Surfing muscat's wave

The first thoughts that came to mind when I heard the name The Wave, Muscat, were those of tsunamis, destruction and the aftermath of cyclone Gonu that brought Muscat to a standstill last year. And then thought – why on earth would you name it that?

But Iain Liversage, senior projects manager for the development laughed it off saying the development is one of the safest in the region adding that the reason it was named that is due to the shape of the site and also due to the fact that the Arabic symbol, which is the project’s brand, is in the shape of a wave.

“Actually, Gonu did us a great favour. It put our design to the test and we came out tops. Besides a few scraps of wood that were blown around the site, we weren’t affected at all. We were back to work in a couple of days.”

“The event of a severe cyclone is unlikely here. It’s a one in 250 years chance and we’ve designed it to a higher standard – to a one in a 100-year storm event. This is well above the specified standard.”

Oman’s roughly US $100-billion-worth (AED367 billion) construction sector may not appear to be that impressive when compared to heavyweights like the UAE or Saudi Arabia, but industry experts say that this “jewel of Arabia” prefers to tread carefully.

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Speaking to Construction Week, Nick Smith, CEO of The Wave, Muscat, notes that, “We call ourselves the new heart of Muscat. We are the new suburb. We’re actually in the middle of the city where shopping and commercial developments are coming up. We’re not racing into things as we like to take our time and make informed decisions that stand the test of time.”

The Wave, Muscat, is the first Integrated Tourism Complex (ITC) in Oman and spans an area of 2.2million m2, plus 600,000m2 of reclaimed land.

The development is made up of more than 4000 residential units including villas, apartments and townhouses, three five-star luxury hotels including chains like the Fairmont and Kempinski, a 300-berth marina, an 18-hole golf course, a 6km stretch of natural beach front, parks, landscaped boulevards and walkways and a marina village that could include retail and commercial space.

The project has been divided into 10
suburban phases and eight urban phases.

The entire development is expected to be completed by 2013.

The residential units have been designed by three architects from different architectural backgrounds – Tombazis from Greece, Santini from Italy and Triad from Oman.

Construction of the villas are well underway with one batch already completed. Dredging and excavation work has already begun on- site to create the marina area with more than 800m of the outer marina wall already built.

Almeria North is under construction, with the lakes and waterways excavation now clearly visible and on schedule.

The golf course construction is imminent and all service connections are up and running for sector one. The golf course will be a par-72, 18-hole Greg Norman designed link’s course.
Liversage says construction on the first island section, which is sector three, has begun. The villas will sit on the beachfront and a sea wall is being built to protect it from storms.
Sectors eight and nine, which are currently being used as the office base for the company, will be the last sectors to be developed.