Gulf Construction Online

Four Seasons Hotel - Doha

From concept to completion ... the West Bay complex.

Lap of Luxury

01 December 2004

The Four Seasons Hotel – part of the prestigious West Bay Complex – aims to offer the business traveller and holiday maker the heights of luxury in Qatar when it opens its doors in the first quarter of next year.

Anew five-star hotel – the centrepiece of the stunning West Bay business and residential complex in Doha – is poised to open its doors next March with a goal of setting a new benchmark in personalised service and luxury to visitors to Qatar.
The hotel, which will be managed by the Four Seasons hotel chain of Canada, has an exclusive beach and marina curved at its feet and stands in landscaped grounds on a 55.4-hectare site in the prestigious West Bay area along the Arabian Gulf.
The Four Seasons Hotel is flanked by a pair of 22-level apartment blocks and a 28-floor office tower. Completing the impressive four-tower waterfront landmark are 20 three-storey townhouses.
Associated with the hotel are a 100-berth marina and the other leisure facilities.
The office tower has been purchased by Qatar Telecom (Qtel) – the country’s sole telecommunications provider.
Halcrow (Consulting Engineers and Architects) is the project manager, while Construction Development Company (CDC) is the main contractor for the project.
The hotel has 18 floors, plus lower and plaza levels and will offer 232 rooms – nearly a quarter of which are suites – and other facilities such as restaurants, a grand 600 to 700-seat ballroom and 1,874 sq m of Doha’s finest function and meeting space. The five Presidential suites and a Royal suite stand testimony to the hotel’s aim of being among the world’s most luxurious properties.
The hotel offers elegant indoor and open-air terrace dining; all-day French brasserie; Italian fine cuisine; tea lounge; library bar and cigar lounge; a pool bar and grill.
What was originally to be a clubhouse has now been redesigned as a spa and will have a number of exclusive features – many totally new to Qatar. The luxurious spa will feature 11 treatment rooms; private spa rooms for two; sauna and steam rooms, a plunge pool, and Swiss shower and ice room in each of the men’s and women’s lounge areas.
Other facilities include:
• A full-service beach and marina with water sports;
• A sports club with fitness centre, two resistance pools, aerobics studio, tennis and squash; and
• A three-level beachfront grotto pool with deck oasis, and separate adults and children’s swimming pools.
The luxury hotel – resembling joined twin towers, each topped by a coronet – is expected to match the George V in Paris in terms of amenities.
The 20 townhouses – in five blocks of four – are being built right on the beach by the marina and will be available for rent. The residential towers will comprise a total of 155 apartments.
The townhouses and the residential towers will have their own landscaped gardens and swimming pool, while the hotel will have three swimming pools.

Design
The design of the complex draws heavily from Islamic and Qatari influences and the concept is based on the Alhambra, the Moorish palace-citadel in Granada, Spain, which brings together elements of a fortress, residential area and palace into a single complex.
There are three main entrances to the complex, which offers a total built-up area of approximately 145,000 sq m.

Construction
Construction work on the project began in July 2001 with all sections of the project having been built in parallel. At the peak of construction, there were more than 2,300 workers on the site.
“Halcrow came on board when the project went into its construction phase,” says Charles Donald, Halcrow’s project manager for the West Bay Complex.
Halcrow mobilised a supervision team which comprised people of various disciplines including architecture, structural engineering, building services and interiors, says Charles. In addition to site supervision, Halcrow was appointed as project manager reporting to the owners representative. As project manager, it is responsible for cost and schedule control.
One of the highlights of the project is the exterior of the buildings, which conform to a theme, says Charles. “And although they are made of precast concrete, they resemble traditional stonework and echo many of the architectural features of the region.”
The contract drawings produced by architects Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart and Associates of the US called for features such as traditional domes, columns, fluting, arches, geometric patterns and copings to be formed in precast concrete and glass-fibre reinforced concrete (GRC).
Halcrow worked with CDC, and its sub-contractor, Al Meraikhi Precast, to achieve the desired effects.

