|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES: Arabtec could not provide Lamar guarantee: source | Jeddah's Lamar Towers delayed to 2013 | Arabtec Saudi Arabia awarded Lamar Towers deal
Lamar Tower is arguably the stand-out project on Jeddah’s Corniche.
The rate of new developments across Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast may mean that this will intensify over the next few years, which is good news for developers and contractors looking for opportunities to show their capabilities in this growing economic hub.
A mixed-use project of a type becoming increasingly common in Saudi Arabian cities, Lamar Tower is two towers of residential units sitting atop a curved podium that will, for the first time in the region’s property history, contain a hotel, shopping mall, restaurant, conference centre, ballroom, spa and other facilities. The tallest tower, at 372m, will be the tallest in the Kingdom, with the second tower eventually standing at 293m. The total land covered will be 415,000m2, nestled a pebble throw away from the rolling coastline.
 |
The project has undergone some challenges and changes since it was launched by Cayan Investment & Development and Zahran Property Investment in February 2007, with its deadline for completion extended at least twice, from the end of 2010 to a current target of 2013. Arabian Construction Company had been the original main contractor, only to be replaced in the summer of 2009 by Arabtec.
Both contractors faced the same challenge: how to build something so high on ground that was so close to the sea, with the inevitable difficulty of preventing so much water entering into both the construction site and the finished product. Sources close to the project say Arabtec had to retreat from the project as it had a greater focus on UAE projects and could not provide sufficient technical resources, as well as a bond, to the project, as its focus remained mostly on its UAE activity. By the end of last year, Saudi Lebanese Contracting Company, also known as Tarouk, took up the project, and has been the fulcrum for the project’s swift progress since October 2010.
The project brings together an abundance of high-profile companies, with some specified consultants for different areas. Overseeing all aspects of construction is Turner, complemented by Saudi Diyar Consultants, which has a focus on the engineering strategy to convert the design by RMJM into reality. Tarouk will have additional help from Kling Consult, the German consultant, for the shop drawings.
Dulb Trading & Contracting has been lined up for all electromechanical work when the structure is completed, and will receive consultation from Damas. At the same time, it also incorporates some of the biggest sub-contractors.
These include Kasktas Arabia, the local arm of the Turkish foundation specialist; Doka, the formwork giant that has been critical in the creation of the podium, tower core walls and slabs; and Saudi Basic Materials, whose huge machines at the back of the project is injecting the structure with its concrete mix.
The design has been a complex concept, and has needed to incorporate new elements along the way, from the provisions against water flooding into the foundations to the specifics of the podium’s interior. Salih Fardour, CEO of Lamar Company, a member of Zahran Holding, explains that the company is still yet to decide which of the three hotel companies that have made it through to the final round of consideration will occupy the hotel space, and that this has an influence on the current construction procedure.
“We are currently discussing with three hotel companies, and we will be nominating the winning company no later than June,” he says in the company’s site office . “These are under review, although we have a study from one of the hotels, and we are trying to bring that study into consideration at the design stage, though we are aware that the other designs from the hotels will be different.”
| Articles | |
| Companies | |
 |
Site Map
 |
 |
 |
 |
|  |
\
FEATURED COMMENT
Please click here to comment on this article