Qatar Hero

By Ben Thompson

From small fishing village to sprawling city in a matter of decades; superficially at least, Doha’s development has mirrored that of its near-neighbour Dubai. But scratch below the surface and the two cities are very different. Dohaland CEO Issa Al Mohannadi explains how he is nurturing the Qatari capital’s cultural heritage.

“The Musheireb project came with a number of missions, one of which was to bridge this gap and develop a new architectural language rooted in the past and embracing the traditions inherent in our culture.”
-Al Mohannadi

A stroll along the Corniche in Doha today is a very different sensory experience to that of just a few decades ago. My uncle, a quantity surveyor, was a frequent visitor to Qatar back in the 1970s and 80s when it was still very much a traditional Arabic destination, and would regularly regale us on his return with tales of the beautiful architecture to be seen there; minarets, domes, columns and arches - all decorated in the elegant arabesque style - dominated the city's streets and spoke of a rich cultural history stretching back centuries. Doha, he proclaimed, was one of the most picturesque locations in the Gulf.

Yet while Arabic design still features prominently in the city's buildings and landmarks, today such traditional motifs are just as likely to be overshadowed by the ultra-modern glass and steel skyscrapers that tower above the city and dwarf the skyline. The pace, and the scope, of the construction that has taken place in recent years is truly staggering: just a decade ago, the pyramid-shaped Sheraton hotel was the tallest building in Doha; now it's not even in the top 100. Qatar has rapidly established itself as one of the fastest-growing knowledge economies in the world, and is ploughing billions into infrastructure projects, healthcare, education and real estate in order to transform its capital into one of the 21st century's great success stories. For many, those high-rise structures are the physical manifestation of that effort.

But while many of the new edifices are beautiful pieces of architecture in their own right, not everyone feels that following a Western model of development is in the Qatari capital's best interests. Dohaland CEO Issa Al Mohannadi, who was named 2010's Property Development CEO of the Year by the Middle East Excellence Awards Institute, believes that the city's glass-encased buildings aren't necessarily representative of the capital's rich cultural history. He wants to see developers take the city back to its architectural roots and create thriving communities - and is starting in his own backyard. "We're designing buildings to reflect and enrich the cultural heritage of our country," he explains. "I believe what we are doing now is going to contribute hugely to how real estate developers think in the future. Skyscrapers and isolated living compounds are not the communities we aspire to in Doha. We have decided to revive our past, rediscover our traditions, and regenerate the communities we have lost, and will do this by combining the spirit and aesthetic of yesterday with the environmentally friendly and sustainable know-how of tomorrow."

It's a bold vision, but with the formation of the Dohaland company, Al Mohanaddi believes the city has made a positive start. A subsidiary of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, Dohaland was established in 2007 to create urban living concepts that build on traditional Arabian architecture and design. As such, the company's philosophy strongly reflects the aspirations of the Qatar Foundation and the ambitions of the Qatar National Vision 2030 strategic plan - namely, making Qatar's dream of a knowledge-based society a reality. "The 2030 Vision is built around four pillars: social sustainability, economic sustainability, human resource sustainability and environmental sustainability," Al Mohannadi says. "And if a real estate project is well defined and designed well, it can help achieve these four pillars."

Earlier this year, the foundation stone for Dohaland's first development, the flagship Musheireb project, was laid at a ceremony attended by His Highness the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and other Qatari dignitaries. Musheireb, which in Arabic means a place where one can draw water from, is a 35-hectare site that will transform the architectural centre of the Qatari capital and set new standards for inner city development in the Gulf. "The Musheireb project is a mixed-use development and one of very few developments in the region that focus on this style," explains Al Mohannadi. "The mixed-use concept - where you have residential, commercial buildings, retail, hotels, schools and medical facilities - is all developed in the same area, which reduces the amount that people need to travel because all their needs have already been designed and catered for. If you live in Musheireb, and you happen to have your business there, you have all the amenities you need to live in a community, and that by itself contributes to the concept of social sustainability. We want to bring back life to the heart of the city, which we believe we can achieve through the masterplan."

It is hoped that once complete, the development will transform the heart of the city from a slightly down-at-heel neighbourhood into a vibrant and modern community. Musheireb is located in one of the oldest parts of the city - an area that, during the last few decades has suffered from a number of social issues related to urban decay. "The buildings themselves have lost their quality and have not been maintained very well, so the whole area has become a bit run-down - which does not reflect the strength of the country and the position and image of Qatar," says Al Mohannadi.

In response, the Dohaland team were charged with redeveloping the area in such a way as to promote the Qatari vision of heritage, innovation, enrichment and environmentally sound development through sustainable practices. And as such, he explains that the project has quickly become the flagship for Doha's inner-city regeneration. "It started with us evaluating how we can improve the area, because some of the buildings are in really bad condition; some were not suitable for people to live in. We decided to regenerate this part of the city, bring it to life, and hopefully that will start a trend that will continue with the whole of the downtown area being redeveloped - which would contribute to transforming Doha into a modern capital that also embraces traditional architecture."

