Habtoor City to replace iconic old Metropolitan Hotel
$1.33 billion project comprises of the construction of three five-star, luxury hotels and a theatre
Related Articles: Al Habtoor to construct water show theatre worth $15 million | Al Habtoor postpones IPO again | Cancelled Al Habtoor IPO hits Duabi bourse The Al Habtoor City project will be built on the site of one of Dubai’s oldest hotels, the old Metropolitan on Sheikh Zayed Road, by the beginning of 2016 and is expected to be the largest integrated hotel complex in the Middle East. Habtoor Leighton Specon (HLS) was awarded a $56 million project to provide turnkey Mechanical Engineering Plumbing (MEP) solutions for the project, and the company has signed a joint venture agreement with Drake & Scull Engineering (DSE) to undertake the MEP works for $109.7 million, with HLS’ share at 51%. This project takes the value of HLS awarded contracts in 2013 to over $462.8 million. Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) is the main contractor who signed an $517.3 million contract with the Al Habtoor Group as part of the $1.33 billion development project over a total built area of approximately 390,000sqm. Thrasos Thrasyvoulou, Managing Director of HLS, said: “We have successfully worked with the Al Habtoor Group in the past and we look forward to working with them and HLG again to create a development that will be a landmark not only in Dubai, but for the entire Middle East.” The project comprises the construction of three hotels; fashion hotel ‘W’ (27 levels), luxury hotel ‘St. Regis’ (6 levels) and the main hotel ‘Westin’ (37 levels), besides a 1400-seat Vegas-style aqua theatre, three basement levels, ground and mezzanine levels and a car park with a capacity of 2290 cars. The hotels will be managed by Starwood and have a total of 1623 units. 27,000 sq. metres will be reserved for Provencal-style gardens. “The quality of the delivery of MEP systems is a critical element of luxury hotel projects. We use state of the art techniques to ensure the highest comfort of the guests when it comes to noise criteria, temperature and humidity, water quality, lighting control, access and security, and smart/ interactive communication and entertainment systems. The quality of the MEP systems on luxury hotel projects is what differentiates the good MEP contractors”, Thrasyvoulou added. Commenting on the award, Khaldoun Tabari, CEO of Drake & Scull International, said: “Our partnership with HLS brings exceptional value and solid engineering expertise to the international joint venture of this prestigious project. We are confident that our combined efforts and commitment to excellence will satisfy the very high standards of this iconic landmark and will allow us to complete the project on time.” HLS has recently worked with operators such as Jumeirah, Movenpick, Millennium, Kempinski, Rotana, Shangri-La, Ritz Carlton, Merweb, and Marriott, amongst others and is currently completing the Daman Towers hotel and residential towers in Dubai.
