Construction Sites | March Issue no. 116

I ssue N o .116 - M arch 2017

SITES Monthly Construction news, tenders, project focus, and forthcoming exhibitions in Qatar

PAGES 15-22

Exclusive:

ROOFING & FLOORING WINDOWS & DOORS

NEWS

Hamad PortPort construction Hamad construction reaches newnew milestone reaches milestone

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atar’s Ministry of Transport and Commu- plish all required functions and tasks. nication continues its efforts to develop the ports sector, with Hamad Port at the Hamad Port’s cranes are highly efficient with top of its priorities. carrying capacities for certain cranes reaching 80 tons or two 40-foot containers at the same The plan for the completion of all Hamad Port time. phases takes into consideration the latest and most sophisticated industry practices.

The port crane installation was completed in three phases. The first phase included the arHamad Port is an important addition to Qatar rival of the first group of container cranes for ports and will handle seven million containers a terminal 1, which included four ship- to-shore year once fully operational. It has a general car- (STS) container cranes and eight rubber-tired go terminal that can handle 1.7 million tonnes gantry (RTG) cranes. of general goods, one million tonnes of food grains and 500,000 vehicles.

This was followed by the arrival of the second and the third shipments, taking the total numIt will also have a livestock terminal, a multi- ber of container cranes in the port’s first termiuse terminal, an offshore supply base, a coast nal up to eight STS cranes and 26 RTG cranes. guard facility and a port marine unit.

With the completion of all the maritime infrastructure, the container handling equipment Along with regional transport development (STS cranes and RTG cranes) was fully installed plans, Hamad Port will provide transshipment on the first container terminal, marking another links by rail, sea or road to GCC and other Ara- achievement in the completion of Hamad Port bian Gulf states, making use of its advanced construction. safety, security system, and dedicated customs inspection area with latest technologies to At a glance: speed the clearance of goods.

• The port includes more than 30 different types of cranes.

With the establishment of an economic zone • The port will handle seven million contain- adjacent to it, Hamad Port will facilitate manuers a year. facturing industries and help the nation to in- • The general cargo terminal is equipped crease its non-oil and gas exports. to handle 1.7 million tonnes of general The port includes more than 30 different types goods, one million tonnes of food grains of cranes that are specially designed to accomand 500,000 vehicles.

ASC becomesASC official distributor becomes official distributor of ELF brand ofoflubricants in lubricants Qatar ELF brand of in Qatar

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otal Marketing Qatar (TMQ), a subsidiary of Total Marketing Middle East (TMME), has appointed Arabian Supply Center (ASC) as its official distributor for its ELF brand of lubricants in Qatar.

the statement noted. It seeks to be the highest technological lubricant in the market. And through this partnership between ELF and Arabian Supply Center, Total and Al-Jaber Group maximize their opportunities and market leadership in Qatar.

ASC is a key player in the Qatari market in the fields of construction and industrial equipment, spare parts, lubricants, tires and batteries. The decision to appoint ASC as the new distribution partner for the Qatari market was based on its historical and credible presence as well their solid infrastructure in the region, TMME said in a statement.

“We are proud to be working with ASC, who are ideally placed to service the growing and developing market of Qatar, in which they are already well established. ELF is a leading brand in Qatar and the world, and through this partnership, we will have a stronger opportunity to maximise business” said Mr.Thibaud De-Lisle Managing Director of Total Marketing Middle East.

“With a reputation based on sound principles of quality products and a great customer service, it makes them ideal partners for ELF and its extensive range of lubricant products,” the statement added.

At the signing ceremony, Hisham Hadid, CEO of ASC, said: “ASC is glad to partner with Total and expand ELF brand in the market, providing a team of experts with an extensive experience in this field and is geared up to meet the demanding needs of customers.

“This collaboration will boost sales among new businesses and leverage Total’s presence on a national level.”

ELF is a legendary brand worldwide, a world of passion, technological expertise and a premium-product culture. It has been serving Qatari market for a long time to meet the needs of major automotive, construction, industrial and marine customers. With its worldwide presence over 113 countries, ELF products help customers improve the performance of their equipments and vehicles while significantly reducing environmental impact and running costs as well,

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“At ASC, we believe that, our ability to strongly support our customers will go a long way in establishing lasting reputation and relations.”

This distribution agreement, it said, would allow ELF to further penetrate the retail and commercial segment in the developing Qatari market by offering them world-class products with proven measurable benefits with regard to longevity and engine protection.

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PERSPECTIVE

QGBC experts explore significance QGBC experts explore significance of Qatar’s architectural of Qatar’sheritage architectural heritage

NU-Q launches website documenting evolution of Qatar’s architecture and urban development

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atar Green Building Council (QGBC) specialists, Dr Alex Amato and Dr Cynthia Skelhorn, recently organized a series of lectures for students at Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q), outlining the significance of Qatar’s architectural heritage.

“While Doha’s traditional architecture is important to this story, the city’s rapid urbanization since the onset of petrochemical wealth has resulted in the formation of many new neighborhoods that contain architecturally notable buildings that need to be acknowledged for their worth.”

diverse architectural range which needs to be recorded for appreciation now and for future generations,” he said.

“To this end, students were introduced to online story-maps as an effective technology for visualizing Doha’s architectural sites.

Additionally, as part of the five-week course, NU-Q launched a website documenting the evolution of Qatar’s architecture and urban development.

The website contributes to the further study and conservation of Doha’s unique architectural story.

QGBC stressed that the students’ work was not at an end itself and that it would hopefully act as a spark to generate further study.

QGBC experts with NU-Q students at the event held at Msheireb Enrichment Centre.nature.

The presentations were given as part of an NU-Q course entitled “Advanced Online Storytelling”.

Dr Amato appreciated “the important work” NUQ’s students have carried out.

“It was a delight to work with them and their tutor as they immediately warmed to the project and recognized that Qatar has a rich and

Delivered by industry experts drawn from QF Capital Projects, Qatar University and Makower Architects, among others, the lectures provided students with an insightful and informed perspective of Doha’s recent rapid growth and its resulting architectural townscape.

Valuable skills were also demonstrated such as the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in mapping Qatar’s architectural heritage.

Dr Amato, Head of Sustainability at QGBC, said: “QGBC considers the cultural sustainability of Qatar’s built environment to be vital to the country’s long-term development.

A group of NU-Q students with QGBC experts at the recently-held event.

“One element of preservation is to document the exact locations of architecture that are particularly iconic, noteworthy, or representative of a particular era in Qatar’s development.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to begin this documentation process with such a talented group of students, and we plan to continue recording these sites following the completion of the course.”

NU-Q students demonstrating the layout of their website designed to showcase Qatar’s architectural heritage.

“Doha’s buildings should be acknowledged for their genuine architectural value as the city is becoming an engaging architectural hub for both experts and tourists alike.”

Christina Paschyn, Assistant Professor of Journalism at NU-Q, mentored the students and oversaw the production of the website.

“My students and I appreciate QGBC’s valuable contribution. We hope that through the website, local and international communities will learn more about why Doha, from its skyline to its traditional houses, looks the way it does,” she said.

Dr Amato added: “The website developed by NU-Q students is one of the best ways to extol the true significance of Qatar’s architectural heritage and to communicate this with the wider community, especially with decision-makers.

“We hope this is just the start, as there is still much that needs to be done, not only in terms of celebrating and recording, but also in terms of conservation, as some ‘architectural gems’ are either neglected or endangered by redevelopment.”

Dr Cynthia Skelhorn, Research Specialist at QGBC, said: “Doha has a considerable stock of traditional architecture that needs consistent effort to preserve and retrofit.

An audience watching a documentary about green buildings and sustainability in Qatar at the recent event held jointly by QGBC and NU-Q at Msheireb Enrichment Centre.

Booz BoozAllen AllenHamilton Hamiltonforecasts forecaststrends trendsthat thatwill willimpact impactthe theenergy energyindustry industry

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hange continues to be the defining feature of the global energy sector in 2017.

In the oil and gas industry, as well as in electric power, major internal and external forces are driving change, requiring industry leaders to revisit strategies.

In oil & gas, 2016 was a year of continued overproduction. The resulting oil inventory overhang finally had an effect in reducing US shale production, but did little to spur demand that’s needed to bring the global market into balance.

In the Middle East, a prolonged period of low oil price has impacted government spending but the move toward economic diversification and reduced reliance on oil is prompting greater investment in high-potential sectors including real estate, construction, hospitality, tourism and education. There is also a greater national focus on achieving operational efficiency across sectors – and one notable area that stands to benefit immensely from embracing digitally-enabled solutions is utilities.

The utilities sector has historically under-invested in information technology (IT), but an increasing number of utilities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are waking up to the benefits of smart technology.

In utilities and electric power, the traditional supply chain is undergoing change driven primarily by regulation, public policy, plentiful inexpensive natural gas, and dramatic cost declines in renewable energy and storage.

Dr Walid Fayad, Executive Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton MENA, said: “Energy and technology form the backbone of global economies and play a crucial role in driving the operational success of all other sectors.

“As innovation and technological disruption become the norm across the MENA region, we are increasingly seeing regulators and policy makers embracing game-changing trends in the energy sector – from support of renewable energy, advanced metering, and grid modernization to big data and cloud.

“We expect that wider adoption of these technologies will increase overall operational efficiencies, especially in the wake of a period of prolonged low oil prices.”

Dr Adham Sleiman, Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton MENA, said: “Data analytics has emerged as one of the key trends that will shape the future of the energy sector in 2017.

“Big data is rapidly changing the way the energy sector operates globally – by reducing costs, optimizing investments and reducing overall risk.

“In order to achieve these objectives, and create additional value from untapped areas, organizations in the Middle East must establish holistic

digital strategies that include upgrading their required digital capabilities.”

Booz Allen Hamilton identified the following five trends that will impact the energy industry in 2017: 1. Focusing on Capital Expenditure Productivity Market shifts are putting capital program execution under major pressure in both the oil and gas and electric power industries.

In oil and gas, the global “lower for longer” cycle of oil prices has executives and boards of integrated oil companies, national oil companies, and oilfield service providers placing high scrutiny on exploration and production activities.

Industry leaders are pursuing everything from technology and information innovation, to greater personnel and asset tracking in oilfield development in an effort to drive greater labor and material productivity.

In the electric power industry, inexpensive natural gas has already caused a collapse in the construction of new coal plants, and nuclear power is now in danger of a similar decline.

Across the entire energy spectrum, companies are taking steps to develop the capability to conduct deep continuous analysis of their capital projects during execution, and leaders are finding ways to put the insights they gain into management action.

2. Creating enterprise value from data Like many industries, the energy sector has seen the amount of data from its operations skyrocket as advanced instrumentation and metering has been implemented.

Only the most accessible benefits from this data have been realized so far, mainly focused on identifying opportunities for cost savings through labor elimination and incremental improvements to existing processes.

While analytics in the industry is nothing new, companies are only starting to scratch the surface of how data can create new value within existing businesses.

For example, vertically integrated oil majors have weathered the “lower for longer” market environment in recent years better than non-integrated competitors because of their refining and petrochemical businesses.

Yet most of these companies have very limited insight into the markets into which they sell their products.

Data science is changing this, creating dramatically better ability to decipher and understand trends, draw insights, and capture new opportunities.

A similar change is underway in safety and reliability, where use of data is changing what engineers know about the optimal safe operating envelope for industrial processes.

Organizationally, companies across the energy spectrum are growing centralized data science teams, often blending legacy employees with new, more data science-oriented hires. The hard work of building business cases for data science is just beginning.

3. Using markets to shape the future grid Public sector support of renewable energy, advanced metering and grid modernization over the past five years – in the form of mandatory deployment standards, and direct and indirect subsidies – have been very effective at driving down the costs of these advanced energy technologies, spurring their broader deployment.

As regulators and policy makers consider what comes next, they are increasingly moving from a standards-and-subsidy approach to one that is more market-driven.

As a foundation for future markets, regulators are requiring a greater understanding of the value that distributed energy resources (DERs) bring to the grid, so owners of DERs can be fairly compensated.

For utilities, particularly in retail markets, this means understanding how the grid works in greater detail, and being able to dynamically model how it changes over time with the further expansion of DERs. Ultimately, it also means operating markets where customers have greater choice than ever before.

4. Following security to the operational edge Across the energy sector, security has been fo cused primarily on protecting company and customer data on corporate systems.

With the increase in instrumentation, automation, and virtualization of operational assets – the rise of the Internet of Things – the security frontier is moving to the operational edge, and is growing in importance.

We have already seen the growing threat to Industrial Control Systems (ICS) because they represent an increasingly diverse and extensively connected set of technologies.

ICS are already automating power movement through the electrical grid, oil flow through pipelines, and control of manufacturing systems.

Unfortunately, as cyber attackers are more emboldened, they are recognizing the operational, economic, and safety impacts that attacks on ICS infrastructure can cause.

Dr. Walid Fayad Executive Vice President

Dr. Adham Sleiman Vice President

As a result, companies will increase focus on security beyond their traditional lens.

5. Innovation is the tipping point for Cloud In most industries, the decision to migrate IT infrastructure from fixed, on-premises servers to cloud-enabled as-a-service models has been heavily based on cost.

This was true for many corporate systems at the oil supermajors, but it’s innovation that’s driving the current wave of cloud migration in the operational business units at these companies.

The rise of analytics within operational business units in order to create maximum business value is enabled by a digital strategy centered on the flexibility that the cloud provides.

In the utility industry, movement to the cloud has been delayed by ambiguity over how the costs of new service models are categorized

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LEGAL

AnAn overview of of thethe bankruptcy regime in in overview bankruptcy regime Qatar and thethe United Arab Emirates Qatar and United Arab Emirates

By Antoinette Oliver and Lee Keane

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n light of recent changes to the bankruptcy law in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), we explain to our readers below the bankruptcy regime in Qatar, its application and operation.

Qatar In Qatar there are two separate bankruptcy regimes, one for companies established in the State of Qatar and one for companies established in the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC). Law No. 27 of 2006 (the Qatar Commercial Law) applies broadly, to companies established in the State of Qatar and the QFC Insolvency Regulations 2005 apply to companies established in the QFC. In this article we review the regime applicable to the construction industry, the Qatar Commercial Law. The insolvency provisions of the Qatar Commercial Law apply to traders who may be individuals or corporate entities. We limit our comments to the latter.

The Qatar Commercial Law does not apply to State-owned or majority State-owned companies – such companies remain liable for their debts but an order has to be sought from the Qatar courts that a debt is owing.

In the case of non-State-owned/majority state-owned companies, the Qatar Commercial Law does apply and the following may apply to the Qatar court for a declaration of bankruptcy: 1) the trader itself; or 2) where the trader is a company, the com- pany with either a) the approval of a majority of its share holders if it is a joint liability company or a limited partnership; or b) a resolution passed at a general as sembly meeting if it is a limited liability company; or 3) the creditors; or 4) The public prosecutor in Qatar.

The court has a number of powers; it may postpone the filing of the company’s bankruptcy at its own volition, or following a request from the company or public prosecutor, if the court considers that the company’s financial position will improve during a set timeframe.

If a company has insufficient assets to pay at least 20% of its debts, the court may order some or all of its management board, directors and managers jointly and severally to pay all or some of the company’s debts. If it can be demonstrated that those ordered to make any such payments exercised reasonable due diligence in managing the company, they may be exempted.

Criminal penalties can be ordered by the court if fraud or negligence is found. Members of a bankrupt company’s board, its managers, directors or those responsible for the company’s liquidation may be subject to criminal sanctions.

Criminal penalties include imprisonment for periods between six months and five years depending on the offence.

The UAE The UAE government published Federal Decree Law No. 9 of 2016 on Bankruptcy (the New Law) on September 29, 2016. The New Law came into force on December 29, 2016, will repealing Chapter V of Federal Law No. 18 of 1993 (the UAE Commercial Code) and the various bankruptcy related crimes set out in the UAE Penal Code.

The New Law in the UAE applies more widely than the UAE Commercial Code provisions, covering companies governed by the UAE Commercial Companies Law (CCL), most

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free zone companies, sole establishments and civil companies conducting professional business, not just to “commercial traders”.

Government-owned companies not established under the CCL, for example, companies formed by Emiri decree, may “opt-in” to the provisions of the New Law by express provision in their constitutional documents.

There are still some carve-outs, in particular for companies in the financial free zones (DIFC and ADGM) which have their own insolvency provisions. There are no provisions addressing individuals acting in a private capacity.

The UAE Commercial Code provisions apply to businesses which cannot pay their debts (essentially, a “cash-flow test”).

The New Law introduces an alternative “balance sheet” test, where the assets of the business are insufficient to cover its liabilities.

The New Law sets out three main procedures for a business in financial difficulty: • Protective composition: this is a debtorled, court-sponsored process, designed to facilitate the rescue of a business which is in financial difficulty but not yet insolvent.

