Arcadis completes Doha Festival City project work
Centre in Qatar officially opened on April 5
Doha Festival City officially opened for business on April 5 according to a statement by international design and consultancy firm, Arcadis.
The firm was appointed to work on the project in 2011 by Bawabat Al-Shamal Real Estate Company WLL (BASREC), the owners and developers of Doha Festival City.
Arcadis was responsible for providing cost and commercial management services on the development. The company says that its team’s broad benchmark data and cost modelling tools enabled it to provide accurate estimates, which ensured that the designs put forward were efficient, and could meet the return expected by equity funders.
Doha Festival City is a mixed-use development and is home to some 500 retail units. It offers a total floor area of 433,000sqm and incorporates Qatar’s first IKEA store, a full-sized Monoprix hypermarket, and an Ace Hardware store. It also includes a snow park, Angry Birds and Virtuocity theme parks, as well as an 18-screen VOX 4D cinema complex.
Jack Overkamp, managing director of Arcadis’ operation in Qatar, said: “The opening of Doha Festival City is another important milestone in Qatar’s incredible journey. Arcadis is proud to have been involved on a scheme that’s helping to improve quality of life in Doha, by providing the city’s growing population with access to first-class leisure, retail and entertainment facilities.”
Arcadis says that its team managed change requests from over 500 tenants over the course of the project, and says that it provided timely cost estimates that enabled clients to make informed decisions on spend. The firm implemented a two-stage procurement process to allow an early works contract to be let, which allowed clients to start work ahead of an anticipated increase in construction costs in the Qatar market.
The project was originally scheduled to open in September 2016, however issues with the supporting infrastructure, according to Doha News, pushed the official opening into the first quarter of 2017.
“The official opening of Doha Festival City is a proud moment for all of the parties that have supported the scheme over the last six years. Throughout this period, the Arcadis team has consistently provided excellent cost and commercial management advice. This has enabled us to deliver a world-class development that’s already exceeding the expectations of our visitors, tenants and investors,” commented Kareem Shamma, CEO of BASREC.
