Foster + Partners, a leading UK-based architectural firm, said the work was moving at a steady pace on its 1.1-million-sq-m Qatari development, Lusail Towers and was on track for completion ahead of 2022 World Cup.

Lusail Towers is a landmark project in Qatar, envisioned as the catalyst for a new central business district in Lusail, 23 km north of Doha, with a distinctive collection of four high-rise buildings.

It will host the headquarters for the Qatar National Bank, Qatar Central Bank and Qatar Investment Authority alongside several other global organisations including Qatari Diar, while creating a new downtown district that is sensitive to the climate and linked to a new transportation hub.

The project is part of a larger masterplan also designed by Foster + Partners, which is being completed ahead of the 2022 World Cup, said the company in a statement.

Foster + Partners had carried out the architectural and environmental design alongside structural and MEP engineering for the entire project.

The practice’s unique integrated design approach was crucial in delivering a complex project within a demanding fast-track schedule. The project is underpinned by innovation, exemplified by the technological tools developed by the practice to assist the integrated design team, it stated.

The design of the towers and the podium buildings was influenced by climate, creating an intimate human-scale streetscape while responding to the city on an urban scale, it added.

Luke Fox, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners, said: "The complexity of the project and the compressed timescales meant that the exchange of information between architects, engineers and other consultants needed to be almost instantaneous."

"From the outset, we established an innovative approach by creating a single platform that communicated design changes in real-time, enabling our integrated team work cohesively and at speed," noted Fox.

Jonathan Parr, Senior Partner, Foster + Partners, said: "Projects associated with major sporting events leave no room for delays. We knew from the beginning that to meet the challenges and the complexities of the project, we needed to approach the project differently, using technology to maintain consistency in the information flows across different disciplines."

The team deployed an in-house software system called ‘Hermes’ that coordinates design data for the project and facilitates sharing of this data in real time across different applications, disciplines, organisations and locations around the world, he added.