The scheme requires the approval of both a majority in number and two-thirds by value of the unsecured creditors. The scheme must be implemented within three years of court approval, which may be extended for a further three years with creditor approval.

• Insolvency with restructuring: where a debtor is insolvent but the court determines that the business is capable of rescue, it may approve a restructuring scheme. Such a scheme is similar to the protective composition described above, requiring the same levels of creditor approval, but a longer period of five years (extendable by a further three years) is allowed for implementation.

• Insolvency and liquidation: where a protective composition or restructuring scheme is not appropriate or approved or is terminated, or a debtor is acting in bad faith to evade its financial obligations, the court will order the insolvent winding-up of the business.

In each case, a “trustee”, who must be independent of the debtor, is appointed to manage the process.

The New Law includes strict time limits for making filings and lodging objections, and it is expressly provided that the relevant process continues while the court considers any objections. This is important, as timeconsuming proceedings may otherwise prove to be a practical obstacle to using the procedures under the New Law. Although the drafting is more modern and streamlined, the procedures under the New Law are not substantially different from those currently available under the UAE Commercial Code. Notably, the New Law does not include provisions for an out-of-court financial restructuring procedure.

Under the current regime, a trader which is unable to pay its debts must apply to be declared bankrupt within 30 days.

Failure to do so constitutes the criminal offence of “bankruptcy by default”, and may result in fines and potential imprisonment.

Although not actively prosecuted, the risk of imprisonment may encourage a business owner in financial difficulty to abscond (or even expedite bankruptcy) rather than attempt to restructure the business.

One of the key changes under the New Law is to decriminalise this behaviour. A debtor which fails to repay due debts for over 30

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business days, or which is insolvent on a balance sheet basis, is required to initiate insolvency procedures.

Failure to do so may result in a disqualification order against the debtor in certain circumstances - but it is not a criminal offence.

Potential criminal liability for the signatory of a bounced cheque applies in respect of nonUAE nationals under the Penal Code. This feature of UAE law is often cited as another key reason why so many traders in financial difficulty flee the country.

The New Law provides for proceedings in respect of bounced cheques issued by the debtor to be stayed once a protective composition or restructuring scheme has been initiated, provided that the cheque in question was written prior to the application.

The stay continues until the relevant procedure is completed and the holder of the cheque is treated in the same way as the debtor’s other creditors, with settlement in accordance with the scheme discharging the debt and potentially rectifying the criminal breach.

This is a particularly helpful change which is likely to encourage debtors to take proactive steps to address their financial difficulties.

Under the UAE Commercial Code, any creditor regardless of amount may apply to have a trader declared bankrupt. The New Law introduces some specific new requirements in this regard.

Before filing insolvency proceedings against the debtor, a creditor or group of creditors must now hold debts of at least Dh100,000 and must first notify the debtor in writing to discharge the debt(s) allowing 30 consecutive business days for repayment. This contrasts with the position in Qatar.

In Qatar it is possible for any creditor regardless of the value of the debt held to apply for bankruptcy. If, however, the court dismisses the creditor’s request, it may fine the creditor between QR10,000 and QR50,000 if the creditor deliberately offended the debtor’s goodwill.

Provisions are included allowing priority to new finance following the commencement of a protective composition or restructuring scheme, with safe-guards for existing secured creditors. No similar provisions exist in the Qatar Commercial Law. Conclusion The New Law represents a step forward for the UAE’s insolvency regime and contains much to be welcomed. The removal of the criminal offence of bankruptcy by default, the provisions in relation to bounced cheques and the new threshold and requirements for creditor-initiated insolvency proceedings are likely to be particularly helpful for UAE businesses in practice.

Ultimately, of course, the success of the new regime will depend on the availability, expertise and willingness of both the local courts and UAE-based insolvency experts to implement it.

There have been very few bankruptcy cases in the Qatar courts in recent years. Rather than go through an expensive and cumbersome court process, it is more common for informal arrangements to be negotiated with creditors.

Qatari laws (save for those issued by the QFC to regulate internal business) and the laws of the UAE are issued in Arabic and there are no official translations, therefore for the purposes of drafting this article, we have used our own translations and interpreted the same in the context of Qatari and UAE regu-

Antoinette Oliver Antoinette is an associate in Clyde & Co’s corporate group, based in the Doha office.

Antoinette qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2016. Antoinette trained with Clyde & Co and has worked in Clyde & Co’s Doha, Dubai and London offices.

Lee Keane Lee Keane’s practice covers a wide range of areas including domestic and cross-border transactional work, investment and emerging market strategies (including local establishment), M&A, private equity, complex joint venture agreements and restructurings as well as general commercial work.

Lee joined Clyde & Co in 2008 as a Senior Associate based in the Dubai office. He recently spent 18 months in-house at Al Tayer Group, a privatelyheld, diversified company headquartered in Dubai and rejoined Clyde & Co in 2014 as a partner in the firm’s Doha office.

He has gained particular industry expertise in the retail, food and beverage, education and healthcare sectors and regularly advises both international and domestic clients on a variety of corporate and regulatory matters including complex franchising and distribution arrangements throughout the MENA region. Lee is admitted to practice as a solicitor in England and Wales.

lations and current market practice.

Should you have any questions in connection with this article or the legal issues it covers, please contact Antoinette Oliver, Associate of Clyde & Co LLP at Antoinette.Oliver@ clydeco.com or Lee Keane, Partner of Clyde & Co LLP at Lee.Keane@clydeco.com.

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MARCH 2017

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INTERVIEW

Cyber security: What every bank needs to know Cyber security: What every bank needs to know

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yber security is an increasingly critical threat to banks and other financial institutions. An attack on an institution could result in the loss of vital data, having a ripple effect on its reputation and business.

In an interview with the Construction Sites magazine, Mike Weston, Vice President, Cisco Middle East, talks about cyber crime, common vulnerabilities for banks and financial institutions and how should financial institutions protect themselves and users.

Here is a look at how cyber security is becoming a top risk for financial institutions.

QCS: What is cyber crime?

Mike Weston: Increased connectivity through mobile devices, web-enabled and mobile applications, social media, things, and more change the game on where data is stored. This creates greater opportunities for attackers who are becoming increasingly sophisticated, discrete and professional in their approach.

In this rapidly changing threat landscape, security professionals face an era driven by a new breed of highly-motivated and well-armed adversaries or, to put it another way, the industrialization of hacking. Today’s motivated attackers are disciplined and use systematic techniques that leverage advanced malware, spam, phishing and other cyber attacks with strategic intent and goals.

Today’s threat landscape is very different from what it was 10 years ago. Simple attacks that caused containable damage have given way to modern, sophisticated and well-funded cyber crime operations capable of disrupting and causing major loss to organizations and national infrastructure.

These are difficult to detect, can remain in networks for long periods of time and amass resources to launch attacks elsewhere. Legacy protection methods that exclusively rely on detection and blocking are no longer adequate.

QCS: How do cyber hackers attack financial institutions directly?

Mike Weston: Network-based security threats have led to widespread identity thefts and financial fraud. Spam, viruses, and spyware cause significant problems for consumers and businesses.

Today’s information attacks are a profitable business enterprise and are often controlled by organized crime syndicates.

A growing number of sophisticated cyber crime business models, including the emergence of criminal enterprises, are built around selling tools and services for launching network attacks, rather than simply selling information gained from attacks.

Financial services companies are being disrupted by agile, online-only challengers that offer convenient, efficient services.

Here’s how cyber criminals target banks: • Uses malware to circumvent local security systems of a bank • Gains access to the SWIFT messaging network

• Sends fraudulent messages via SWIFT to initiate cash transfers from accounts at larger banks Typically, security and cyber-crime experts say, hackers break into the computer systems of financial institutions and make, or incite others to make, fraudulent transactions to pliant accounts.

ever before. According to the Cisco 2016 Annual Security Report, malware is becoming increasingly sophisticated and elusive, and cybercriminals are launching attacks through a variety of attack vectors, including tools that users trust or view as benign.

Furthermore, targeted attacks are on the rise, creating a persistent, hidden presence within an organization from which to execute their mission.

The recent cyber attack on Bangladesh’s central bank that let hackers stole over $80 million from The Internet has made it easier for criminals to the institutes’ Federal Reserve bank account was get inside banks. Criminals are moving away from reportedly caused due to a malware installed on consumer-targeted attacks to much more sub- the bank’s computer systems.

Mike Weston stantial bank hacks because it takes less effort Vice President QCS: Has cyber crime been on the rise? to get more money.

Cisco Middle East Mike Weston: Despite efforts such as policies, QCS: Based on your experience, what are training and education, cyber-risk management the common vulnerabilities for banks and and audits, incident monitoring and reporting, and a combination of security tools, cyber-at- and criminal organizations — only a collaborative, financial institutions?

Mike Weston: Financial services firms face a tacks on financial institutions are growing every strategic and enterprise-wide approach to cyberset of business dynamics that create significant day in strength and velocity across the globe, and security will suffice. the ramifications are costly. security challenges. These include: A strong operational security model needs to be • Mergers and acquisitions: Large amounts of In recent months, a third case involving the SWIFT built by security and IT leaders by having an open M&A activities bring new locations into the cor- inter-bank transfer system emerged, this time in dialogue with business leaders, who define comporate infrastructure. In the case of right-sizing, the Philippines. It turns out that the security of mon goals and measure progress with metrics when companies undergo organizational chang- SWIFT itself was not breached in the attacks, but are able to determine acceptable levels of risk es (which are common in the case of M&A) net- cyber criminals used advanced malware to steal that translate into the most efficient deployment works and user groups needs to be adjusted to credentials of bank’s employees and cover their of a company’s limited IT resources. account for the changing user base. At the same tracks.

Once business and security decisions are made time, policies need to remain consistent. This constant atmosphere of churn in network pro- According to the Ponemon 2014 Cost of Data in tandem, security solutions become part of an visioning creates additional complexity and re- Breach Study: Global Analysis, the financial ser- organization’s operating fabric. Visibility across quires additional management, taking critical re- vices industry bears one of the highest per capita the whole network is critical to managing securisources away from threat identification activities. data breach costs per company at $206 million ty. It is not enough to just defend the threat coming into and out of the network; the organizations - well over the mean value of $145 million. have to be able to manage the threat across the • Roaming users: Though the financial industry has lagged behind other industries, it is quickly QCS: How should financial institutions pro- whole continuum - before, during and after the attack. catching up in allowing employees to work from tect themselves and users? home or in other remote locations. Providing Mike Weston: According to a 2015 study, finanemployees with the option to work remotely is cial services ranked fourth out of 12 industries in QCS: Should financial institutions give sometimes a critical capability in attracting top its potential for digital disruption within five years. staff training on cyber crime? talent. It is imperative to protect employees and Four out of 10 incumbents are potentially at risk Mike Weston: Absolutely. Security assessmaintain security policies while they work out of of displacement by digital disruption in the next ments reveal that the root cause of many security problems is an operational challenge and not three years. the office. just a technical one. For example, according to • Complexity and fragmentation: A large majority Cisco’s comprehensive economic analysis esti- the Cisco EMEAR Security Insights Report, emof financial firms are using a combination of se- mates that digital innovation in retail banking will ployee behavior (52%) was second only to cyber curity tools, including antivirus software, spyware drive $405 billion in value at stake from 2015 to crime (60%) when employees were asked to idenand malware detection, firewalls, server-based 2017. Any discussion of digitization in retail bank- tify the top two greatest sources of risk to data access control lists, intrusion detection tools, ing must begin with cyber security. It is the critical security. It is a genuine weak link in cyber-security – more through complacency and ignorance intrusion prevention systems, vulnerability scan- foundation and a key to customer trust. than malice – and is becoming an increasing ning tools, encryption for data in transit, encrypted files and data loss prevention tools. Costly and Firms must be able to prevent security breaches source of risk. complex to integrate and manage, this patch- - and detect and remedy them quickly if they ocwork of solutions from too many vendors drives cur. Mobile-payment security breaches can result Consequently, full visibility of the network needs up management costs or operational expenses in downtime, lost revenue, retribution costs to to be people centric i.e. include who is connectremedy the damage, and loss of financial data. ing to it and what they should be allowed to do (OpEx) and still leaves security gaps.

The intangible effects can be even more harmful, and access. Setting up clear identity and access • Global talent shortage: An industry-wide tal- eroding brand equity and hindering bold innova- rules for this human activity can significantly reduce the available threat vectors and enable ent shortage compounds the challenge of main- tion. people to be champions for good cyber-security taining a strong security posture. On the global front, according the Cisco Annual Security Report The key to turning cyber security into a growth behavior.

2016, there is currently a deficit of 1 million se- advantage for your bank is building in holistic curity practitioners, increasing to 1.5 million by and pervasive security throughout the network, Cyber attackers have identified the human as 2019. Organizations are facing critical staffing along with the necessary culture change. Cyber the weakest element, and will continue to tarshortages and expertise shortages. Security jobs security must be perceived as - and has become get them. As a result, training employees should are growing at 12 times the rate of the overall - a strength rather than a source of uncertainty. be a key part of organisation’s security strategy, job market, and three times the rate of general It must be a foundational element of any digitiza- policies and procedures. This highlights why organizations need to operationalize security, as IT; yet CISOs struggle to attract and retain talent tion effort. effective defence will require the involvement as the competition for coveted security skill sets Today, the threat of a cyber-attack is firmly at the of senior managers across a range of business increases. top of every boardroom agenda. This means that functions including: HR and training and develop• Advanced threat landscape: Today, the threat with the complexity facing organizations – global- ment. landscape is more dynamic and advanced than ization, computing infrastructure, threat vectors, Organised crime then uses techniques developed over decades to launder the money, giving the alliance much higher rewards than a hold-up or bank vault robbery, with much less risk.

Under the patronage of

In partnership with

His Excellency Dr. Abdullah Belhaif AlNuaimi Minister of Infrastructure Development

2-Day International Forum: 3 - 4 April 2017 | InterContinental Festival City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Designing, engineering and maintaining more innovative, sustainable and safer road and bridge networks in the Middle East HEAR FROM KEY SPEAKERS INCLUDING: Eng. Ahmed Abdallah Ahmed Alhammadi, Director of Road Department, Ministry of Infrastructure Development

Steven Yule, International Business Development Manager, Amey

Chris Venemore, Director – Civil Infrastructure, AECOM

Max Clark, Regional Transportation Business Development Lead and Deputy Project Director, CH2M

Brig. Mohamed Al Malki, General Secretary, National Traffic Safety Committee, Ministry of Interior, Qatar Eng. Yousef Al Emadi, Manager, Roads Operations and Maintenance, Ashghal Prof. Dr. Kim Jraiw, Manager of National Traffic Safety Office, National Road Safety Committee, Qatar Mark Jamieson, Director of Infrastructure, SSH

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Dr. Janardhan Sundaram, Director, Transportation and Infrastructure Middle East, Atkins Abdul Nabi Al-Sabah, Advisor, Engineering Affairs, Minister Office (Dewan), Ministry of Works, Bahrain Eng. Ebrahim Al Babtain, Director of Bridges Department, Ministry of Transport, Saudi Arabia

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REPORT

Promoting sustainability Promoting sustainability through entrepreneurship through entrepreneurship

In an interview with Construction Sites, Abdul Aziz Al Emadi, CEO of Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC), notes how the Qatar Chamber’ second SME’s conference is opening doors for small and medium business enterprises (SMBs) and the effect of falling oil prices on SMB’s.

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he Qatar Chamber’s second SME’s Conference took place in Doha on January 17 and 18.

Business leaders from both Qatar and Turkey were heavily represented at the conference, with more than 130 Turkish companies attending, headed by Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, the President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).

Major representatives of the domestic business community also participated, illustrating solid support for the conference by the Qatar Chamber.

The event was sponsored by the Qatar National Bank (QNB), the Qatar Development Bank (QDB), the Doha Bank, NBK and Expo Turkey.

In Qatar, the conference sought to foster and increase entrepreneurship through the expansion of services for SME’s and the widespread provision of increased employment opportunities at the national level.

The main focus at the conference was Turkey, with an in-depth examination of Turkish business experiences.

Business practices at an international level were also scrutinised, with the ultimate goal of developing unique solutions to a wide range of problems and challenges.

Overall, the necessity of establishing a climate of creative thinking among entrepreneurs, businesses and investors was emphasized. Fostering a culture of open and ongoing communication was explored and underscored.

age and utilze such facilities at an international level.”

The construction industry in Qatar is one of the most vibrant in the Middle East and Al Emadi believes that Qatar’s substantial growth in the past 10 years has not only increased the internal business capacity of the country but also helped promote the country’s national growth in many ways.

