ITP MEDIA GROUP / BUSINESS NOVEMBER 2021 • ISSUE 781 QATAR TOURISM COO BERTHOLD TRENKEL OUTLINES THE COUNTRY’S SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY TO CREATE “EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCES”CONTENTS NOVEMBER 2021 • ISSUE 781 Berthold Trenkel, COO of Qatar Tourism, shares exclusive insights with Ranju Warrier into tourism construction developments in Qatar, with additional inputs from Cundall’s Gary Dodds COVER S TORY 16 EDITOR’S LETTER Creating experiences for an in ux of visitors to Qatar is crucial for its expansive construction sector EXPO EXCLUSIVE Expo 2020 Dubai’s Polish Pavilion on using the best of technology and design innovations inspired by nature HEALTHCARE Qatar’s UCC Holding is innovatively and sustainably building The View Hospital in the Al Qutai ya district ARBITRATION The Dispute Resolution Question Time Dubai Conference outlines the importance of international arbitration LEGACY Khansaheb’s Chairman, Managing Director, and Vice Chairman trace the rm’s journey – in service of the nation LEADERS KSA Construction Week highlights key takeaways from the Leaders in Construction KSA Summit that addressed Saudi Arabia’s construction and housing sectors 6 14 26 30 32 22 STAT OF THE MONTH $27.23BN REAL ESTATE DEALS Dubai’s sales transactions spiked 23.6% in 2021, with value jumping by 45.2% compared to 2020 QUOTE OF THE MONTH DUBAI’S FLEX-SPACE MARKET CORE anticipates co-working of ce market in Dubai to see a “sustained rise” in demand 10 08 EVENTS CALENDAR While the event season keeps the Construction Week team busy, we are gearing up to host the Leaders Qatar Summit in November and the 17th iteration of CW Awards in December CO VER IMA GE: QA T AR T OURISM 42 NOVEMBER 2021 CONSTRUCTION WEEK 3WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM4 CONSTRUCTION WEEK NOVEMBER 2021WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM PUBLISHED BY AND © 2021 ITP MEDIA GROUP FZ-LLC. PO Box 500024, Dubai, United Arab Emirates TEL +971 4 444 3000 WEB: WWW.ITP.COM Offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London & Mumbai ITP MEDIA GROUP CEO Ali Akawi MANAGING DIRECTOR Alex Reeve EDITORIAL CW EDITOR ranju.warrier@itp.com CW MULTIMEDIA REPORTER disha.dadlani@itp.com CW REPORTER mina.vucic@itp.com MEP EDITOR anup.oommen@itp.com PMV EDITOR dennis.daniel@itp.com FM EDITOR rajiv.pillai@itp.com ART DIRECTOR amjad.ayche@itp.com ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Saraswati Agarwal TEL +971 4 444 3352, EMAIL saraswati.agarwal@itp.com SENIOR SALES MANAGER Moutaz Gadelhak TEL +971 4 444 3177, EMAIL moutaz.gadelhak@itp.com SALES MANAGER Bipin Soneji TEL +971 4 444 3205, EMAIL bipin.soneji@itp.com ITP LIVE GENERAL MANAGER Ahmad Bashour TEL +971 4 444 3549, EMAIL ahmad.bashour@itp.com STUDIO SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS Efraim Evidor, Adel Rashid STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Aasiya Jagadeesh, Ajith Narendra, Fritz John Asuro PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION GROUP PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Kyle Smith PRODUCTION MANAGER Denny Kollannoor PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR Mahendra Pawar SENIOR IMAGE EDITOR Emmalyn Robles CIRCULATION DISTRIBUTION AND CIRCULATION MANAGER Evijin Pathrose DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Avinash Pereira CIRCULATION EXECUTIVE Rajesh Pillai MARKETING DIRECTOR OF AWARDS & MARKETING Daniel Fewtrell ITP GROUP CEO Ali Akawi CFO Toby Jay Spencer-Davies www.ConstructionWeekOnline.com SUBSCRIBE online at www.itp.com/subscriptions NOTICE The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for errors or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. 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The most important project, contract, and tender information, updated every month To have your copy of Construction Week delivered to your doorstep, subscribe by logging on to www.itp.com/subscriptionsMARBLE GRANITE QUARTZITE ONYX TRAVERTINE QUARTZ PRECIOUS STONE Surface Solutions, Designed By Nature www.glaze.ae/ Staturio Marble6 CONSTRUCTION WEEK NOVEMBER 2021 EDITOR’S LETTER WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM All eyes on Qatar as FIFA World Cup 2022 approaches Creating experiences for an influx of visitors to the country is a top priority for Qatar’s expansive construction sector Ranju Warrier Editor Qatar is pursuing an impressive array of infrastructure and industrial projects as a result of its economic growth, its commitment to Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV 2030), and its dedication to hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022. As the football tournament comes to Qatar, the country is busy realigning its investment strategy to meet the Second National Development Strategy 2018- 2022, which has boosted the expansion of construction, manufacturing, and nancial services sectors. These industries have raised the contribution of non-hydrocarbon revenues to Qatar’s GDP signi cantly. Separately, creating experiences for an in ux of visitors to the country for the tournament has been a top priority for Qatar’s expansive construction sector, according to Berthold Trenkel, Chief Operating Of cer (COO) of Qatar Tourism. “We’ve been working hard over the last couple of years to broaden and