As such, Al Mohannadi has become something of a champion for implementing and preserving traditional Qatari architectural styles - albeit with a modern twist to reflect the country's emerging status as a regional - and potentially, global - powerhouse. Qatar's economy is growing at a phenomenal rate and more than 800 buildings are expected to be built in Doha's city centre alone in the next few years, in addition to the massive housing developments currently underway across the country. In the midst of such rapid urban construction and development, retaining a sense of place is critical - something he feels was ignored in recent decades. "We lost our identity in terms of our architectural language and we became lazy as a society," he laments. "From the 1960s onwards, there were hardly any developments using this architectural language. So the Musheireb project came with a number of missions, one of which was to bridge this gap and develop a new architectural language rooted in the past and embracing the traditions inherent in our culture. We encouraged the architects and everybody involved in the project to think outside the box and apply their knowledge around how we can come up with this architectural language."

The first phase of the project is due for completion in 2012, while the entire development is slated for completion in 2016. And so far, the project is progressing well. "It's a case of 'so far so good'," smiles Al Mohannadi. "Phase 1 is still on target and we are also on target for completion of the whole development by 2016." It's refreshing to hear, particularly given the complicated nature of working within a built-up area. "Regeneration projects have a different nature to greenfield projects," he continues. "When you build a project outside a city in remote areas you can go there, start planning and begin construction virtually straight away. However, Musheireb is a place where people are still living, so we have to go through the government process of land acquisition, giving people the right notice period to find another place in order to be relocated. All of this, of course, takes time."

As part of the acquisition, every landlord and tenant has been paid a generous compensation package. Indeed in most cases, the building owners let the tenants - whether commercial or residential - to continue living or trading for free until the final eviction notices came, according to a recent report in the Gulf Times. In some instances, tenants have not paid rent for over two years while continuing to do business from the premises. Such a public-spirited approach to a potentially sensitive subject is typical of the consultative methods being used by the company - Dohaland spent more than two years on research and innovation before commencing work on construction at Musheireb, and recently opened the doors to its Knowledge Enrichment Centre (KEC), a floating structure located off the Doha Corniche planned as a forum to exchange ideas and thoughts with the public on concepts to do with Musheireb and other projects the company is working on. The centre provides an opportunity for the people of Doha to meet, educate, learn and enjoy the cultural link between the county's rich heritage and the modern nation, in line with the National Vision for Qatar.

"By exchanging these ideas we teach others how to do things differently," says Al Mohannadi. "We encourage people to look at the development of real estate differently to the way they look at it right now. We want people to realise that whatever is going to be built is going to communicate a certain language to the public and is going to have a reflected identity on the country itself.

We want to stop importing readymade architectural solutions and we want to stop constructing 'glassy' buildings that do not fit in this kind of environment," he continues. "In Qatar we may have modern structures with good-looking facades but many of them are not designed for our environment and do not belong to our history or our architectural language. We want to stop people from being lazy and importing whatever is available for the design of a building. We want them to think again and find a new theme for their development or a new architectural language and work with us in thinking along these lines."

It's certainly a new approach for Qatar, and Al Mohannadi believes it could provide something of a blueprint for others in the region to follow. "I'm not aware of many real estate developers who think this way, so we feel Dohaland is unique in how we approach the development of real estate," he says. "We don't build something for the sake of just building. We want to make sure that the building is built right, built for a purpose and reflects our cultural identity. The reason why Dohaland waited for two years to launch was because we were researching, learning and developing this architectural language that's rooted in the tradition and the country. We learned more about how our ancestors used to build their buildings and how they used to make a masterplan for a city without any software or architects. For example, an old part of Doha built 30 years ago is very close to being a green building because it is made of natural and local material that is reusable. Every single stone used at that time was reused again. We have to look at the concept of making sure the buildings are not facing the sun and are opened up for the wind direction and that we are creating courtyard spaces within the homes themselves. These are all concepts that our ancestors applied to good effect. So tradition is always the focus and a priority when we consider anything in the development of our projects."

In addition to exploring and adding to the country's cultural heritage, Dohaland also plans to nurture a greater appreciation of the value of sustainability in the construction and development process, in line with the goals of the 2030 Vision. On a global scale, more than 32 percent of the world's resources are used in the building process, including 40 percent of the world's energy and 12 percent of its fresh water. In addition, construction produces 40 percent of the world's landfill and air emissions respectively. Dohaland believes such figures are unsustainable, and has placed the use of environmentally sound design and construction practices at the heart of its philosophy. "The building process is resource hungry and, as a growing community and economy, we have a responsibility to ensure that our developments are environmentally and socially sustainable," says Al Mohannadi. "We are designing buildings to enrich the environmental sustainability of our country. Phase I of the Musheireb project has been developed to make sure we are following the guidelines and requirements of LEED certification, and all the buildings we are designing for that project are going to be green buildings. Meanwhile, the masterplan itself has been designed to cater to specific environmental aspects related to this part of the world."