Al Emadi, commenting on the aim of this conference, states: “This conference is the umbrella of the Qatar Chamber of Commerce - a highly important gathering between mid-level members of the private sector and other key players in the market to enhance and improve the com- “I think the country has achieved truly substanmercial relationship between Turkey and Qatar.” tial growth over the past decade in infrastructure, transportation, airport and port developHe says: “We learned that the majority of key ment, and this kind of conference is vital, as players in the Turkish economy represent the it addresses issues and challenges above and private sector, so we opened the door for the beyond those areas,” says Al Emadi. private sector to invest in Qatar. However, when we talk about enhancement, it is very important “For example, both Hamad International Airthat we build a reciprocal relationship, so that port and the new port depend heavily upon the transport business so the capacity of both can Qatar is also investing in Turkey.” be met by a discussion of the expansion of the According to Al Emadi, the event has created an transport business. opportunity where companies and like-minded business owners could get together and lever- “The results of this discussion can meet the needs of the whole nation and the lessons age commercial gains for each another.

He notes that more than 100 companies from learned can inform experiences in another Turkey attended the event, underlining the im- country.” pact of such a gathering.

The effects of falling oil prices are being felt by “The results of these interactions are very sig- economies al over the world, including small and medium business enterprises in Qatar. nificant,” he points out.

“Such gatherings are very important and we However, as Al Emadi says: “I don’t think it will need to take advantage of how we can lever- effect SMBs in Qatar too much in the long term,

Abdul Aziz Al Emadi CEO of Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC)

especially because, as a nation, we have already led discussions as to how we can become an economy that does not rely solely on oil.

“In fact, oil prices have been affected since 2014 and we have still been able to turn our economy in different directions, not merely depending on fluctuations in oil price.”

It is clear that events such as the Qatar Chamber SME’s Conference are key to the future sustainability of the nation’s economy and to its trading relationship with other economies. And if sustainability is the lock, diversity of discussion is the key.

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Engineering Electrical

Mechanical • HVAC Systems • Fire Protection • Piping Works • Pump and Facility Construction • Boilers and Central Heating Systems

Plumbing & Draining

• Plumbing and Domestic Systems • Power System (HV, MV, LV) • Sewage and Drainage Systems • Lighting (Indoor / Outdoor) • Booster Pump, Submersed Pump • Water Tanks and Cooling Systems • Low Current Systems • Medical Gases • Building Automations • Cabling Works

• MEP Designs • Shop Drawings • Calculations and Estimations • Value Control / Engineering • OM Manuals

Eastern Synergy Contracting is a Certified ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 18001 In additional to Construction Management Certified by GSAS - GORD

EXPEriEnCE suCCEss...

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Eastern Synergy supports Eastern Synergy supports ASHRAE ‘s ‘s conference ASHRAE conference

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astern Synergy was the platinum sponsor of the second International Conference on Energy and Indoor Environment for Hot Climates.

the design of energy efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Targeting energy efficiency in HVAC systems that provide thermal comfort and good indoor air quality is a strategic intervention to reduce energy consumption in the building sector.

The event organized by ASHRAE, ASHRAE Qatar Oryx Chapter and Qatar University –took The issues associated with indoor air quality place last month at the Intercontinental Doha (IAQ) in hot climates, both humid and arid, are City Hotel. not getting enough attention and the goals of energy efficiency and good IAQ need to be This conference addressed energy and IAQ properly integrated. issues in humid and arid hot climates. It provided a platform for discussion of the latest The objective of the conference is to lay down research and development in the field of in- the path for better understanding the integradoor environmental quality in high ambient tion of energy efficiency and IAQ in the high ambient temperature regions. The impact of temperature climates. low-energy design on occupant health in difRising energy demand, costs and the associ- ferent building sectors, for both developed ated environmental problems, notably climate and developing economies is the focus of the change, are causing increased emphasis on conference.

Eastern becomes thethe EasternSynergy SynergyContracting Contracting becomes Gold Futsal Tournament for for GoldSponsor SponsorofofSuper Super Futsal Tournament Employees 2017 Employees 2017

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orporate social responsibility (CSR) has become one of the standard business practices for Eastern synergy contacting with respect to achieve a positive impact on society as a whole while maximising the creation of shared value for the owners of the business, its employees, shareholders and stakeholders. In line with this, the company supported the “Super futsal tournament for employees 2017” as a Gold Sponsor in order to encourage healthy and active lifestyle among its employees and the work force in Qatar in general.

Eastern Synergy General Manager Eng. Mohamed Shaaban honored winners of the three

first places at the Super futsal Tournament, which was organized by Real Sport Company.

Under the leadership of His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Faisal bin Jassim Al Thani, the company has always been a pioneer in supporting and contributing in community activities in the State of Qatar. Qatar seeks to increase the awareness of the Qatari society about the importance of sport in the lives of all members of society, through the allocation of the National Sports Day. The National Sports Day celebrated last month aims to spread sports culture among the citizens and residents alike, and make it a way of life. Eastern Synergy seeks to fulfill these goals by sponsoring events like this.

Eng. Shaaban honors winners of the Super Futsal Tournament 2017

scan here

Address: Eastern Synergy W.L.L. Doha, Qatar P.O. Box 11764 Doha, Qatar

Phone Fax Website Email

: : : :

+974 4041 2233 / 44 +974 4041 2255 www.easternsynergy.com info@es-qatar.com sales@es-qatar.com

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ANALYSIS

GCC businesses should brace GCC businesses should brace for government actionaction to raise revenue for government to raise revenue Businesses in the GCC need to brace themselves for a long-term effort by governments to close fiscal deficits and raise much more substantial revenues from the non-oil economy

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forecast for 2017, due to flat oil production.

The kingdom’s inaugural bond issue in October, at $17.5bn, was the largest emerging market bond in history, with its high demand underlining Saudi Arabia’s ability to source cheap credit (the bond carried an average interest rate of just 3.25%). This should relieve some austerity pressure, allow non-oil growth to recover to 1.5% in 2017 from -0.2% this year and support investment in pursuit of the Vision 2030 agenda.

CC countries must substantially raise non-oil government revenues, according to a new report by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

The accountancy and finance body says that given the weak outlook for oil prices – mainly driven by the uncertainty for the world economy in 2017 with US President-elect Trump’s policies as well as the economic slowdown in China – imposing tax measures, along with subsidy reforms, spending cuts and a freeze on public sector recruitment and pay will help to close the fiscal gap.

The report, Economic Insight: Middle East Q4 2016, produced by Oxford Economics, ICAEW’s partner and economic forecaster, was launched at a joint briefing session conducted by ICAEW and the Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA) in Riyadh.

The report warns oil prices will not return close to the $100 per barrel averaged in 2010–2014. Brent crude is forecast to average $50.3 per barrel in 2017 and remain below $60 per barrel until 2019.

While GCC countries can cover the revenue shortfall in the near term by borrowing as well as drawing down sovereign wealth funds and foreign exchange reserves, they will not be able to do so in the long term without raising taxes, according to the report.

The projected 2016 breakeven prices – at which oil must sell in order to balance the budget – put Qatar and the UAE in the most preferable position at $44 and $57 per barrel respectively, followed by Kuwait at $60 and Saudi Arabia at $77.

Oman and Bahrain are under the greatest pressure with breakeven prices at $104 and $97 per barrel respectively.

Tom Rogers, ICAEW Economic Advisor and Associate Director of Oxford Economics’ Macroeconomic Consultancy for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), stresses the need to significantly increase non-oil government revenues to maintain financial steadiness.

“But few tax policies are free of wider economic consequences, so it will be important for governments to ensure that tax policies are considered as part of broader economic diversification strategies such as those in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030,” says Rogers.

A GCC-wide VAT of 5% is already due to be

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implemented in 2018 and IMF estimates suggest this could raise GDP as much as 1.5% –2% across the region.

While this presents a start to addressing deficits, it also contributes to a rise in cost of living, which in turn could raise wage demands and thereby undermine organizations’ competitiveness.

Other possible tax measures include the broader application of corporation or profits tax, or personal income tax, the latter of which is typically the major contributor to government revenues in high-income economies.

However, since social security systems treat nationals and non-nationals differently, it seems unlikely in the near term that personal income tax would be applied unilaterally.

The report highlights that raising non-national workers’ wage demands as a result of personal income tax could be consistent with government targets to “nationalize” workforces and might be preferable to quota systems that force companies to employ locals regardless of the availability of suitable employees.

Michael Armstrong, FCA and ICAEW Regional Director for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA), says: “Businesses in the GCC need to brace themselves for a long-term effort by governments to close fiscal deficits and raise much more substantial revenues from the non-oil economy.

“In addition, they can expect the implementation of other offsetting populist policies like the drive to increase the national share of the workforce, especially in the private sector.

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“To ensure that the adjustment in public finances is consistent with ongoing growth, businesses should make the case for accompanying measures that will allow tax increases to be absorbed with minimal impact on activity.

“Offsetting measures could include welfare reforms to incentivize more citizens to compete for jobs with migrants, more flexibility to negotiate wages, and deductions from profit taxes to protect investment spending.”

Pressure on oil prices is also a key worry for business from the perspective of exchange rate stability. Beyond Kuwait which manages its rate against a basket of other currencies, all GCC economies operate a pegged exchange rate regime.

Over 2015-2016, all GCC countries have seen current accounts deteriorate sharply, requiring central banks to draw upon foreign exchange reserves to meet demand for foreign currency.

While across the GCC, weaker exchange rates look to be a necessary part of any longer-term plan for diversification, any depreciation will have a short-to-medium term impact on business costs, output prices and ultimately household spending power.

According to the report, the GDP in GCC+5 (Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon) was expected to grow 2.6% in 2016, improving very modestly to 2.7% in 2017 due to weak oil prices and associated fiscal consolidation programs.

The report also shows: • GDP in Saudi Arabia was expected to rise 1.2% in 2016 with a similar rate being

• While one of the most diversified economies in the Gulf, the UAE economy is still influenced by oil price developments. The country was expected to see GDP growth of 2.3% in 2016, rising to 2.7% in 2017 as both oil and non-oil sectors improve. Output in the oil and gas sector, which makes up around one third of the economy, was expected to rise by only 1% in 2016 after growing 5% in 2015. Non-oil growth was also expected to slow last year to 2.9% as the cumulative impact of low oil prices, tighter fiscal policy and liquidity feeds through.

• GDP growth in Bahrain was expected to hold up in 2016, unchanged from 2015 at 2.9%, thanks to GCC support and higher oil production. However, with oil output expected to fall, prices remaining low and spending dropping back, growth is expected to slow to 1.7% in 2017.

• GDP growth in Oman was expected at 2.3% in 2016, slowing further in 2017 to just 1.7%. This signals fiscal consolidation, stagnant wage growth, lower subsidies and tightening financial conditions. The budget deficit remains the highest in the GCC, forecast at 20% of GDP in 2016. Cuts in subsidies, together with measures to raise non-oil revenues, should see the deficit fall to 11% of GDP this year.

• With government spending forecast to drop 10.2% in 2016, non-oil GDP growth in Qatar was expected to slow to 5.8% last year, picking up to 6.6% in 2017. This will leave overall GDP growth at 2.6% in 2016 and 3.7% in 2017. Liquidity remains fairly tight despite sovereign bond issues in May, August and September.

• Thanks to government investment, continued employment growth and subsidy cuts, overall GDP in Kuwait was expected to grow by 2.8% in 2016. However, GDP is likely to dip to 2.3% in 2017 due to a slowdown in the hydrocarbon sector and political challenges.

INNOVATION

b

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b

ti

ti

ti Two Qatar based workshops with 40,000m2 production area High output capacity to meet customer requirements State of art bending facilities. Beam prooles: SHS-RHS-CHS sections up to 600mm FRIJNS STRUCTURAL STEEL MIDDLE EAST WLL

helps UAE UAE Cooled Emerson helps Cooledhelmets helmetstotokeep keep Emerson workers beat the heat SCSCworkers cool workers beat the heat workers cool

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esearchers at Qatar University have developed innovative cooled helmets that can significantly reduce the skin temperature of construction workers by up to 10 degrees Centigrade.

The helmet has been put through the production stage by a group of researchers at Qatar University in co-operation with the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) and Aspire Zone Foundation (Aspire).

“The concept is to use a solar-powered fan to blow air over a cooled material at the top of the helmet, which will then come down over the front of the person’s face and provide a cooler micro-climate for the worker,” the SC website quoted Dr Ghani as saying.

Dr Ghani is hopeful this technology will create more comfortable and safer working conditions, by reducing the temperature of the head and face.

The helmets will be distributed to workers at Ghani’s team experienced with several colall SC projects by June, according to the SC ors and found white to be the most suitable. website.

After several enhancements, the researchers developed a helmet with an additional Dr Saud Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Ghani, Professor weight of just 300 grams compared with at the College of Engineering at Qatar Uni- conventional helmets. Still, with the adversity, has been working on the project over ditional 300 grams, the helmet’s weight is the past two years alongside a group of stu- within the range of maximum weight. dents.

The additional cost of the helmet is $20 compared to a normal helmet, but the effect on workers safety and comfort during work outweighs the additional cost.

Innovative neck cooler provides outdoor workers with relief from extreme summer temperatures.

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merson Middle East and Africa has collaborated with Majid Al Futtaim Properties and Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), to provide more than 1,100 laborers and security staff at World Security in Jabel Ali and Al Zahia – Sharjah’s first integrated, master planned community - with freezer-pack neck coolers to help with the UAE’s extreme summer heat.

According to experts at Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the World Meteorological Organization, July 2016 was the world’s hottest month on record.

Summer in the UAE is one of the most challenging times of the year for those working outdoors, even with the addition of a mandatory break from 12:30pm to 3pm for construction workers.

Laborers often encounter temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius.

The locally-manufactured neck cooler has been custom-made to ensure workers are not only kept cool, but experience little or no obstruction in performing their day-to-day tasks.

Once removed from the freezer and wrapped around the neck, the slim-line accessory helps cool the body and reduce its core temperature.

Each cold gel pack lasts for approximately one hour under extreme temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius.

The high-tech towel around the gel pack is not only soothing, but also absorbs sweat and releases supplementary cooling sensations, which makes workers feel cooler for longer.

“Emerson continually strives to make a positive impact on the communities in which they serve,” explained Dalia Kaki, Marketing Manager, Emerson Middle East & Africa.

“This initiative is a small gesture to help ease conditions for the local workforce and also aligns well with our overall company mission to enhance human comfort.”

In accordance with 2017’s theme as the “Year of Giving” in the UAE, and in furtherance of the private sector’s role in promoting social responsibility, Emerson announced its intention to make a difference to workers performing their duties in extremely hot weather conditions by co-ordinating with construction sites and outdoor workplaces across the Emirates.

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STUDY

Conference addresses Conference addresses energyenergy and indoor air air and indoor qualityquality issuesissues

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he second International Conference on Energy and Indoor Environment for Hot Climates, held at the Intercontinental Doha City Hotel on February 26 and 27, addressed energy and indoor air quality (IAQ) issues in humid and arid hot climates.

The conference, organized by ASHRAE, the ASHRAE Qatar Oryx Chapter and Qatar University, provided a forum for discussion of the latest research and development in the field of indoor environmental quality in high ambient temperature climates.

Rising energy demand, costs and the associated environmental problems, notably climate change, are causing increased emphasis on the design of energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Targeting energy efficiency in HVAC systems that provide thermal comfort and good indoor air quality is a strategic intervention to reduce energy consumption in the building sector.

The issues associated with indoor air quality in hot climates, both humid and arid, are not getting enough attention and the goals of energy efficiency and good IAQ need to be properly integrated.

In his remarks, QU President Dr Hassan Al Derham expressed pleasure that the conference had found its way for the second time to Doha where research is growing at the fastest rate in the region.

“Qatar has become a hub for many events, conferences and activities represent a major milestone for supporting research in the area of indoor environmental quality in high ambient temperature climates,” Dr Al Derham said.

The conference came on the sidelines of the Qatar National Environment Day, which is celebrated annually on the February 26 to highlight the ongoing efforts of the Qatari government to protect and preserve the environment.

Qatari Sources • SNAPFIT PLASTIC PALLETS • GRP SECTIONAL WATER TANKS • FIRE SECTIONAL WATER TANKS • STEEL STRUCTURES • PPR PIPES & FITTINGS • LEED & GREEN BUILDING SOLUTIONS

“This is in support of the State of Qatar’s vision and the development strategies, under its Environmental Development pillar, to “direct Qatar towards a balance between developmental needs and the protection of its natural environment, whether land, sea or air”, Qatar’s official news agency, QNA, reported.

The Gulf region in general and Qatar in particular are experiencing an escalation in high energy demands primarily because of megaconstruction projects.

This demand can be lessened by energy-efficient HVAC&R system designs presented at the conference, according to Walid Chakroun, conference chair.

