in terms of achieving the unthinkable.” Concluding the conversation, Lewis remained optimistic about the future of ALEC after recently announcing that they have opened an office in Saudi Arabia for the first time to support the Kingdom’s rapidly changing landscape. ALEC’s office in Riyadh will be led by by general manager, Darrell Bergesen, who has more than 28 years of international experience in the construction industry across South Africa, the UK and the Middle East. Bergesen will be responsible for ALEC is targeting other landmark projects in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and now Saudi Arabia following its of ce expansion into Riyadh and reinforcement to make sure people are doing the right things and having sufficient stations so workers can sanitise on a regular basis. It’s not been without its challenges, but contractors are quite resilient and we come up with ways to make sure we can keep pushing on with the project.” Lewis, who has headed up construction activities for the One Za’abeel project, reflected on what the project meant for the business and his personal career. “For ALEC, One Za’abeel is a fantastic project to have on its books and we will always cherish the opportunity to do something that is unique and bespoke as it puts you up there with the best,” Lewis grins. “For me personally, I’ve built many overseeing the growth and expansion of the company. Bergesen previously worked with ALEC from 2007 until 2017, and has re-joined the company after delivering the largest and most complex ‘brownfield’ mall in South Africa. “We are optimistic that ALEC will continue to grow and pick up the landmark projects that Dubai and Abu Dhabi has to offer. We are excited about the endless possibilities that will arise with the opening of our new office in Saudi Arabia,” concludes Lewis. “We are committed to helping revolutionise the region’s construction industry, and with our team of industry experts we look forward to creating value for our partners and stakeholders in the Kingdom.” Next >