Ultimately, Al Mohannadi hopes the Musheireb project will be a shining example of Qatar's determination to innovate not just for innovation's sake, but with the end-goal of improving quality of life and ensuring that Qatar's heritage and culture evolves as the country grows. "Qatar and Dohaland are working toward our shared aim of transforming the nation by 2030 into a nation capable of sustaining its own development and creating a strong sense of heritage and future living for generations to come," Al Mohannadi concludes. "I'm lucky and honoured to lead such a team and such a company. We have come a long way from when the concept of the project was just an idea on paper. We recently awarded the Phase I construction contract, and that wouldn't have happened without a great team here enabling that idea to move from the mind to reality. The greatest achievement will be when Musheireb is delivered to the people, because we are building something that will be part of the whole nation's history, and every Dohaland employee will be proud to have contributed to that. I am very proud that the employees of Dohaland are working as one team to achieve this objective."

COOL DEAL

Dohaland awarded an AED182 million design-and-build contract for district cooling in its flagship Musheireb project in July. Contractor Drake and Scull Water and Power (DSWP) - a subsidiary of Drake and Scull International - was awarded the contract to design, build and service two plants in the project.

The contract scope of work includes detailed design and construction of district cooling plants comprising chiller plants and cooling towers, and includes all equipment and services. The total capacity of the two proposed district cooling plants is 29,250TR (tonnage of refrigeration). The contract also covers the design and construction of a chilled water reticulation network (including valves and valve chamber details), the design and construction of complete mechanical electrical and plumbing building services for the plants, the testing and commissioning of the plants, as well as the operation and maintenance of the district cooling plants for a minimum period of five years.

"Given Dohaland's focus on sustainability and environment, the district cooling system will provide an energy efficient approach to the Musheireb project. The qualitative advantages of the system are perceived in terms of better comfort, better reliability, and maximised convenience. It will provide better quality of cooling, maximum cost effectiveness, capital cost elimination, space saving, decrease in sound pollution, and importantly, is environmentally friendly," said Mohammad Al Marri, Director of Projects at Dohaland.

SAFE AS HOUSES

In August, Dohaland announced that it had achieved 'one million' man-hours worked on the flagship Musheireb project without Lost Time Incident/Injury (LTI). The measure indicates the man-hours worked on the project without any time lost as a result of an injury or accident on-site.

This accomplishment is a result of the company's adherence to local and international Health and Safety Regulations and adoption of strict inspection, reporting and third-party auditing backed up by rigorous training programmes.

Mohammad Al Marri, Project Director of Dohaland said: "This milestone is a reflection of the strict local and international standards that we have applied throughout the project, and underscores our commitment to the highest standards of safety management and the welfare of all our workers, contractors and associates on the project. This achievement is also a reinforcement of the care and attention taken by Dohaland on all works and planning, with a health and safety policy that is amongst the most strict in the world."

The HSE commitment at Dohaland extends not only to those employed directly by Dohaland, but those employed by contractors, too. "We are keen on ensuring that all new hires go through an induction training prior to their involvement in the project," added Al Marri. "The procedures in place include daily toolbox talks by the supervisors and weekly ones by the HSE staff; risk assessments done by every contractor; daily inspections of the work area carried out by the HSE staff to identify unsafe conditions and acts; and the undertaking of an external audit on a quarterly basis."

GRAND DESIGNS

The architectural guidelines of Musheireb set out seven principles:

1. Past and future
Rooted in the past, focused on the future
Part of Qatar's unique evolving history; designed and built to last

2. Individual and collective
A harmonious balance between Unity and Diversity
Richness and delight combined with a deep respect for context

3. Space and form
A carved, informal and protective urban grain
Sikkas, barahas, squares and streets provide a traditional environment in a contemporary language

4. Aspects of home
Opening to private, secure and shaded outdoor spaces
Homes clustered in intimate groups around garden and shared majlis buildings

5. Aspects of the street
Arcaded streets and shading canopies; casting shade, catching the breeze
Pedestrian priority and lively retail frontages; an evening promenade

6. Designing for climate
'State-of-the-art' technology above and below ground
Innovative ways of saving energy and creating a comfortable, adaptable and people friendly environment

7. Language of architecture
Robustness, simplicity and a new language of pattern
Decoration and functionality, innovation and tradition combined