“The region faces the challenge to produce high-efficiency system designs with sustainable alternatives to R-22 technologies,” Chakroun said.

“The conference addresses that challenge and sets the path for a better understanding the integration of energy efficiency and indoor air quality in high ambient temperature regions.

“The conference has the objectives to lower energy use and to address the impact of lowenergy design on occupant health in different building sectors, for both developed and developing economies.”

Tel: +974 4487 3850 - Mobile: +974 55141030 Fax: +974 4487 3826 - P.O.Box 17175 Doha-Qatar e-mail: mohdzeli@gmail.com

Traditional industries need to seize Traditional industries need to seize digital transformation opportunities digital transformation opportunities

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igital disruption is reaching beyond technology to engulf a variety of industries, including manufacturing, transportation, energy, healthcare and construction, that constitute a significant portion of the global economy.

The disruption represents opportunity as well as threat. But to seize this opportunity, companies in these industries will need to act as the technology, retail and media industries already have: by embracing fast-moving change, creating multiple low-cost tech initiatives, killing lagging projects quickly and committing to “always on” transformation - that is, profoundly changing their strategy, business model and operating model on an ongoing basis in order to stay ahead.

These are among the insights in “Transformation: Delivering and Sustaining Breakthrough Performance”, a new e-book from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) that draws on the firm’s work in more than 400 transformations that generated a median annual impact of approximately $340 million through the application of capital efficiency levers, cost cuts, revenue increases and improvements in organizational performance.

“Digital technologies and approaches aren’t just for tech, media and retailers anymore -they are infusing all aspects of the business world,” says Lars Fæste, a senior partner at BCG and one of the editors of the e-book.

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“Through artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics and 3D printing, to name just a few emerging digital innovations, companies in many industries can do great things for customers and create new levels of value.”

But many companies in industries such as energy, transportation and healthcare are accustomed to a methodical approach to technology- one that risks putting them at a disadvantage.

“It’s understandable. These industries are rigid and process oriented and for many, the frame of reference is an enterprise-resourceplanning migration that takes five years from start to finish,” says BCG senior partner and e-book editor Jim Hemerling.

“But any company that takes that long on its digital transformation risks wasting immense amounts of time and money.”

Four critical steps to “get digital” Industry leaders are advised instead to act now to launch digital products and services and to digitize internal processes, even if they don’t feel ready.

“Savvy companies get comfortable making decisions amid uncertainty. They launch projects even when they don’t know what the outcome is going to be,” says Fæste.

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“They embrace the concept of ‘fail fast and fail cheap’, focusing on quick pilot tests and prototypes that they can roll out and evaluate quickly and then scale up or shut down.”

According to Fæste and Hemerling, companies that succeed with this trial-and-error approach to digital transformation take four steps. They are: • Educate themselves and establish a baseline on their current use of digital technologies.

• Create quick-and-dirty plans - lots of them - for technology projects. This isn’t and shouldn’t be a long, drawn-out effort. Successful companies move quickly to create project “portfolios” focused on just a few key areas where technology can make a difference: customer experience; reimagined products, services, and business models; and reengineered business processes.

• Get agile to accelerate the transformation.

Successful digital transformers launch multiple pilot projects at once. The goal isn’t perfection but a “good enough” product, with just enough features to make it functional. Apps are often basic at launch. New features are added over time depending on what customers want.

• Transform the organization. They add capabilities, sometimes with the help of an ecosystem of partners, or they create external incubators through joint ventures or acquisitions.

Organizational transformation is often central to digital success. The e-book reports on a

global bank that reorganized into mini startups to launch an array of highly targeted digital customer services, and an auto manufacturer that split its IT in two: a traditional unit to support legacy computing, and a faster-moving platform that used digital tools to support new initiatives for customers.

According to the editors, all transformation, not just digital, should be “always on” And all industries — including those like technology, retail, and media that seem to have a digital advantage — should continue to press ahead with digital transformation.

“The days are over when transformation could be approached as a one-time, cost-cutting project,” says Hemerling.

“Today the pace of change and the severity of disruption mean that to stay competitive, companies need to make transformation a part of their culture,” points out Hemerling.

“They also need to put as much emphasis on people as technology, ensuring that their people are always learning and developing the skills and behaviors they need to be effective in a digital environment.

“Successful companies have several transformations underway at once, each building on the others. Digital transformation is one of many important aspects of the transformations that leaders are engaged in all the time.”

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Science Applied to Life.

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MARCH 2017

13

OUTLOOK

Qatar seesQatar increase seesinincrease in retail real estate supply retail real estate supply Proposed New Retail Malls Location

Estimated Completion Date

Markhiya Abu Hamour Al Qassar Al Mirqab St Duhail Umm Salal North Doha Lusail Lusail

2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2018 2019

Project

Al Hazm Mall Doha Mall Katara Mall Al Mirqab Mall Tawar Mall Doha Festival City Northgate Place Vendome Marina Mall

T

On completion, the quantity of new retail ache supply of organized retail mall accommodation in Qatar increased by commodation is likely to have an impact on the dynamics of the retail market in Qatar, 30% in December last year with the with potential for rents and occupancy rates opening of Mall of Qatar, according to be impacted by an oversupply. to a study.

Mall of Qatar’s net leasable retail area ex- Despite the more challenging economic climate in 2016, retail rents and occupancy levtends to about 195,000 sq m, bringing the els were not impacted, as retailers in general total supply in Doha to 838,000 sq m, distribare subject to lease terms of five years and uted across 15 malls, says the study released Source: DTZ Research take a long-term view on the prevailing ecoby the global real estate company DTZ. nomic climate.

Qatar has benefited from strong growth in Organised Retail Supply by Year, ,000 sq. m. (GLA) Existing malls in Doha typically command beretail trade in recent years, driven by the intween QR260 and QR300 per sq m per month creasing population as well as high dispos2,000 for the standard line units while larger stores able income.

1,800 can secure rents of between QR170 and QR220 per sq m per month.

In 2015, the World Bank estimated that Qa1,600 tar’s GDP Per Capita (PPP) reached $143,788, 1,400 New retail malls such as Mall of Qatar, Doha representing the highest level of disposable 1,200 Mall and Doha Festival City have been able income per capita in the world.

1,000 to secure a number of international brands at 800 premium rents to those paid in existing malls.

But the recent economic slowdown has im600 pacted the retail sector with retail spending However, DTZ understands that competition reported to be down by between 10% and 400 among developers for tenants has increased 15% since 2015. Still, DTZ research shows 200 in recent months due to the quantity of retail that business observers across the GCC re0 space that is to be available. gion are optimistic about Qatar’s retail perfor2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 mance in the short- to medium-term.

Source: DTZ Research Rental activity on the Pearl Qatar has seen an increase in the last six months of 2016 There are currently nine retail malls under with occupier demand dominated by food and construction throughout Doha and its envibeverage outlets rather than fashion retailers. rons, which will increase the overall supply of accommodation in retail malls to 1.85 million sq m.

8

ww w .dtz .com

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22/02/2017 15:14:03

Roofing &

FLOORING, WINDOWS & DOORS

EXCLUSIVE

Green roofs: Beyond aesthetics Green roofs: Beyond aesthetics

I

n urban areas, where access to green space is limited, vegetated roofs create a natural oasis amid the concrete jungles of the city.

maximum value for the internal air temperature was below the maximum outside air temperature.

The aesthetic value might be the most apparent benefit of green roofs but their benefits are not limited to aesthetics.

A guide about the state-of-the-art of vegetative roof design and construction published on the National Institute of Building Sciences website concludes that 40 years of German experience and research indicate that extensive vegetative roofs will succeed in most climates, if properly designed.

Their psychological benefits are huge and proven by modern research.

In one study, psychologist Rachel Kaplan found that office workers with a view of nature liked their jobs more, enjoyed better health and reported greater life satisfaction.

Kaplan points out that people don’t have to head for the woods to enjoy nature’s restorative effects. Even a glimpse of nature from a window helps and this can be possible by adopting green roofs.

Moreover, green roofs can help buildings to keep cool in summer, reduce their energy consumption by direct shading, evaporative cooling and additional insulation.

An extensive research about green roofs, which are specially designed landscapes atop buildings, has been conducted for at least eight years at the School of Engineering of Sao Carlos, University of Sao Paulo (USP).

The research verified that the green roof had the lowest temperature range compared to other conventional roofing systems used in the study. This means “the green roof has greater difficulty to perform heat exchange between interior and exterior environments”.

With appropriate plant selection, sufficient drainage, and adequate structural support for the additional dead weight, vegetative roofs can survive winter ice build-up and potential summer droughts.

According to the guide, in North America, examples of extensive vegetative roof projects are present in all climate zones.

However, the guide mentioned that the higher costs and lack of expertise and vision are likely to slow the growth of green roofing. “Greenery topped buildings have been keeping buildings cool for decades in modern Europe and Germany is the first and only country to publish a green roofing guide. But implementing the techniques on a large scale is years away”.

One remarkable green roof project is the California Academy of Sciences project in San Francisco by Italian architect Renzo Piano. The project includes solar and green roofs, as well as some non-traditional insulation made from recycled denim.

According to Piano, the design of the roof “is like lifting up a piece of the park and putting a building under it” [source: California Academy of Sciences].

The living roof of the academy is a clear example of the diverse purposes a green roof can serve.

Like other green roofs, this living roof provides excellent insulation (reducing energy needs for heating and cooling), captures 100% of excess storm water (preventing runoff from carrying pollutants into the ecosystem) and transforms carbon dioxide into oxygen.

Moreover, the academy website pointed out that weather stations are installed on the roof to monitor wind, rain, and changes in temperature to help inform the building’s automated systems and skylights, keeping rainforest temps just right, the interior piazza cool and comfortable, and natural light streaming to the exhibits below.

Edged by solar panels, the roof’s seven hills are lined with 50,000 porous, biodegradable vegetation trays made from tree sap and coconut husks.

An estimated 1.7 million plants fill the trays, their roots interlocking to create a home for local wildlife, attracting birds, insects and other creatures.

In the Gulf region, a comparative study on the effect of green roofs on the local climate

of Najaf city in Iraq was recently presented to the University of Technology - Architecture Engineering Department.

The study found that green roofs can reduce the difference in temperatures between the city and the countryside by 4 to 2 degrees. In this regard it can be a practical alternative to green spaces.

Inside the building, the green roof reduces the indoor temperature by reducing heat transmission through the ceiling as the layers of vegetation, soil and other materials work as an insulation material.

The study found a huge difference in energy consumption and cost in buildings with green roofs compared to conventional roofs in the city of Najaf, with a 6-degree decrease in temperature noted.

Moreover, the study found that green roofs have the ability to improve the durability of roofs as it protects the roof against the changes in temperatures in different seasons or between day and night, which affects the roof material due to expansion and shrinkage of this material.

The differential thermal analysis in the green roof case study was 11 degrees, compared to 21.5 degrees in conventional roofs.

The study concluded that green roofs are important technologies that have effects on the local climate, they provide temporal comfort inside the building and outside of it; therefore, they reduce the effect of heat island especially at locations with hot and dry climate.

The study urged architects and city planners to consider expansion in integration of green roofs in different buildings and make this a priority.

The results also showed that the green roof has the most suitable performance, since the

Green Roof Benefits Environmental benefits: • Cooling and Energy Efficiency • Carbon sequestration • Flood Control during single short rain events • Dust Control • Mitigation of Urban Heat Islands (reduce surface temperatures).

Economic Benefits: • Reduced energy consumption and lower operating costs • Extended roof live Social Benefits: Quantifiable social benefits include considerable added green space that positively impact the health and wellbeing of building occupants and patrons with view access to the greened structures and the improve appeal of the city as a green tourist destination with economic benefits.

Source: “Green Roofs in Doha, Qatar and the Middle East,” presented by by Katrin Scholz-Barth, in UNESCO, Better Building Guidelines for Qatar, Enhanced Water-, Energy-, and Waste Management in Arab Urban Ecosystems (May 2009).

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Roofing &

FLOORING, WINDOWS & DOORS

EXCLUSIVE

Picking the perfect floor Picking the perfect floor

There’s a different type of flooring to suit your specific lifestyle or budget

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he floor is one of the most important interior elements of your home. With so many options available on the market, choosing a new floor for your home can be overwhelming indeed.

4. Laminate

There are a number of factors to consider, which will guarantee you to pick a perfect flooring solution that will not only evolve with you and your family but also maintain the same finish and material quality as time goes on.

It’s important your floor offers reliability and unwavering quality while additionally supporting your wellbeing at home. It must suit the character and ambience you want to create in a room while matching your lifestyle as well.

1. Rubber

L

aminate flooring is a multi-layer synthetic product which is fused together with a lamination process.

The top looks like wood (sometimes stone) because it is a photograph covered in a clear “wear layer”.

Laminate flooring can mimic the look of many different natural hardwood materials. Moreover, the printing process can replicate the appearance of a variety of natural stone as well as ceramic flooring materials.

3. Concrete

R

ubber is comfy to stand on, very easy to clean and long-lasting enough to take on plenty of mess and abuse. Rubber flooring can be a smart solution for homes - it is great for an entry, a mudroom or a laundry room.

Rubber flooring is a specialty flooring option designed to add padding and spring underfoot. Its unique qualities and style options make it a more versatile flooring option than you might initially think. From gyms to bathrooms to kitchens to playrooms, rubber flooring is a great choice for many spaces.

In a kitchen, a rubber floor is a great choice since it cushions the feet. This is a boon for cooks who are exposed to strains and sprains from prolonged standing. In addition, the textural surface reduces slipping hazards from spills. At the same time, it is also very child-friendly.

2. Hardwood

Laminate floors offer authentic beauty and handcrafted details that can transform a room. It is also easy to install since it doesn’t require any kind of glue or fasteners to the subfloor. Instead, it uses a lock and click installation method and “floats” over the subfloor, allowing it to expand and contract with the natural temperature and humidity changes at your home.

This flexibility, coupled with other benefits, makes laminate floors a standout amongst the other flooring options to homeowners and renovators today. The lifespan of a laminate floor depends on the quality of the material and the thickness of the wear layer.

5. Cork

C

oncrete is a stylish choice for indoor floors. Its surface can be finished in various ways - with colors, stains and aggregates and given a textured surface or buffed until glassy. Concrete floors are extremely durable and easy to clean and they resist water when properly sealed.

Concrete floors may sound like the domain of cold, minimalist works of architecture, but they can actually come in many forms to suit various tastes and personalities. Like wood, concrete can be stained (or tinted), allowing the material to feel quite warm and human in a way that beautifully suits transitional or traditional spaces.

For an added gloss effect, concrete is sometimes finished with a coat of resin that goes very well with those who enjoy a modern atmosphere with a perfect polish.

It should be noted that concrete does not retain heat well and thus can be chilly without a heated floor system, but it could be extremely cozy with one installed.

W

ood remains a standout amongst the flooring options as it is natural and eco-friendly. There are two main options: solid hardwood flooring and engineered hardwood flooring.

Picking between these two is a matter of your style, budget and personal preference. Both solid and engineered hardwood floors offer great durability and a long lifespan.

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SITES

C

ork flooring can be a brilliant choice for those who want to reduce their environmental impact. It’s beautiful, lightweight and warm to the touch. It also has a natural springiness that makes it feel extra comfy. Besides, cork has excellent thermal and acoustical qualities.

Cork floors are hypoallergenic, naturally fire-resistant and don’t release any toxic gasses or chemicals when burnt accidentally. It can be a very durable material if properly maintained, renewable every eight to ten years.

Cork works beautifully for sleek modern spaces as it has a natural softness that gives it a friendly vibe.

In case you’re thinking about using carpet for floor covering in a few rooms and wood in others, consider cork for the rest coverings and get the best alongside a feeling of congruity.

Roofing &

FLOORING, WINDOWS & DOORS

EXCLUSIVE

FLOOR THE WORLD WITH SIKA YOU DON’T BECOME THE WORLD LEADER IN FLOORING WITHOUT DIGGING IN YOUR HEELS

international research projects on new chemicals technologies and initiatives in the field of climate change mitigation and sustainable construction.

And although our floors already boast lower life cycle costs, that doesn’t stop us from continuing to evaluate and extend the life cycle of each system.

IT’S ABOUT HAVING THE RIGHT CHEMISTRY As a global market leader in construction chemicals, when it came to creating functional, beautiful flooring, it was like a match made in heaven. Although like any great relationship, we’re constantly working at it. Across the globe, our research and development specialists dig in day and night, experimenting, testing and trying things that have never been done before.

... And not being afraid to get your feet wet.

Having the right chemistry is important but innovation also takes courage. Courage to question the past, to re-examine established practices and to crawl out on a limb with no one below to catch you. Over 800 employees work in product development, and last year alone, Sika filed seventy new patent applications and launched a significant number of new products to satisfy our customers’ needs and desires.