diversify the tourism experiences for residents, citizens, and international travellers,” he said during our cover interview for this month’s issue of Construction Week. In fact, during the most dif cult times when the world was grappling with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Qatar took rigorous steps to mitigate the economic impact of the outbreak. This was possible due to a number of factors including national infrastructure spending prior to the FIFA World Cup 2022. From railway and metro systems to airports, FIFA 2022 stadiums to theme parks, hotels and hotel apartments to leisure projects, construction activity has burgeoned as preparations continue for the much-anticipated six- week-long tournament. This is good news for Qatar as the sun is shining on the country’s economy, which is poised for sustained growth after three challenging years and the negative impact of the pandemic. As the main catalyst for this growth, the World Cup is drawing attention to Qatar as it aims to become the rst ever carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup. At this point, I reminisce about the time when I spoke to Mohamed Al Atwaan, Project Manager of the Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, developed by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy of FIFA World Cup 2022. Atwaan told me that the World Cup has always been seen as a catalyst to maximise the use and development of major events, which will further contribute to the achievement of QNV 2030. With the majority of FIFA-related construction projects completed or nearing completion, all eyes are on Qatar, and the road to 2022 is leaving a lasting impression on the country’s construction sector. Signing off! FOLLOW CONSTRUCTION WEEK @ CWMIDDLEEAST A render of Ras Abou Aboud Stadium, one of the eight FIFA World Cup 2022 stadiums in Qatar [Image: Supplied]M ﺔﻴﺴﻤﺸﻟا ﺔﻗﺎﻄﻟا تﺎﻋﺎﻨﺼﻟ ﻂﺳوﻻا قﺮﺸﻟا ﺔﻴﻌﻤﺟ Middle East Solar Industry Association Empow ering Solar acr oss the Middle East Middle East & North Africa ﺎـــــــــــــــــــﻴﻘﻳﺮﻓﺍ ﻝﺎـــــــــــــــــــﻤﺷﻭ ﻂــــــــــــــــــــﺳﻭﻷﺍ ﻕﺮــــــــــــــــــــﺸﻟﺍ8 CONSTRUCTION WEEK NOVEMBER 2021 QUOTE OF THE MONTH WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM DUBAI’S FLEX-SPACE “CONSIDERABLY LOWER” THAN OTHER GLOBAL MARKETS As per a recent study by UK- based platform Tide, the UAE offers only 1.74 co-working spaces per 100,000 persons. According to Coworker, which is an online marketplace listing co-working spaces around the world, the UAE stands at a total of 176 [co-working] spaces. Construction Week spoke to Pratyusha Gurrapu, Head of Research and Advisory at CORE, to get more insights about Dubai’s co-working spaces. She said: “Currently, only 1.5% of the total Dubai office stock, which is less than 1.5 million, is under the flex-space category.” Stating that this percentage share of flex or co-working space is “considerably lower” than other global markets due to a range of factors, she explained: “Due to lower new market entrant demand and oversupply issues in the recent past, leasing a conventional office space was more cost-effective for incumbent tenants in addition to having a variety of options to choose from.” She continued: “During the pandemic, the flex-space market saw consolidation and market segmentation with major global co-working brands witnessing occupancy levels increase. Meanwhile, the smaller local flex-space players are relatively struggling and competing with smaller conventional office spaces.” According to Gurrapu, some of the most prominent freezones have been managing their own flex-space offerings which are linked to their business licenses and visas, offering new entrants a quicker operational set-up. Commenting on the cost of conventional office spaces versus flex- space markets, Gurrapu said: “Every large single-owned office project should have a co-working component to support occupancy and retain clients within the same premises while offering occupiers flexibility. While conventional offices and co-working spaces have similar concepts and designs, the fit-out costs are 10-30% higher for co-working spaces because of higher specifications and finishes along with flexible design layouts.” Elaborating on the requirements for a flex-space environment, she said: “The flex-space needs to have the technology and operational expertise to cater to a variety of business needs under single management, for example, the IT and data security needs, reception services, and other value-added services for multiple occupiers add to the operational costs.” Despite the insignificant current standing of Dubai’s co-working market, Gurrapu anticipated the co-working office market would see a “sustained rise” in demand. “As conventional office rents slowly increase and along with a sharp rise in first phase expansions, demand for co- working spaces is expected to increase as they offer lower operational costs, value- added services, and higher flexibility,” Construction Week spoke with CORE’s Pratyusha Gurrapu, who stated that 1.5% of the total Dubai office stock, which is less than 1.5 million, is under the flex-space category According to Coworker, which is an online marketplace listing co-working spaces around the world, the UAE stands at a total of 176 [co-working] spaces [Image: Representative | Pixabay]Next >