Site visit: Heart of Doha

The Musheireb development will be of an inner-urban scale, relatively dense, with blocks of interconnecting buildings.

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Progress on the Musheireb development in the heart of Doha, Qatar, is nearing its first major milestone, with steel frameworks on the first buildings nearing completion on the $5.5billion project.

Work on the project began in January 2010 and, once completed, the 35ha development will reportedly “transform the architectural centre of the capital city, recreating a way of living that is rooted in Qatari culture”.

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The masterplan was designed around the main aim of reversing the pattern of development and growth of Doha in recent decades, which has tended towards isolated land uses with urban sprawl and heavy reliance on car transport.

The focus will be on reducing car use and congestion, while improving connectivity across the wider city area.

“Skyscrapers and isolated living compounds are not the communities we aspire to in Doha. We therefore decided to revive our past, rediscover our traditions, and regenerate the communities we have lost in this world,” said Eng.

Issa Al Mohannadi, CEO of Dohaland, the developer, during the project’s ground-breaking ceremony last year, when the project was renamed Musheireb from the former ‘Heart of Doha’ project. “We will do this by combining the spirit and aesthetic of yesterday with environmentally friendly and sustainable knowhow of tomorrow.”

The mixed-use development will contain 226 buildings and ultimately be home to 27,637 residents. A joint venture between Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd and HBK Contracting Co. was awarded the $428million contract for the first phase of Dohaland, while the enabling works was awarded to Bauer International Qatar in 2009, and the infrastructure works awarded to C.A.T. International, which includes a district cooling plant and 66kV substation.

Time Qatar was recruited for project-management consulting, Arup will serve as master development and infrastructure consultant, while Allies & Morrison and Burns McDonnell are the design architect and executive architect respectively for Phase 1A.

The project will be completed in five phases, with the first phased due for completion by 2012. The entire project is due to be completed by 2016.

Latest contract news from Musheireb is Drake & Scull Water and Power (DSWP) having been awarded a $50million design-and-build contract by Dohaland for two district cooling plants in the project.

The scope of work includes detailed design and construction of the chiller plants, cooling towers and all equipment and services. The combined capacity of the two proposed plants is 29,250TR.