When it comes to flooring systems, we won’t compromise. At Sika, we spend unlimited hours, months, even years on a floor system, not stopping until we know it’s the best it can be.

And apparently, our commitment has paid off – we’re the largest manufacturer of high performance, resinous flooring products in the world.

But that doesn’t mean we’re sitting back with our feet up. We continue to study markets for raw materials and technologies, pay attention to trends, and pursue vast research. We’re especially committed to sustainable development.

Our scientists and experts actively participate in

WE’RE ALL EARS There are people who listen to reply and those who listen to learn. At Sika, we’re learners. Every day, our employees engage with customers in different cities sprinkled across the globe. And every day, we listen to what they have to say.

It’s those voices — their concerns, needs and accolades — that inspire us to work harder, think more creatively and exceed expectations.

“Customer First” is our mantra from corporate to R&D to the technicians out in the field. Our flooring specialists are located in every region of

SIKA – THE ONLY OPTION FLOOR THE WORLD WITH SIKA

the world to provide assistance before, during and after each floor installation ensuring that the entire process goes flawlessly.

TAKE YOUR PICK YOU CAN RUN, DRIVE, SPLASH, CRASH AND WALK ALL OVER US.

We thrive in demanding environments. From thousandpound steel lifts to razor-sharp operating chisels, we can take on the harshest elements and still look beautiful while doing it. After all, high performance flooring is our specialty, and they don’t call us the experts in polyurethane and epoxy chemistry for nothing.

Bishoy Samy

Sales Manager - Key Accounts | Target Market Manager Flooring and Roofing

With a full range of floor and wall solutions, we’reconfident that we can find a system that’s right for you. Our flooring systems have been developed for a wide range of markets including transportation, manufacturing, healthcare, education, retail, commercial and administrative uses. And of course, each of these markets has specific requirements in terms of traffic, chemical resistance, temperature, waterproofing, and more. It sounds complicated but don’t worry, we know this stuff inside and out. With dozens of systems in countless styles, textures and colors, if you can dream it, chances are we can create it. Just tell us what you’re looking for and together, we’ll find the perfect, high performance flooring system for your unique needs.

FLOORING FUNCTIONAL FLOORING TO FIT ALL YOUR NEEDS

FLOORING THE DESIGN POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS

You may know us for just one skill area. But Sika has over 100 years global experience, and over 50 years in GCC. In many of the most crucial areas of construction. Global expertise, local support, one phone call, problem solved.

Sika Qatar LLC P.O.Box 201847 Doha, Qatar T: +974 40163366 F: +974 40163370 sika.qatar@bh.sika.com

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EXCLUSIVE

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Roofing &

MARCH 2017

FLOORING, WINDOWS & DOORS

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Roofing &

FLOORING, WINDOWS & DOORS

CONSTRUCTION

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MARCH 2017

EXCLUSIVE

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EXCLUSIVE

Roofing &

FLOORING, WINDOWS & DOORS

Window Window trends: trends: bringingbringing the outside the in outside in The energy-efficient windows market is expected to be worth $25.31 billion by 2026

A

s more and more people move to urban areas, designers and architects try to compensate their disconnect with nature with increasingly open designs. The line between interiors and exteriors blurs as designers and home owners opt for bringing the outside in.

Consumers’ preferences to natural light give way to increased use of large windows and window walls that seamlessly blend outside and inside spaces.

vacy of their homes,” he says.

tints to reduce glare and solar heat.

Renno explains that this option is especially suitable for the weather in Qatar as people can still enjoy the natural view from the comfort of their indoor air-conditioned seating areas.

It can adjust to temperature fluctuations and other weather changes, providing for a more energy-efficient practice.

Since privacy is an important factor in Qatar, high boundary walls and trees that surround homes could help ensure that. Another option is to use tinted glass.

Therefore, large windows that admit lots of light and maximize views are becoming trendy. And the trend is catching on in Qatar as well.

Renno says the trend is not limited to private accommodation. In a tower of serviced apartment in Lusail, Renno designed its balconies to be open directly to the seating area with sliding glass.

“While traditional architecture is characterized by small windows and the use of “Mashrabiya”, modern architecture is shifting its focus to the exterior,” says Rassem Engineering Consultancy Managing Director Mike Renno.

This choice was based on the tower’s location, which is at the end of Lusail with a lot of space around it ensuring privacy.

He feels that features like gardens, lakes, swimming pools and other water features are used in the landscaping of most private villas in Qatar.

The location also provides a nice sea view which Renno attempts to make the best use of through the big glass windows.

Energy efficiency

“The floor-to-ceiling windows allow for uninterrupted views that let homeowners appreciate these landscaping features. This way people have a feeling of openness while still in the pri-

Another trend that’s starting to take root in windows is dynamic glass. Dynamic glass is made from a material that can automatically switch

A report by Markets and Markets expects the energy-efficient windows market to witness major growth in the next few years due to an increase in adoption of green building standards, the trend toward improving energy efficiency and growth in popularity of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) applications.

is mostly driven by the upward surge in the demand for new construction trends across the world.

Factors such as an increase in need for energyefficient windows in buildings due to several benefits (like reduced noise and dust and improved thermal insulation) they offer are driving the market in the residential sector.

The report says the energy-efficient windows market is expected to grow to $25.31 billion by 2026.

The report points out that rise in construction activities in emerging economies and increase in inclination toward sustainable construction methods are creating growth opportunities for the energy-efficient windows market.

According to the report, the residential segment dominated the market in 2015 and is projected to be the fastest-growing end-use sector in the next 10 years.

As a result of the growth in population, rise in urbanization and industrialization, this market

A tower in Lusail. Image by Rassem Engineering Consultancy

To order please contact: 974 4037 3008

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Roofing &

FLOORING, WINDOWS & DOORS

EXCLUSIVE

Qatar’s Qatar’ssanitary sanitaryware waremarket marketset settotogrow growatat9% 9%by by2021 2021

Q

atar’s sanitary ware market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 9% during 2016 to 2021, according to a report by TechSci Research, a global management consulting firm.

Growth in the market is anticipated on account of increasing hygiene consciousness, growing hospitality sector, rising disposable income, high urbanization rate and booming commercial sector, stated TechSci in its report, titled “Qatar Sanitary Ware Market By Product Type, By Application, By Organized Vs. Unorganized, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 – 2021”.

Moreover, introduction of technologically-advanced sanitary ware, increasing construction in the wake of FIFA 2022 and the government’s vision to develop the country by 2030 are expected to boost the demand for sanitary ware in Qatar through 2021.

On the basis of product type, Qatar sanitary ware market has been broadly segmented into five categories, namely, water closets and cisterns, basins, urinals, bathtubs and others.

Among these categories, water closets and cisterns dominated the country’s sanitary ware market in 2015 and the

same trend is expected to continue over the next five years as well.

In Qatar, the eastern region dominated the country’s sanitary ware market in 2015, followed by central and west regions.

Few of the leading players operating in the country’s sanitary ware market include RAK Ceramics, Toto Ltd, Kludi GmbH & Co KG, Jaquar and Hewi.

Karan Chechi, research director, TechSci Research, said Qatar National Vision 2030 was officially launched in October 2008 with an objective to transform the nation into a developed country.

“Under this mission, the government has set various goals including expansion of the country’s infrastructure. Consequently, the government of Qatar has undertaken various projects related to new international airport, new cities, schools, hospitals and electric substations in the country,” Chechi said.

“All these government projects are expected to significantly boost the demand for sanitary ware in the country over the next five years,” he added.

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EXCLUSIVE

Roofing &

FLOORING, WINDOWS & DOORS

Exterior WallWall Trends fromfrom Jotun taketake Centre Exterior Trends Jotun Centre Stage to Create Beautiful Homes Stage to Create Beautiful Homes

Jotun Expands Exterior Paints Category with New ‘Monumental Appearance’; introduces all-new Travertine in ‘Jotashield Decor’ Range.

I

n line with its rich heritage of timeless palettes and textures, Jotun one of the world’s major paint manufacturers, has further strengthened its Exterior portfolio with the launch of high-quality textures and colour collections within the Exterior Category; a range that adorns homes while offering superior protection and décor for external walls.

Introducing a new and premium innovation to its Jotashield range, a range that offers inspirational colour possibilities and a tough finish with colours that do not fade over time, is Jotashield Decor Travertine, a texture that has been inspired by the famous Travertine rock and provides a unique monumental appearance to exteriors. Accentuating the final look of traditional and modern homes, the texture contains coarse aggregates for a majestic stone finish providing homes the desired look. It is the first texture with heaves and is available in 500 long lasting colours.

Travertine is a path breaking innovation that is set to offer a new level of creativity in the exterior realm to further beautify homes.

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CONSTRUCTION

Sanjay Nair, Regional Category Manager - Exterior Paints, Jotun Middle East, India & Africa said, “Our exterior paint textures have been specially designed to create beautiful homes with a strong character while ensuring durability and long-lasting protection.

Travertine is a break-through that combines protection with an emphasis on décor to further reinstate our promise of innovation as a key tool leading us to provide our customers with the latest in paint trends to create finelooking homes for timeless elegance.”

Highlighting striking textures to create inspirational and elegant walls, Jotun’s exterior category features a range of unique textures for home owners to choose from; Jotashield Decor Traditional Tex, Jotashield Decor Antique Tex, Jotashield Decor High Build, Jotashield Décor High Build Fine and the brand new Jotashield Decor Travertine.

Highlighting five exquisite colour themes featured in the Jotashield exterior category, each individually designed theme narrates a unique story of its own set in different time periods, giving homes the personality it deserves.

Inspired by ancient civilizations, The Dawn of History showcases unique earthy tones, browns and beiges while European Elegance is all about highlighting European aesthetics amidst the rich Middle Eastern architecture with its teals and neutrals for those seeking true elegance. The Golden Age evokes rich-

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ness and grandeur of Arab architecture with The Avant-Garde is about homes with cheery soothing shades, extraordinary greens and colours, patterns and a mix of various textures and styles in your décor. It is about blues & mesmerizing pinks and yellows. combining innovation with rationality and The Avante-Garde is a theme that gives functionality. With a major impact on archifreedom in combining different décor styles tecture, the category narrates the language with a mix of bright and colourful palettes, of fine design with minimal ornamentation textures and styles creating cutting-edge ex- and emphasizes on exterior colours such as teriors; the palette includes contemporary modern greys, hypnotic blacks, brick reds and greys, hypnotic black, brick reds and rusted rusted oranges. oranges. Finally, Everlasting Harmony stands the test of time and exudes serenity and style The enduring palette of Everlasting Harmony with soft and elegant hues from pastels, light stands the test of time with styles and hues shades and near whites that are never in or that are never in or out of fashion – they last out of fashion and for enduring experiences. forever. From the elegance of pastels, light shades and off-whites, these shades exude serenity and style.

Jotashield Decor offers a selection of elegant textures that are long-lasting with advanced performance, offering full protection and low maintenance costs, keeping quality and finesse intact. The five colour themes are featured as part of Jotun’s Jotashield Range.

Jotashield Decor, Jotashield ColourLast and Jotashield ColourXtreme ranges are available across Jotun stores and leading hardware stores across the region.

With flavors from Europe to the Middle East, European Elegance is all about combining rich architectural and design heritage of Middle East with modern western features and a soothing colour palette. The colour tones include soothing teals and neutrals enhancing the beauty of walls and demonstrating finest elegance.

ANALYSIS

Qatar Qatarincreasingly increasinglyimpacted impactedbybyinternational international tax developments and wider economic trends tax developments and wider economic trends

By Oxford Business Group(OBG)

A

new tax law was introduced in Qatar with effect from January 1, 2010. Since then, we have seen significant changes by the Qatar Tax Department (QTD) in its interpretation of specific provisions of the law and developments in the way it is implemented. There has been some official written guidance on this, in particular the issuance of circulars, but trends have also been observed through our practical experience interacting with the QTD. The international tax environment has also been evolving rapidly, most notably in the last two years. This is expected to continue and to increasingly impact Qatar, raising the prospect of future changes in the state’s tax legislation.

Drivers Of Change Significant current and prospective drivers of change in Qatar include budgetary pressures, moves to diversify the economy and the global attitude to international taxation. In the current climate of sustained low oil and gas prices, Qatar and other GCC states are looking for new sources of income and are scaling back subsidies. New tax regulations are being drafted in some countries and necessary budgetary actions are being taken. The reduced revenues from oil and gas has also given greater impetus to the plans Qatar already had in place to diversify its economy to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons.

One of the most noted developments in international tax in recent years is the 15 Actions of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) agreed upon by the OECD/G20. The 15 BEPS Actions address tax avoidance and aim to ensure that profits are taxed where economic activities generating the profits are performed and where value is created. Though BEPS is an international initiative, it is creating ripples in local tax environments, and countries all over the world are starting to adopt and implement BEPS recommendations. Another important driver of change has been the increasing pressure by the IMF on the GCC states to take action to widen the tax base and find new sources of income, most notably the increasingly likely introduction of value-added tax (VAT) across the GCC. Qatar is reacting to this changing economic and tax environment. On one hand, it is bringing in new regulation, improving enforcement

of existing regulation and considering new taxes. On the other hand, it is providing new opportunities for foreign investors through the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) and special economic zones to be run by Manateq. It is also providing opportunities for diversification to Qatari-owned businesses through initiatives by the Qatar Development Bank.

Recent Developments As the sophistication of Qatar’s tax authority has increased and budgetary pressures have started to have an impact, trends have emerged. Examples of some of the most sig-

nificant developments are given below. Related-party transactions: The QTD is closely scrutinising related-party transactions and now frequently queries the values declared for such transactions. It is therefore important that taxpayers use appropriate transfer pricing methodologies and have documentation in place to support the method used and the rates they charge. Contract (tax) retention recovery: The wait for recovery of retentions from payments to Qatar branches can have a significant cash flow impact. The QTD has been applying the rules more stringently and challenging the recovery of retention when the payments are not linked to a contract registered on the branch commercial registration.

Online filing: Following the QTD’s launch of its electronic filing system in 2014, the QFC has also adopted an electronic filing system, meaning all businesses in Qatar (under the state, the QFC or QSTP) that are required to file tax returns will have to file their tax returns electronically going forward. The electronic filing systems offer potential for tax authorities to increase the efficiency with which they review returns and process applications. It may also assist sharing of information and coordination between ministries.

Taxation of non-resident capital gains: The QTD is now of the view that if a non-resident derives Qatar-sourced income (including a capital gain), the non-resident should file a corporate income tax return and pay the tax. As the practical barriers to non-residents in respect of filing a tax return have been removed, it is necessary for non-residents to consider whether they have realised Qatar-sourced income and thus are required to file Qatar tax returns and pay the tax

due. Wage Protection System (WPS): The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs has recently amended Qatar Labour Law No.14 of 2004 to introduce the WPS. In line with the WPS frameworks in the region, the Qatar WPS imposes an obligation on employers to transfer each employee’s salary in riyals to his or her account at a financial institution in Qatar.

The introduction of the WPS raises the question as to whether, in the future, the Qatar tax authority may follow the example of the tax authority in Saudi Arabia and limit the tax deductibility of salary payments to what is reported through the WPS. Approach of Qatari principals: We have seen Qatari principals develop and reinforce their internal controls and tax policies and procedures. Examples include them applying withholding tax and retention requirements more stringently (e.g. reviewing which contracts are on the commercial registrations of branches undertaking work for them) and refusing to agree to tax gross-up clauses in contracts with subcontractors. This trend is expected to continue as the tax awareness of Qatari principals increases and they come under greater pressure to meet budgets and assist Qatar in minimising tax leakage.

a behavioural and a legislative basis. This may lead to further changes in Qatar tax legislation to ensure Qatar can remain capable of protecting its own tax base.

One of the most significant actions of BEPS is Action 13 – Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR), which will be ready for exchange by late 2017 for countries which implemented CbCR. Although Qatar has not formally announced that it will adopt CbCR, many businesses in Qatar that have activities and/or legal presence in G20/OECD countries or other countries that have already announced CbCR adoption will be impacted with heavy fines imposed on local entities in those countries if they do not provide group-level data under CbCR. Action Six (Treaty Abuse) and Action Seven ( Permanent Establishment Status) are also likely to impact Qatar. Action Six aims to actively combat treaty abuse, specifically treaty shopping, where treaty benefits are claimed in situations where they were not intended to be granted. Action Seven prevents the use of common tax avoidance strategies that are used to circumvent the existing permanent establishment definition.

Common Reporting Standard (CRS) Future Developments The more significant anticipated developments are detailed below.

VAT This is to be introduced to widen the tax base of the GCC states and marks the first incident where individuals will be taxed on their consumption in the GCC. The expected arrival date of VAT is 2018, although a transitional period is anticipated. The Qatar tax authority, Qatari principals and Qatar businesses will all need to ensure they are ready for the impact of VAT on their operations.

