Abu Dhabi-based developer Gulf Related has announced the appointment of Brookfield Multiplex (BM) as the main contractor for its $1.0bn Al Maryah Central mixed-use retail development project on Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi.

The $425m construction contract will see BM build a 214,000m² mall that upon completion in March 2018 will host two US department stores, a Macy’s and a Bloomingdale’s, in addition to 400 other retail stores, 145 restaurants and cafés, and a 20-screen cinema complex.

The project comprises nine storeys of development: four levels below Al Maryah Island’s elevated road system and five storeys above; while to  the project’s rear will be two large bridge spans linking across to the existing car parks structures for the Sowwah Square and The Galleria development.

“We are very pleased,” Marcus Truscott, BM’s regional MD, told PMV Middle East. “The appointment is a considerable achievement for our team and we are honoured to be working with a premium client like Gulf Related.

“We were fortunate enough to be one of two contractors shortlisted and then asked to present a BAFO. The process of converting a contract of this magnitude is never an easy one, but the professionalism of the team at Gulf Related made the process reasonably painless.”

Al Maryah Central’s excavation, site and foundation construction work have just now been completed, paving the way for BM’s contract for vertical construction to commence this month, with an expected completion date ahead of the project’s scheduled opening in March 2018.

The developer was initially approached by 17 hopefuls before it whittled the list down to a shortlist of just seven Tier 1 contractors, then two finalists.

Truscott further explained that BM’s handling of over 120 retail projects around the world, including the Dubai Mall extension involving similar pedestrian bridge structures, likely played a role in the final decision.

Kevin Ryan, MD of Gulf Related, added: “A project of this ambition, size and complexity needs the technical expertise and large scale mixed-use construction experience of a contractor like Brookfield Multiplex, which has worked on some of the most renowned structures in the GCC.”

With the award, BM joins an all-star cast of design and consultancy parties on the project including: Gensler as the main architect; Elkus Manfredi Architects as the retail specialists; the Rockwell Group on F&B, AECOM as the local engineering partners; and WSP and Thornton Tomasetti as consultants.

Gulf Related will be tendering two further contracts under the current phase, for over-build works on the car park structures in Sowwah Square, which will be connected by bridges to Al Maryah Central.

The second phase of development will deliver two 40-storey towers at opposing corners of the site: one hosting a hotel and serviced units; the other conventional residential units. The towers will be delivered a year after the retail component – rounding off the project in 2019.

Source and Link:  Construction Week online