Cladding
Elaborating on the precast concrete cladding elements, Charles says: “The detailed design and structural integrity of these elements was the responsibility of the main contractor and specialist sub-contractor. The structural designer Yolles Partnership provided guidance on the permissible loads and points of application. The remit was to achieve a very light colouration when viewed at a distance, which – on close inspection – would show exposed aggregate and exhibit a heavy texture, similar to traditional masonry.
“Strong differentiation of the horizontal banding was critical to the success of the design. The subcontractor chose to avoid the use of retarders, opting instead to experiment with various degrees of sandblasting and bush-hammering to achieve the desired contrast in the banding and decorative features.
“The key technique adopted was the use of a steel grillage, secured in front of the precast unit to serve as a guide to the operator of the bush-hammer. The effect achieved is similar to corduroy fabric. Strict quality control ensured that a uniform effect was achieved throughout.
“The designer provided a sample of precast cladding as a guide – which included a minor amount of sparkling black aggregate. The precast sub-contractor undertook various trial mixes to produce sample panels. By introducing copper grit to the mix a small, dark, speckle effect was eventually achieved.”
The 140 to 150-mm-thick precast cladding panels designed to provide the external skin of the buildings had to meet the design requirements, which stipulated that the number of panels/joints to the façade should be minimised. This resulted in some complicated, large and heavy panels. The inner skin of the external wall was formed from metal stud partitioning with insulation, vapour barrier and plasterboard. Particular attention was paid to the joints of the buildings.
“As part of the design specification, it was proposed that stainless steel fixings would be used to support the panels to the main reinforced concrete frame. The subcontractors decided to introduce in-situ 'stitches’ at the upper connection of the wall panels and stainless steel pins at the bottom to provide lateral restraint whilst accommodating predicted deflections. This involved temporary propping of the units while the 'stitch’ was formed. Reinforcing bars projecting from the slab were linked to the panel reinforcement by the in-situ concrete.
“A factory in Abu Dhabi was awarded the contract to design, manufacture, transport (from Abu Dhabi to Doha via Saudi Arabia) and erect approximately 15,200 precast panels and 2,000 GRC panels within 24 months. This caused concerns because a number of specially-designed vehicles would be needed to transport the panels – especially the large ones which measured 7 by 5 m and weighed around 8 tonnes,” he says.
More than 1,200 shop drawings were produced which had to be reviewed within a limited time frame to allow the contractor to remain on schedule. Regular visits to the factory were conducted to ensure that the quality of the manufactured panels was maintained. On-site storage facilities were established to allow the panels to be stored in a temporary holding area prior to erection.
“The erection of the panels was carefully coordinated with the construction of the reinforced concrete works because both the precast and reinforced concrete required tower crane hook time,” says Charles. “This resulted in the concrete pours being scheduled at night, giving precast works priority during the early morning. To meet the programme constraints, the works were progressed concurrently on all buildings with each building employing its own erection gang. In total, there were seven tower cranes on-site to facilitate the erection.
“Each panel was lifted into position using the hooks cast into the panels. Care was taken to avoid rotation and unnecessary movements. The panel was held into position using specially-designed props, thereby allowing the in-situ joint to be completed and to gain the required strength prior to the removal of the props.”
Close communication within the team, including the designer in the US, resulted in the successful installation of the cladding. Flexibility was afforded to the contractors with regard to the mixes and construction methods enabling them to fully utilise their previous experience within the region, he says.
All the four buildings are surmounted by domes, which – in several cases – are composed of open steel latticework. It was found that none of the overseas suppliers approached would maintain the integrity of the architect’s original intent, according to Charles.
CDC finally sourced a local steel fabricator, with a good structural engineer and a workshop. “Together we managed to work through the details and I think the results are rather impressive,” he comments.
While CDC is gearing up to handover the project by the first quarter of next year, work continues to give the Four Seasons that final touch which will brand it among the most luxurious properties in Qatar.
The interior designs have been carried out by Frank Nicholson of the US, best known for Ritz-Carlton hotels and many of the Four Seasons hotels throughout the world.
Already, the hotel’s general manager Simon Casson has announced his pre-opening team at this elegantly appointed property, which sits on the corniche on the opposite side of the bay from the city’s international airport.