BEPS This is currently the highest trending topic in international tax and its impact will be felt in Qatar even though Qatar is not a member of the OECD/G20. Governments and tax authorities have already been very active, from both

Qatar has committed to undertake the first automatic exchange of information under the CRS by 2018. Qatar tax authorities will obtain account holder information from Qatar-resident financial institutions and automatically exchange that information with other jurisdictions where account holders are tax residents on an annual basis.

Outlook Though Qatar has abundant natural resources, it is not immune from international developments such as BEPS and low oil and gas prices. These factors, allied with the continuing modernisation of Qatar’s regulatory and tax regimes, have given greater impetus to proposals such as the introduction of VAT, and have increased Qatar’s ability to enforce payment of tax and compliance with regulations.

In this context, it is more important than ever that businesses operating in Qatar understand such developments and ensure they are able to swiftly respond to such changes.

HVAC - Plumbing & Drainage - Fire Fighting - Electrical & ELV - Energy Centers - Street Lighting - Maintenance - Facility Management Established in 1974, TRAGS Engineering is recognized as the leading Grade-1 MEP Services, District Cooling and Facility Management Contractor in the State of Qatar. The scope of activities covers all aspects of building services including design, procurement, installation, testing and commissioning of multi-service installations. In addition, the company offers 24/7 Facility Management Services to government buildings, corporations, educational, healthcare, industrial, commercial and residential sectors.

ENGINEERING

TRAGS Electrical Engineering & Air Conditioning Co. W.L.L Jaidah Tower Ist Floor, Abdul Aziz Bin Ahmed Street P.O. Box 470, Doha – Qatar Tel +974 44 41 42 11, Fax + 974 44 41 33 06 tragseng@tragsengineering.com

www.tragsengineering.com CONSTRUCTION

SITES

MARCH 2017

23

NEWS

Ashghal forfor steps Ashghalinstalls installssteel steelstructure structure Call Call steps for to to boost tourism industry forpedestrian pedestriancrossing crossingon on boost tourism industry E-Ring E-RingRoad Road

A

s part of its efforts to enhance road safety across Qatar, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has completed the installation of the steel structure of the pedestrian bridge on E- Ring Road, which is located between AlThumama Intersection and the intersection between Airport Street and E-Ring Road.

The project includes developing 3km of Najma Street (from Nuaija Intersection towards the FRing Road), including re-aligning and widening the street, and constructing two new signalized intersections between Al Hadara Street and Najma Street, and between Oqba bin Nafea Street and Najma Street.

The bridge aims to minimize accidents and enable pedestrians to cross the E-Ring Road and reach commercial establishments in the area. This is in addition to facilitating access between the residents of Old Airport (Area 45) and Al Rawda Thumama (Area 47).

The project includes developing around 3.3km of E-Ring Road, including re-aligning and widening the road which had a range of two to three lanes, to include four lanes in each direction.

The pedestrian bridge, which is 66m long and 4m wide, is equipped with elevators on both sides which can accommodate a large number of users including those with special needs.

The bridge is equipped with lighting systems, a closed-circuit television system (CCTV), fire detection and firefighting systems, as well as a pedestrian counter.

Ashghal continues the mechanical and engineering works on the pedestrian bridge in collaboration with the implementing companies, in order to apply the final touches and open the bridge to users in the second quarter of this year.

This is in addition to converting Al Thumama roundabout to a signalized intersection, and upgrading the signalized intersection between the Airport Street and E-Ring Road by providing a separate U-turn lane and two separate lanes for those heading to the Airport and Al Wakra Roads.

Several infrastructure improvements are provided by the project, such as developing the drainage networks, constructing an integrated drainage network for surface water (stormwater), protecting high volt electric lines in the area and diverting some of those lines.

In an aim to maintain the privacy of some residents whose houses are visible from the pedestrian bridge, Ashghal is working in co-operation with the authorities concerned to provide a number of tall trees that will block the vision of pedestrians to those houses.

The pedestrian bridge is part of the Interim Upgrade Project on E-Ring Road and Najma Street, which is implemented within Ashghal’s plan to develop the roads infrastructure and enhance traffic safety. Over 90% of road works in the project are complete so far.

Q

business tourism, conferences, exhibitions, visit of families from GCC countries and sport championships,” Sheikh Hamad says.

Though Qatar boasts traditional markets, museums, sand dunes, enchanting beaches, sports facilities, luxury malls and hotels, sophisticated conference and exhibition centers – important ingredients to make it a distinctive tourist destination – there are several obstacles that hamper the growth of Qatar’s tourism, feels Sheikh Hamad.

The study has suggested a number of solutions that can contribute to the development of the tourism sector, including the promotion of tourist attractions such as Khor Al Adaid.

atar needs to overcome certain challenges that are slowing the growth of the tourism sector in the country, Sheikh Hamad Bin Ahmed Al Thani, head of Qatar Chamber’s Tourism Committee, has said.

Sheikh Hamad, who is also a board member of Qatar Chamber, says that these obstacles include shortage of places for entertainment, higher prices of Qatar Airways tickets compared with other airlines, lack of efforts to promote Qatar as a touristic destination abroad, the delay in issuance of tourism visas and the complicated procedures for getting clearance from Civil Defense to open new hotel facilities.

Sheikh Hamad says that collaboration among all authorities concerned and private sector are needed to overcome these obstacles.

A comprehensive study conducted by Qatar Chamber Tourism Committee on how to develop the sector has revealed that higher prices of tourist services in some hotels are negatively affecting the tourism activity.

“The tourism sector’s revenues are restricted to

Since1971. . .

“This sector can be developed further and its share to the country’s GDP can be increased, which stands at 4.9% currently.”

“Khor Al Adaid has pristine beauty and natural coastal areas. The place, however, lacks necessary facilities like hotels and recreational facilities. The place also suffers from poor mobile phone network. We need to sort out these issues and develop Al Khor as one of the prime tourist destinations of Qatar,” Sheikh Hamad says.

“We also need to speed up the new visa system as announced by Qatar Airways in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior to attract more tourists,” suggests Sheikh Hamad.

“It is also necessary to activate the single tourist visa system among GCC countries to promote tourism. Revitalization of the exhibition sector and streamlining the civil defense measures in the licensing of new hotels are also needed.”

He has urged Qatar Airways to reduce the prices of its tickets to Doha.

AL-WADI STEEL has the Capacity to carry out designs, fabrication and errections of structural steel works

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Industrial Area Street No. 17, Gate No. 174 P.O. Box: 40756 Doha - Qatar Tel: +974 44600982 • Fax: +974 4450 5194 info@alwadicontracting.net www.alwadicontracting.net

TRENDS

DigitalDigital banking: What to expect in 2017in 2017 banking: What to expect

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he banking sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is entering into a period of mass digital transformation.

This new era will positively impact financial institutions that adopt a top-down, concerted approach to the new digital era and, at the same time, hamper those institutions that do not effectively adapt to change.

Five key trends expected in 2017 include:

lytics around their top customer-driven scenarios?

Awareness is gaining traction, and well-managed banks are expected to start assimilating big data and advanced analytics into their most important customer journeys, and progressively adapt their management styles accordingly.

Digital banking: Digital banking denotes an entirely new business model – it is not just about having a mobile app, but rather entails a newly defined business model that is powered through the digital space.

Successful banks will launch and evolve new business models with stand-out value propositions and competitive pricing, while achieving lower operational costs.

In the years to come, this will uniquely position them to gain market share and drive their brand into the digital era.

Cybersecurity: On the back of increasing cyberattacks and breaches in international and regional financial institutions, cyber security will, for the first time in the MENA region, emerge as one of the top priorities for CEOs and Boards of Directors.

Financial institutions that are ahead of the curve and effectively embed cybersecurity into their risk frameworks will invest significantly in building the right capabilities and governance structures.

These, in turn, will equip them to preemptively address incidents that could potentially damage their operations as well as reputation.

Big data and analytics: Big data has been the chatter of the MENA industry over the past years, with progress slower than initially expected. This has been due to erroneous or incomplete data, more limited public data sets, and a lack of internal capabilities.

For instance, how many financial institutions can state that they have a strong team of data scientists, or that they have implemented ana-

Advanced digital: Customers continue to expect more from their banks; they want speed, ease-of-use, limited cost and transparency.

As a result, we expect to see opportunities emerging in more advanced areas such as predictive analytics, machine learning, wearables, robo advisory and customer support, to name a few, which have largely been nascent in the region to-date.

Banks that leverage such technologies underpinned by sound business cases and clear customer scenarios will benefit in the short-term from greater brand recognition.

In the medium-term, these technologies will help build a foundation for the required capabilities to capitalize on the next wave of customer demands.

Specialized job creation: Digital transformation in the financial services sector will also play a crucial role in job creation for specialized and more advanced digital skill sets.

Personnel will be added and play an increasingly important role in areas such as data science, UI design, customer experience design, digital application development, digital payments, cyber security and digital governance.

The economic climate for 2017 will result in limited new initiatives by most financial institutions. Conversely, regional leaders and visionaries will double their efforts on high-priority digital initiatives.

Those that will lead clear and targeted business initiatives will reap tremendous dividends in the years to come, while those that will focus largely on technology for technology’s sake will incrementally enhance their brand but will be largely disappointed by the results.

By Charles Habak, Principal, Financial Services at Booz Allen Hamilton

Eulen partners withpartners Madaeen Eulen with Madaeen Al Doha to provide FMtoservices Al Doha provide FM services

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ulen Group, represented by its Executive President and CEO, Maria Jose Alvarez Mezquiriz, and Madaeen Al Doha Group, owned by His Excellency Sheikh Faisal Bin Jassim Al Thani, have joined forces to provide integrated facility and management (FM) services through Eulen Middle East.

Eulen Middle East becomes a single provider, capable of accomplishing the client’s needs integrating services such as cleaning, security, facilities maintenance, port and cruise terminal operations, environmental, consultancy, landscape for companies in a variety of sectors; developing innovative and personalized solutions and allowing cost efficiency while maintaining the highest quality levels.

Eulen Middle East is capable of adapting to the strategy of its clients at any time, taking care of the management and operation of their properties and premises, as well as of other support services such as project management, energy management, quality audits and strategic facility management and services consulting.

Eulen Group is committed to support the growth of the State of Qatar by bringing over 50 years of experience, a global workforce of more than 86,000 employees and over $1.59 billion annual revenues within the 14 countries in which it has a direct presence.

Cayan Group wins accolades Cayan Group wins accolades for innovative developments for innovative developments

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ayan Group has been awarded the ”Most Innovative Leading Property Developer Brand in Saudi Arabia” by the Global Brands magazine.

The award, which is a global recognition for excellent service, was bestowed upon Cayan Group after a rigorous screening process involving independent research agencies which verify short-listed nominations using publicly available information.

“We have attained a commanding position in the real estate sector in Saudi Arabia and the GCC, and importantly in the public’s mind through our iconic buildings,” said Ahmed Al Hatti, Chairman of Cayan Group.

“However, to reach this pinnacle of success we have had to continuously innovate,

whether it was in concept, design, construction, or service delivery,” said Al Hatti.

“To have our efforts verified by independent research agencies and recognized by the Global Brands magazine makes us very proud,” he added.

The Global Brands magazine awards occurs annually and acknowledges companies from various industries but specifically those in the banking and finance, education and hospitality sectors from around the world.

The awards aim at honoring and acknowledging excellence in performance by key players in the markets by providing companies a platform, and creating awareness of the need for exceptional service and delivery.

CONSTRUCTION

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MARCH 2017

25

TENDERS

ASHGHAL TENDERS AND

AWARDED TENDERS http://www.ashghal.gov.qa

• • •

• •

Companies Eligible to Tender: Qatari Companies Only Joint Venture (JV) Companies, which includes a Qatari Company having a minimum of 51%, share holding of the JV Non-Qatari Companies Not Applicable * All financial values are in QAR

TENDERS http://www.mme.gov.qa

Tender No.

Type

PWA/ITC/001/2017

ITC

PWA/STC/068/2016

STC

Tender Title

Design, Build and Implementation of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Platform for Roads Assets Management Centre (RAMC) AA/ ROM/2016/0132/P1/I Professional Consultancy Services for Implementation of Qatar Integrated Drainage Master Plan Contract 1 - CP767-1 IA /2016/D/003/S

General Conditions of Tenders • Full Documents for the Tender can be obtained from Contracts Department (CD) against a Non–refundable fee paid to PWA Account No. (0013-001813-052), Qatar National Bank together with a copy of the Company Registration and a Company Authorization letter.

• Project document may be examined at Al-Faisal Tower(1), Ground Floor, Al Corniche before purchasing from PWA. • Each Tender must be accompanied by a Tender Bond, either in the form of a “Certified Check” or a “Tender Bond’’ issued by a Bank acceptable to the PWA” in the amount mentioned above valid for (120 days). Any Tender received without the proper guarantee will not be considered.

• The Tender shall be submitted in two separate sealed envelopes (technical and financial offer) and both

Issuing Date

Closing Date

Consultancy and Specialized Services

11-Jan-17

26-Mar-17

Roads

Consultancy and Specialized Services

30-Nov-16

6-Mar-17

Drainage

Participants

Category

envelopes must be enclosed in a third sealed envelope which shall bear the tender number, subject and closing date.

• All Tenders shall be submitted in original and one copy or they will not be acceptance.

Tenders shall be delivered at or sent to arrive not later than 1.00pm local Doha time on the closing date and deposited in the relevant Tender Box of concerned Tenders Committee’s Chairman at PWA. • The successful Tenderer shall provide a Performance Bond in amount of ten (10%) percent of the Contract Price endorsed by an approved local bank in Qatar.

• For further queries about any of the tenders, please communicate in writing to the Contracts Department by Fax.: (+974) 44950777

Tender Number

Type

Envelopes System

TC-B-33-2017

Tender

The purchase of equipment and devices for the purposes of sites inspection and examination

2 Envelopes

500

23

19-03-2017

TC-B-34-2017

Tender

Equipping and rehabilitation of arrivals terminal building at Doha International Airport? Doha Municipality New building (maintenance of fire systems)

2 Envelopes

500

40

19-03-2017

TC-B-29-2017

Tender

Maintenance and care of crops and irrigation systems for the first set of gardens in Doha Municipality for 3 years

2 Envelopes

300

250

12/3/17

TC-B-23-2017

Tender

Concerning the maintenance and operation of air conditioning and refrigeration in a number of (4) deportation and landfills stations, research stations of the Department of Agricultural Research, Department of Zoology of the Department of Public Gardens for 3 years

2 Envelopes

150

60

5/3/17

TC-B-22-201

Tender

Hydrogeological evaluation for the state of Qatar: the impact of drainage and perfusion of groundwater on groundwater quality and formation of caves

2 Envelopes

150

95

5/3/17

TC-B-25-2017

Tender

Maintenance of air conditioners in the Municipality of Umm Salal for 3 years

2 Envelopes

150

23

5/3/17

Subject

Value of the documents

Interim Bond

Closing Dates

Maintenance of air conditioners in the Municipality of Umm Salal for 3 years Conditions:

•

Tender documents may be collected and bids must be submitted to the premises of the “Tenders & Auctions Committee” of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, located at “Al Muntazah” area, administrative attache, 6th Floor,Bldg 2, St Saad Bin Malek 941,Zone24, Rawdat Alkhail Tender documents may be collected against the non-refundable amount stipulated in the Table above.

Required Documents: Authorization letter signed by the company’s authorized person, in Arabic, and endorsed by an authorized person–Company’s Identification Card - Valid Commercial License - Commercial Registration Certificate.

In Tender : Tenders shall be accompanied with a provisional Bank Guarantee, or certified cheque, issued by a bank operating in Qatar, in the amount stipulated In the relevant table for each tender. Such cheques must be valid for one hundred & twenty days (120 days) following the date of opening the envelopes of all Bidders ,though ,The successful bidder shall provide final insurance equivalent to a minimum of ten percent (10% )of the contract value, and must not be Subject to any restriction or condition, must be valid for the entire performance period of the contract and remain valid for seven days (7 days) following the Completion of the contract.

In Auction : shall be accompanied with a provisional Bank Guarantee, or certified cheque, issued by a bank operating in Qatar, in the amount stipulated in the Relevant table for each tender. Such cheques must be valid for one hundred & twenty days (120 days) following the date of opening the envelopes of all Bidders ,though ,to be in a separate envelope ,and in both of tender and auction : tender bond shall be addressed to the Chairman of the “Tenders & Auctions Committee” of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

The bid will remain valid for ninety days (90 Days) from the date of opening the envelopes, and shall remain irrevocable during this period.

• •

•

•

Q

FASTENERS Q Fasteners, surpassing expectations in Construction Fastening Solutions with Technichal Expertise in Products International Standards Compliance and application.

