The Making Of A Masterpiece

One Za’abeel owes its brilliance to the craft of one of the leading companies in the region. Rob Davies talks more about this

One Za’abeel is a unique mix-used development compromising of two towers, Tower A — hotel and serviced apartments, Tower B — Simplex and Duplex apartments, with a link bridge connecting both towers. At a level of more than 105 metres, the bridge structure is 225 metres long and 18 metres high, making it longest lifted bridge in the world. Rob Davies, Managing Director, DEPA, said: “DEPA’s scope of work is the fit-out for the complete Tower B and the public areas of Tower A, which forms a major proportion of the high-end fit-out work at the project.”

Talking about the challenges faced, Davies said: “The interior design is, along with the building’s architecture, quite unique. As with any high-rise building logistics are the key to a successful project. The complexity of the structure and its position in the centre of the city only added to the logistical issues. These issues have, and continue to, be overcome through close and continued co-ordination with a strong and more than competent Main Contractor.”

The tangible opportunities in the project revolved around the change of design and DEPA’s involvement within the same to propose and meet the required criteria and specifications. The prestigious name of the project influenced DEPA to tender the project given the synergies with DEPA’s capabilities of complex projects and a world class fitout.

“Completing the engineering works, whilst proposing alternative materials, meeting both budget and performance, was a key issue and one that was fulfilled on time by DEPA’s in house engineering team. These included solutions to upgrade the interior design detailing with engineered systems to the specially installed surfaces were huge milestones for us,” said Davies.