Qatar’s growth, which has been so far driven by the energy sector, is taking place at a rapid pace. Resource lines, including labour and materials procurement are the current challenges that the sector is working to overcome.

Dubai Towers Doha by Hazel Wong, who also designed the Emirates Towers.

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Learning the lessons of rapid expansion

While the UAE's progress continues unabated, to the west, Qatar's construction scene has steadily continued to develop. High-profile projects such as The Pearl-Qatar and Sama Dubai's ‘Dubai Towers Doha' are already underway and serve a dual-purpose of targeting a lucrative market, while heightening the cityscape and projecting a strong international identity.

To achieve this growth, however, the Qatar market is going to have to alter its current reliance on the UAE. Until now, its presence has acted as a boon to the country, since Dubai has been Qatar's traditional source of materials to a country that relies heavily on imports. With a growing number of projects, however, this is placing a greater strain on the system. Qatar is now looking to evolve its emphasis on local suppliers, to ensure major delays do not emerge and contractors have a reliable supply of materials.
According to Dr Eulian Roberts, chief executive, Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP), the boom is placing greater pressure on an infrastructure that is not adequately developed: "The local market is developing; however, the sheer number of construction projects currently underway in Qatar means that the capacity of the local market isn't sufficient to fulfill demand. However, it is common for international firms to develop joint ventures with local companies to enable them to work more effectively."

QSTP has been set up to accelerate the country's knowledge economy, acting as a home for technology-based companies and an incubator for start-up businesses. It will be developed in several phases with the original master plan proposing three significant phases of development over a 20-year period. Stage One, Phase One is currently under construction and development of this stage will continue for the next five years.

Located within Education City, QSTP is a 10 million m² centre featuring academic and research buildings, which will be directed by the Qatar Foundation Capital Projects Department. Qatar Foundation appointed Qatar Petroleum to manage the development of the city, who in turn appointed KEO International Consultants to provide project and construction management support. Woods Bagot is the architectural firm.

Roberts adds: "The construction market in Qatar is under significant pressure; often there are more projects than resources on the ground to fulfill them. This inevitably leads to challenges, particularly in terms of the labour force, which is carried out by the contractor. The availability of materials has also provided a challenge - almost all construction materials in Qatar are imported, which adds a significant time factor to the project and reduces predictability."

Dr Mahmoud El Khafif, regional manager, Gulf States, Bilfinger Berger agrees: "Like other members of the industry, we share certain concerns about the stretched resource lines and cost developments." And ACC director, Maher Merhebi, explains that the policy of relying on Dubai is not the only problem, citing the lack of infrastructure as well: "The Doha market does not offer the same ease of procurement and mobilising of required resources. The other striking point is that many regional contractors are less present, with more presence of local contractors.

"Because it is a relatively smaller market than the UAE, it relies heavily on being supplied from Dubai, and all of the suppliers do not find the necessity for keeping a lot of stock. And because of the current construction boom this policy is exacerbated." Marehbi believes, however, that economic forces will prevail and as the market matures, this attitude will change. "For now we rely heavily on the UAE office to assist in procurement. In the long term, you will see more suppliers locally based in Doha offering the same facilities to contractors, so you will procure from more locally-based suppliers."

ACC has four towers being built on The Pearl, including a $170 million, 26-storey residential tower in Porto Arabia in conjunction with United Development Company and KEO International. It is also working on the $50 million La Cigale tower and the $80 million Al Bida Tower.

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