Focusing on Assurance and Consistency in products selections comes with your requirements in mind.

Industrial Area, Gate – 174, ST-17.

P.O Box: 40756 Doha – Qatar Tel: + 974 44118684 Fax: +974 4450 5194

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CONSTRUCTION

E-mail: info@q-fasteners.com Website: www.q-fasteners.com

SITES

• • • •

•

• •

The deadline for accepting bids is twelve o’clock (12:00 noon) as per the date stipulated in the above Table.

In Tender : the Government on the approval of the Tenders and Auctions Committee has the right, during the Contract period, to increase or decrease the Works quantities or services, in compliance with the Conditions of Contract, by not more than 20% of the Contract price.

All Forms and Documents attached with the tender documents, including the tender Form, interim and final Bond form, must be filled and endorsed as Required, AND returned with the rest of the tender documents.

Bids must be deposited in those boxes specified by the “Tenders & Auctions Committee” of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment. Bids shall be Submitted inside envelopes( one or two ) sealed with red wax and addressed to the Chairman of the “Tenders & Auctions Committee” of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Envelopes shall be marked with the number & subject of the tender.

In Auction : The successful bidder shall collect and transport all relevant auction bid materials at his own cost within fifteen (15) days from the date following The Payment of the value of the auction bid. However, in case of delay without an acceptable reason, the successful bidder must pay demurrage fees Equivalent to (1%) of the value of non-received materials per each day of delay.

Technical & Commercial Proposal ( 1 Original + 1 Copies ) Must Be Submitted In Two Separate Envelopes Each Marked With Relevant Title & Tender Number, though, original Of Tender Bond Shall Be Attached In Technical Envelope & Copy Of Tender Bond Shall Be Attached In Financial Envelope.

Any bidder will be excluded if doesn’t submit the samples, and put copy of receipt from the concerned department ( if the conditions stipulated ).

We Build, Connect & Construct.

SITES

Q.M.CONTROLS

ESAB AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS WELDING MACHINES, CUTTING SYSTEMS, CONSUMABLES & PPE

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Email: info@efsqatar.com Web: www.efsqatar.com Office Address: P.O. Box: 201401

T: 40298828 I F: 44276076 I M: 50305539

P.O.Box 6429, Doha - Qatar, Arabian Gulf Tel.: (+974) 44432326 - 44372895 Fax: (+974) 44432460 E-mail: info@qmcontrols.com www.qmcontrols.com

POBox.491, Gate No.45, Street No.29, Industrial Area, Doha-Qatar Email: info@fabricastqatar.com , www.fabricastqatar.com Tel: +974-44783012 / 44127502, Fax: +974-44781646 Mob: +974-30911922 / 74747669 / 30050105 !

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Electrical Material Suppliers

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GSM : 33297331 55242503

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SALES MANAGER - ELECTRICAL DIV

P.O. Box : 5910 DOHA - QATAR

Tel.: Off. 4442 8953/67 AC DIV TEL.: 44411344 Fax: (+974) 4443 4324 Email : emadelectricals@gmail.com

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• All kind of waterproofing.

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Services offered: Freight Services Air, Ocean and Land, Customs Clearance, Supply Chain Management, Warehousing and distribution, Household and relocation.

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PO BOX 200241 Doha - State of Qatar Mobile: +974 7718 0022 Email: delta@cedqatar.com delta@dgcqatar.com www.deltagreen-construction.com

PIPELINE SUPPLIES & SERVICES WLL PO Box: 23630, Old Al Ghanim Doha - Qatar Phone Office: +974 4444 4438 (5 Lines) Fax: +974 4444 4483

CEVA Logistics Qatar W.L.L. dl-gl-ops-qatar@cevalogistics.com elvis.aguilar@cevalogistics.com

T +974 44369439/67/83 F +974 44369076 www.cevalogistics.com

Email : info@pipelineqatar.com Website : www.pipelineqatar.com Phone Warehouse: +974 5506 1085, 7702 3876 Email : stores@pipelineqatar.com

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CAREER SITES

How companies can How companies can engage and retain talent engage and retain talent

F

luency in both English and Arabic, five or more years of experience, excellent leadership and team-work skills, competence in an array of software: the list of requirements for your ideal employees in the region goes on and on. Hiring top talent with very precise skills and qualifications is one of the major challenges of every business and organization.

In the past, employers stood on their heads, cartwheeled, improvised, and jumped through hoops of fire to source and attract the very exact top talent they want and then spent a fortune on orientation, induction and training activities.

But thousands of employers nowadays are resorting to online hiring, particularly CV Search, to filter, sort through, save, compare, contact and hire the best candidates with minimum time and cost. So, this phase of talent management is no longer a nightmare.

Now the question is how do you ensure these coveted gems remain on your headcount and do not become coveted by other organizations any time soon?

In this article, the career experts at Bayt. com, the Middle East’s #1 job site, give you some tips to engage and retain the talent you have in your company.

East and North Africa, say they give their jobs 100% of their effort and passion, there are still some managers who think their employees will be motivated to give a great performance simply because the company has hired them.

Many employers see money as a cure-all tool; their logic being that if they pay their employee enough they’ll put up with anything. But this is a very faulty and outdated type of thinking.

While almost half (48%) of those surveyed in the Bayt.com Middle East and North Africa Salary Survey, said that loyalty to their company was linked to the salary they receive, at least to some extent, a considerable proportion (35%) claimed it was not the case. Retention may also be impacted by employee’s lack of job security.

According to the Bayt.com poll, Stress in the MENA Workplace, 62.9% of professionals are concerned they may lose their jobs very soon.

In today’s job market, people are more and more conscious of the need to maximize their employability. A big reason why people take a job in the first place and why they might be motivated to give it their very best, concerns how they imagine the experience they are gaining will look on their CV.

Employees are (truly) your best assets

Training and development

Employee loyalty fuels productivity. That’s what 88.9% of respondents to the Bayt.com poll, Employee loyalty in the Middle East and North Africa, agreed to.

Employees who feel valued, recognized and appreciated are the most loyal. As a top employer, you must make sure formal mechanisms for evaluating and rewarding employees are in place, are competitive and are in-sync with industry norms.

It is your responsibility, as an employer, to recognize outstanding performance and reward it on a periodic basis. Do set regular special initiatives that identify, celebrate, motivate and incentivize your star employees and promote their loyalty and retention.

Managers of successful organizations rarely miss an opportunity to remind their audience, as well as themselves, that their people are their most precious asset.

According to the Passion for Work in the Middle East and North Africa poll, 76.8% of respondents say their managers provide them with feedback and genuinely care about their professional growth and development.

Take Bayt.com as an example. The company prides itself on the recognition and celebration of exceptional employee performance and has been recognized as a great place to work for many consecutive years. Employees who aren’t celebrated won’t be fully committed and therefore cannot possibly be doing justice to their company at any level.

In today’s tough job market where there is strong competition among companies for talented employees, employers need to understand that the training and development they extend to their employees will not only make employees more able and more valuable, but will also act as a powerful incentive for them to stay.

Naturally, organizations are always at risk that their staff will leave at one point or another, taking their new skills with them.

Yet, employees of organizations that do not provide suitable training and career development opportunities have little motivation to stay.

This may sound like a paradox, but it is one with a simple solution: accept that employees are more likely to leave if they aren’t trained.

According to the Bayt.com Career Development in the Middle East and North Africa survey, career development is seen as one of the most important factors for employee retention.

The great majority (82%) of respondents say they would leave their current company for better training opportunities. The Lack of motivation (38%), followed by no clear objectives (31%) are the most mentioned internal barriers for career development.

Reasons to care Although 90.2% of respondents to the Bayt. com poll, Passion for Work in the Middle

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About Bayt.com: Bayt.com is the #1 job site in the Middle East with more than 40,000 employers and over 26,750,000 registered job seekers from across the Middle East, North Africa and the globe, representing all industries, nationalities and career levels. Post a job or find jobs on www.bayt.com today and access the leading resource for job seekers and employers in the region.

SITES

BAYT.COM & MAD TALKS THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERIES

Watch Inspiring Interviews with Some of the Middle East's Most Successful Business Minds

Women to Watch Harvard Alumni Success Secrets The Importance of Education Finding a Career Path Entrepreneurship

WATCH THEIR STORIES

www.bayt.com/en/podcast/video

2017 CALENDAR OF EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS EVENTS

Cityscape Qatar Organizer: Informa Exhibitions Event date (s): 13 – 15 March Venue: Doha Exhibition Convention Centre (DECC) Hall 1 & 2 Location: Doha,Qatar Tel: +971 (0) 4 336 5161 Website: www.cityscapeqatar.com

3rd Annual Power and Transmission Summit, Riyadh Saudi Arabia Organizer: Nispana Innovative Platforms Event date (s): 15 – 16 March Venue: Riyadh, Marriot Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Tel: +91 9916954438 Email: pradish.g@nispana.com Website: http://mepowertrans.com/

3rd Annual Future BIM Implementation Qatar Organizer: ACM Event date (s): 20 – 21 March Venue: TBA Location: Doha, Qatar Tel: +971 4 361 4001 Email: opportunities@acm-events.com Website: www.futurebimqatar.com

Façade Design & Engineering Innovation Exchange Qatar Organizer: IQPC Middle East Event date (s): 27 March Venue: TBC Location: Doha, Qatar Mobile: +971 4 364 2975 Email: enquiry@iqpc.ae Website: www.facadesqatar.com

Middle East Road and Bridge Forum Organizer: IQPC Middle East Event date (s): 3 – 4 April Venue: InterContinental Dubai Festival City Location: Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 701 1111 Email: enquiry@iqpc.ae Website: www.roadandbridgeforumme.iqpc.com

Arab Future Cities Summit Qatar 2017 Organizer: Expotrade Middle East FZ-LLC Event date (s): 10 – 11 April Venue: The Ritz Carlton Location: Doha, Qatar Tel: +971 4 4542135 Email: marketing@expotrade-me.com Website: www.arabfuturecities.com

World Stadium Congress Organizer: IQPC Middle East Event date (s): 9 – 11 May Venue: Westin, Doha, Qatar Location: Doha, Qatar Tel: +971 4 364 2975 Email: enquiry@iqpc.ae Website: www.worldstadiumcongress.com

Qatar Stonetech Organizer: IFP Qatar Event date (s): 8 – 11 May Venue: Doha Exhibition Convention Centre (DECC) Location: Doha, Qatar Tel: +974 44329900 Email: info@ifpqatar.com Website: www.qatarstone-tech.com

Project Qatar Organizer: IFP Qatar Event date (s): 8 – 11 May Venue: Doha Exhibition Convention Centre (DECC) Location: Doha, Qatar Tel: +974 44329900 Email: info@ifpqatar.com Website: www.projectqatar.com

Saudi Smart Cities 2017 Organizer: Nispana Innovative Platforms Pvt Ltd Event date (s): 16,17,18 May Venue: Intercontinental Hotel, Riyadh Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Tel: +91 9880022722 Email: jaisimha.das@nispana.com Website: www.saudismartcities.net

Heavy Max Organizer: IFP Qatar Event date (s): 8 – 11 May Venue: Doha Exhibition Convention Centre (DECC) Location: Doha, Qatar Tel: +974 44329900 Email: info@ifpqatar.com Website: www.heavymaxqatar.com

Power Qatar Summit (Incorporating Solar Qatar) Organizer: Expotrade Middle East FZ-LLC Event date (s): 9 – 10 October Venue: The Ritz Carlton Location: Doha, Qatar Tel: +971 4 4542135 Fax: +971 4 35 85 511 Website: www.powerqatar.com

CONSTRUCTION

SITES

MARCH 2017

29

PROJECT FOCUS

To know more about GCC project data, visit & register at www.qc-sites.com Project Title

Client

Main Contractor

Value Range (QR) Million

Project Status

Type of Project

1.

C6 - LUSAIL

REGENCY REAL ESTATE

NA

165,540,000.00

Design stage

MIXED USE BUILDING

2.

FOXHILLS - A29

FURSAN REAL ESTATE

NA

20,091,000.00

Design stage

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

3.

C5 - LUSAIL

RABBAN GROUP

NA

126,319,000.00

Design stage

MIXED USE BUILDING

4.

FOXHILLS - A30

FURSAN REAL STATE

NA

32,627,000.00

Design stage

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

5.

C4 - LUSAIL

REGENCY REAL ESTATE

NA

108,070,000.00

Design stage

HOTEL APARTMENTS

6.

FV7 - MULTI PURPOSE HALL/ART CENTRE

REGENCY REAL ESTATE

NA

67,500,000.00

Design stage

COMMERCIAL

7.

FV9 AL ASMAKH HEAD OFFICE IN SUSAIL

REGENCY REAL ESTATE

NA

38,000,000.00

Design stage

OFFICE BUILDING

8.

FOXHILLS - A21

MR. NASSER SHAREEF ALEMADI

NA

22,505,000.00

On-going

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

9.

FOXHILLS - D49

REGENCY REAL ESTATE

NA

29,299,000.00

Design stage

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

10.

FOXHILLS - D21

REGENCY REAL ESTATE

NA

27,472,000.00

Design stage

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

11.

FOXHILLS - D04

REGENCY REAL ESTATE

NA

25,273,000.00

Design stageE

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

12.

FOXHILLS - A13

REGENCY REAL ESTATE

NA

24,918,000.00

Design stage

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

FOXHILLS - D14

REGENCY REAL ESTATE

NA

23,150,000.00

Design stage

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

13.

Project Title

Client

Main Contractor

Value Range (QR) Million

Project Status

Type of Project

1.

CBQ Boulevard

CBQ

HBK

N/A

Under Construction

Commercial, Bank, Office Plaza

2.

Doha Festival City (Package 3250,3100 and 7500

Basrec

GCC/ALEC JV

N/A

Under Construction

Retail Mall

3.

Commercial Tower on Plot Com/49 Al Sedian Company

Yousuf Al Mahmoud

Al Balagh Trading & Contracting Co. W.L.L.

N/A

Under Construction

Office Building - Tower

4.

Office Tower (3B+G22+ Floors) Plot Com50- at Lusail Marina

Qatar Trading Agency

Redco - Al Mana

N/A

Under Construction

Office Building

5.

Qatar Sidra Village Project

Mazaya Qatar Real Estate Development QSC

Sinohydro Group Limited

N/A

Under Construction

Residential

6.

Al Rabban Suites Hotel Apartments (3B+G+M50+Floors)

Al Sarh Real Estate WLL

CRC

N/A

Under Construction

Residential

7.

Office Buildings (3B+G22+) at Lusail Marina District

Sh. Hamad Bin Faisal Al Thani

REDCO Al Mana

N/A

Under Construction

Office Building

8.

Holiday Inn at Business Park

He Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Al-Thani

Man Enterprises Qatar, WLL

N/A

Under Construction

Hotel

9.

Office Buildings (3B+G22+) at Lusail Marina District

Sh. Hamad Bin Faisal Al Thani

REDCO Al Mana

N/A

Under Construction

Office Building

10.

Holiday Inn at Business Park

He Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Al-Thani

Man Enterprises Qatar, WLL

N/A

Under Construction

Hotel

11.

Five Residential Towers at Viva Bahriya at the Pear (project management)

Qatar Islamic Bank

AFQCO & REDCO - Al Mana

1.4-1.2 bn

Under Construction

Residential Towers

Project Title

Client

Main Contractor

Value Range (QR) Million

Project Status

Type of Project

1.

Blusail Furnished Apartment at Lusail (3B+G+10)

H.E SH Abdulla Bin Mohamed Al Thani

Matta Contracting Qatar

89.5

Under Construction

Residential Building

2.

E's Hail Communication Network Building at Duhailiyat Camp

Qatar Armed Forces

Not appointed

N/A

Tendering Stage

Office Building

3.

Development of Ooredoo TEC Complex at Industrial Area

Ooredoo

Not appointed

N/A

Design Stage

Commercial Complex

4.

Private Villa at Pearl Qatar

Private Client

Not appointed

N/A

Design Stage

Villa

5.

Doha Education Centre

Doha Education Centre

Not appointed

50-30 Million

Design stage

Education

6.

Step 1 International Academy

Step 1 International Academy

Not appointed

40-20 Million

Design stage

School

Project Title

Client

Main Contractor

Value Range (QR) Million

Project Status

Type of Project

1.

Mix 11 Hotel Tower at Lusail City

Real Estate Services Group

N/A

600 Million

Design Stage

Hotel

2.

Al Jassasiyah White Beach Palace

UrbaCon Trading & Contracting (UCC)

N/A

400 Million

Design Stage

Mixed-Use

3.

Marina Com 05 Tower at Lusail City

Private Engineering Office / Mashour Real Estate Group

N/A

315 Million

Construction Stage

Office / Commercial

4.

Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry Building

Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry

N/A

270 Million

Design Stage

Office

5.

Com 02 - Barwa Bank Headquarters at Lusail City

Barwa / Hilson Moran

N/A

250 Million

Design Stage

Office

6.

National Cyber Security Center

Ministry of Interior / Al Ali International

N/A

180 Million

Design Stage

Office

MADINAT ASH SHAMAL

AL GHUWARIYAH AL KHAWR

UMM SALAL

AL JUMALIYAH

DOHA AL RAYYAN

AL WAKRAH

MESAEED

JARIYAN AL BATNAH

NOTE: Whistle we take pride in keeping our Consultants Database with the most up-to-date information, please note that the above information is provided by the Consultants mentioned in the list; therefore QCS is not responsible for any incorrect data.

30

MARCH 2017

CONSTRUCTION

SITES

Project Title

Client

Main Contractor

Value Range (QR) Million

Project Status

Type of Project

1.

Fiber Glass Factory at New Industrial Area

German Tech Fibre Glass WLL

N/A

N/A

Tender stage

Factory Building

2.

Kitchen equipment factory at New Industrial Area

Justa Kitchen and Cookers

N/A

N/A

Tender stage

Factory, office Building

3.

Sand witch panel factory at New Industrial Area

Doha Sandwich Panel

N/A

N/A

Design stage

Factory Building

4.

Oil recycling plant at New Industrial Area

QAR Oil Recycling

International Work Group

N/A

Under construction

Oil recycling plant

5.

Cements product factory at Industrail Area

Al Simeh Cements Products

N/A

N/A

Design stage

Factory

6.

Accomodation and Store at Industrial Area

Ramco Trading and Contg.

Ramco Trading and Contg.

N/A

Tender stage

Acco. And Store

7.

Precast Factory - M IND AREA

Al Ghariya Precast

N/A

N/A

Design stage

Factory

8.

Oil Recycling plant - M. IND AREA

Gulf Oil Recycling

N/A

N/A

Design stage

Recycling plant

9.

Gulf Pallet Factory - MIC

Gulf Pallet WLL

N/A

N/A

Design Stage

Factory and office

10.

Abdul Noor Block factoryMIC

Abdul Noor Block Factory

N/A

N/A

Tender stage

Factory and office

11.

Switch Gear Factory - MIC

Q- TECH WLL

N/A

N/A

Tender stage

Switch gear

12.

Warehouse and Store MANATEQ

Quality Group of Companies

N/A

N/A

Design stage

Store and Warehouse

Project Title

Client

Main Contractor

Value Range (QR) Million

Project Status

Type of Project

1.

Police College Academy

MOI

Not Appointed

N/A

Tender Stage

Educational Complex

2.

Health Care Centers (Pacakge 4 & 5)

PWA

ITC/UCE

600

Under Construction

Medical Centers

3.

Villas Complex (Al Fardan 9) at Abu Sidra

Danat Qatar

Ramaco

300M

Construction Stage

Residential Building

4.

Multi-level Cars Park at Hamad International Airport

Qatar Airways

N/A

N/A

Tender Stage

Cars Park

5.

Logistic City

Qatar Navigation

Ramco

450M

Under Construction

Warehouses

6.

4 Nos. Parks at Various Locations in Al Daayen Municipality

Ministry of Municipality & Environment

N/A

N/A

Design Stage

Landscaping & Parks

7.

Construction of 56 Nos. New Schools (Stage 9B)

PWA

Al Huda/Al Sraiya/JTC

500

Under Construction

Educational Building

8.

Headquarter of General Directorate of Borders Passports, Expatriates Affairs, Nationality & Travel Documents Department

MOI

Al Aali International

800

Under Construction

Offices & Services Building

Project Title

Client

Main Contractor

Value Range (QR) Million

Project Status

Type of Project

1.

Commercial Tower in Marina District, Lusail (COM 17)

Sheikh Mohamed Jassem

Not Appointed

198,500,000

Design Stage

Commercial

2.

5-Star Hotel at Ramda Signal

Babishtar Group W.L.L.

Bab Ishtar

70,000,000

Under Construction

Hospitality

3.

Office Building ECQ-D29 in Lusail

Abdulla Abdulrehman Abdula Heidar

Not Appointed

22,400,000

Design Stage

Office

4.

Residential Apartment Tower in Marina District, (RES 22) Lusail

Al Mohannadi Group

Not Appointed

81,000,000

Design Stage

Residential

5.

Residentials Building MU / P08 at Fox Hills, Lusail

Qatari Real Estate Group

Not Appointed

22,000,000

Design Stage

Residential

6.

Cold Stores & Meat Processing Facility at Industrial Area

Zad Holding

Qatar Mega Building

51,000,000

Under Construction

Industrial

7.

Twin Tower 13A & 13B at the Pearl

Sh. Nasser Bin Falah Al Thani Group

PLQ (Powerline Qatar)

482500000

Under Construction

Residential

Project Title

Client

Main Contractor

Value Range (QR) Million

Project Status

Type of Project

1.

Al Emadi Twin Towers

IBA GROUP

Not Appointed

400

Design Stage

Commercial / Offices Towers

2.

City Tower

Mr. Saeed Ben Zayed El-Khayareen

Al-Huda

200-250

Under Construction

Office Building

3.

Fahd Suite Apartment Hotel

FBA GROUP

Not Appointed

200

Detail Stage

Shopping Mall & Office Tower

4.

IBA Hotel

IBA GROUP

Not Appointed

200

Under Construction

Hotel

5.

Al Attiya Compound

Tameer Real Estate

Al Seal Trading

160

Under Construction

Residential Building

6.

Flight Simulator

Qatar Airways

Redco

40 Million

On Going

Special or Laboratory

El Doha Tower

Mr. Mohamed Ben Zayed El-Khayareen

Al-Huda

120-100

Completed

Office Building

Mall

Farm

7.

8.

Al Meera Hazm Al Markhiya Mall

Al Meera

Not Appointed

N/A

Full Design Package from concept to preparation of tender documents included interior design

9.

Supervision of Breeding Farm near Zubara Village

Equestrian Club

Not Appointed

N/A

On Going

KnowCrete by

Self Compacting Concrete

S

elf-Compacting Concrete (SCC), which flows under its own weight and does not require any external vibration for compaction, has revolutionized concrete placement. SCC, was first introduced in the late 1980’s by Japanese researchers , is highly workable concrete that can flow under its own weight through restricted sections without segregation and bleeding. Such concrete should have a relatively low yield value to ensure high flow ability, a moderate viscosity to resist segregation and bleeding, and must maintain its homogeneity during transportation, placing and curing to ensure adequate structural performance and long term durability.

The successful development of SCC must ensure a good balance between deformability and stability. Researchers have set some guidelines for mixture proportioning of SCC, which include i) reducing the volume ratio of aggregate to cementitious material; (ii) increasing the paste volume and water-cement ratio (w/c); (iii) carefully controlling the maximum coarse aggregate particle size and total volume; and (iv) using various viscosity enhancing admixtures (VEA). For SCC, it is generally necessary to use superplasticizers in order to obtain high mobility. Adding a large volume of powdered material or viscosity modifying admixture can eliminate segregation. The powdered materials that can be added are fly ash, silica fume, lime stone powder, glass filler and quartzite filler.

Since, self-compactibility is largely affected by the characteristics of materials and the mix proportions, it becomes necessary to evolve a procedure for mix design of SCC. Okamura and Ozawa have proposed a mix proportioning system for SCC. In this system, the coarse aggregate and fine aggregate contents are fixed and self-compactibility is to be achieved by adjusting the water /powder ratio and super plasticizer dosage.

The coarse aggregate content in concrete is generally fixed at 50 percent of the total solid volume, the fine aggregate content is fixed at 40 percent of the mortar volume and the water /powder ratio is assumed to be 0.9-1.0 by volume depending on the properties of the powder and the super plasticizer dosage. The required water /powder ratio is determined by conducting a number of trials. One of the limitations of SCC is that there is no established mix design procedure yet.

info@greymatters.ws www.greymatters.wsP

CONSTRUCTION

SITES

MARCH 2017

31

SITES C o n s t r u c t i o n

Monthly construction news, tenders, project focus, and forthcoming exhibitions in Qatar Tel.: +974 4469 3280 - Fax: +974 4451 0428

Rania Queen St. Amman- Jordan Tel: +9626 5356616 - Fax: +9626 535 6606 - P.O.Box: 622 - Aljbeha: 11941 watan_newspaper@yahoo.com

Issue No. (116) March 2017, Doha - Qatar

: Careful planning and a step-by-step Careful planning and a step-by-step

transition to 5G era is necessary transition to 5G era is necessary

Part 2

5G networks will shape the next generation of mobile technology

F

rom Singapore to San Francisco, smart cities are becoming a reality in many countries all over the world. Last year, Juniper’s Smart City Rankings chose Singapore as the world’s smartest city, as it topped a list of five countries evaluated according to 40 metrics, covering technology, transport, energy, open data and economy.

The rankings found that Singapore is a world leader in applying smart mobility policies and technology. The city’s fixed and cellular broadband services, city apps and strong open data policy led to it taking the top spot for 2016.

Other counties on the list included Barcelona, London, San Francisco and Oslo.

A smart city has many definitions, but in its essence, it is an urban development vision to integrate multiple information and communication technology (ICT) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to manage a city’s assets.

In the second part of this wide-ranging interview with Mahmud Awad, Chief Business Officer at Vodafone Qatar, Construction Sites explores the security challenges related to smart cities and how it can be alleviated.

We also talk about the role of 5G in smart cities and the industry sectors that can benefit from it, in addition to the opportunities the large numbers of connected devices can present to organise, manage and control the delivery of public services in these cities, providing huge benefits for their inhabitants.

1. What are the security challenges related to smart homes and smart cities?

How can you help alleviate these security threats?

The way we handle privacy and security is a vital part of our responsibility to our customers and essential to the success of our business.

The confidentiality of customers’ personal and private communications is a fundamentally important requirement for any communications company, as the company will manage a great deal of sensitive information, including customers’ personal information, their location and how they use the Internet.

The complexity of technology, threats from hackers and the potential for human error can lead to information being lost or deleted or getting into the wrong hands.

We operate a global information governance system that enables us to track the flow of customer data and ensure we apply appropriate governance and legal processes. We have robust, standardised security processes within our own operations and employ specialist teams to evaluate the governance and controls of our suppliers.

In many countries, cities are the backbones of national economies. They are hugely complex entities with many working parts. These include public water systems, power grid, waste management, traffic control, street lighting, public transportation.

When IoT devices run a “smart city”, and have the potential to shape and control such vitally important aspects of city life, their integrity and security are of paramount importance.

Increasing numbers of connected devices can present unparalleled opportunities to organise, manage and control the delivery of such public services, providing huge benefits for their inhabitants.

But a proliferation of connected, smart devices can also present security risks, requiring a clear focus by authorities on information security, and in particular encryption and access control standards for both wireless network and data security.

Ensuring their security at the necessary level requires a broad range of stakeholders – government, regulators, vendors and operators – to work closely together to comprehensively define the security challenges of smart cities and find workable solutions.

Another aspect that is fundamentally important to the safe and secure management of IoT opportunities is that manufacturers and vendors produce hardware and software that is developed with the most robust security features, ensuring they are tested to the fullest extent.

Our privacy program is underpinned by extensive information and network security practices and technologies designed to secure the infrastructure and systems on which our business’ and our customers’ privacy is based. These include: * Advanced security monitoring systems to detect and respond to cyber security issues in real time. * Physical controls including appropriate vetting of people to manage against misuse of access or privileges by our own staff, contractors or third parties. * Significant investment in security technologies.

The robust information security policies, processes and procedures supporting these controls are regularly audited and tested.

Our approach is based on the principles outlined in ISO 27001, the international standard for information security management systems.

Our core data centers in Germany, India, Ireland and Italy are certified to this standard.

We require our external suppliers and partners to meet defined minimum security standards and we conduct risk assessments and due diligence exercises to provide assurance that these are being met in practice.

Vodafone’s Global Security Operations Centre (GSOC) is designed to detect attacks as they happen and minimise their impact. This centralised security centre monitors our IT systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to enable us to respond to cyber threats in real time and provide the highest level of protection.

We identify and deal with tens of millions of IT security attacks every month, to protect the information of over 400 million customers and ensure the best network performance.

We recognise that some attacks may happen and may result in data being compromised. The management of these incidents when they happen is as critical as their prevention. As a result, we piloted the customer privacy impact service to ensure that we always put the customer first when incidents occur.

2. Why is 5G necessary? What role will it play in a Smart City?

Today, mobile communication is used primarily to connect people – not only through traditional voice telephony but also via SMS, social media and messaging services. Mobile communication is also being used more frequently to connect machines and all types of devices. This is why we also talk about the so-called Internet of Things. 5G has the potential to make cities into smart cities, where intelligent stoplights monitor and control traffic, for example, and multilevel parking facilities communicate with in-car navigation systems to guide drivers to the best parking spaces and prevent traffic jams.

5G will shape the next generation of mobile technology and has the potential to enable a fully mobile and connected society, across many walks of life – from autonomous driving, disaster alerts, automotive e-calling and device remote control to name just a few.

5G networks have the potential to accommo-

date many more users and devices compared with existing networks, while delivering more data and providing a wider range of services and experiences to each user.

Advocates of 5G envision networks with unprecedented data rates and mobile access, providing opportunities to accommodate a wealth of new and diverse connected devices and activities. Such networks will target latency (network response times) in the single digit milliseconds and the capacity to handle 1,000 times more consumption than current 4G network technologies. This entails exciting IoT opportunities like robotics or autonomous vehicles at scale in a truly connected world.

5G and IoT connectivity can enable Smarter Cities and better services. It can help improve public safety, public infrastructure maintenance, energy efficiency, public space management, transportation and quality of life for the residents and businesses of cities.

3. Which branches of industry can be used more efficiently with 5G? Many industry sectors of the economy will be positively impacted by the advent of 5G networks, since the benefits are so widespread and broad.

Researchers predict that 5G will help deliver a new wave of innovation in digital networks, which will benefit both consumers and a wide range of industries. 5G networks have the potential to: * Significantly reduce latency; * Allow ultra-fast download and upload speeds; * Improve spectral efficiency and network reliability; and * Substantially increase the number of devices that can simultaneously connect to the network, supporting the development of the Internet of Things.

5G networks are set to improve in every way how people confidently connect to the things that matter in their life.

Within only three months, we created a 5G Smart Network Edge prototype by connecting our labs.

The Face Recognition case study is just one example demonstrating how 5G will meet the diverse needs of a wide range of industries.

Nearly every branch of industry will benefitfrom 5G because the new opportunities will improve communication and cooperation in every respect.

Automotive is one very clear example of an industry that is set to benefit, with considerable interest in autonomous vehicles. As a business, we are well positioned to take advantage of such opportunities and are testing new technology to enable vehicles to talk to each other or to roadside infrastructure over greater distances.

Vodafone has started trialling vehicle-to-vehicle communications (LTE-V2X) in the UK and is planning further trials in Germany LTE-V2X to enable cars to communicate with each other and to improve road safety and efficiency.

4. What are the biggest obstacles to establishing a viable concept for 5G in Qatar in particular or the Gulf region in general?

5G networks will have to lead to close integration between mobile and fixed networks. The goal is to achieve very dense coverage with all possible access technologies for current and future services in a convergent network.

In addition to very high bandwidths, there will have to be a focus on very fast response times, extremely high reliability and flexibility. This is the prerequisite for direct communication be-

Mahmud Awad Chief Business Officer Vodafone Qatar

tween end devices or massive M2M applications in the future. This can only be achieved through new kinds of self-organizing networks and self-management.

We also expect research and industry to develop these technologies in an energy-efficient way.

The role of virtualization with software-defined networks and network function virtualization is playing an important role in the creation of 5G. Some important network functionalities are already being routinely virtualized. These include systems for voice-over IP in the fixed network, LTE roaming agents, network monitoring systems and voice-over LTE. In our view, network function virtualization and software-defined networks will be the core components of 5G technologies.

One major challenge is standardisation so that 5G can be used internationally as quickly as possible. The necessary frequency bands have to be available as well and hardware manufacturers must offer both the network technology and the corresponding end devices.

To meet these challenges, governments, telecom regulatory authorities, universities, vendors and network operators will need to work together to find use cases that will bring new socio-economic gains.

It is to address exactly these sorts of challenges that Vodafone has partnered with technology companies, including Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson, Intel and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to research 5G technologies and prepare our networks for a transition towards this new mobile standard.

5G technologies are progressing, and the potential of an Internet for everyone and everything is becoming more of a reality every day. But, given the scale of the technological advancement required, careful planning and a step-by-step transition to 5G will be necessary.

Clearly networks and devices need to evolve to handle the data volumes and speeds that 5G networks promise.