Middle East companies looking to capitalise on Qatar’s infrastructure spending for the 2022 World Cup can learn valuable lessons from London’s preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games, an industry expert said.

Simon Wright, director of infrastructure and utilities at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) for the London Olympics, says the major emphasis placed on sustainability in London’s Games master plan could provide vital guidelines to be followed in Qatar.

Wright will address delegates at the CityBuild Construction Summit and discuss the challenges faced by his team at the ODA in preparing for 2012, and will offer invaluable insights for construction firms vying to do business in Qatar in the lead up to the 2022 World Cup finals.

 “There will be significant opportunities for designers and contractors, and companies with proven capabilities and experience in recent international stadia will no doubt be in demand,” he said.

Qatar plans to build nine new stadia and expand three existing ones to cater for bigger attendances.  Since it plans to dismantle the stadia after the games where possible and donate them to countries with less developed sport infrastructure, very specific lessons can be learnt from London, where the Olympic Stadium has been designed so that its upper tier, holding over half of the total capacity, can be dismantled after the Games. In addition, the basketball and hockey stadia in London are temporary and will be removed.

Wright will also be offering advice on sustainability, which is a core concern for Qatar and is one of the reasons behind its decision to donate its new stadia to developing nations.

“Construction health and safety, sustainability, design quality, disabled access and inclusivity policies were embedded into tenders for the various contractors and have been vigorously enforced in London,” he said.

 “For instance, the Olympic Delivery Authority set a target whereby at least 90 per cent of all demolition waste was to be re-used on site.  Following the demolition of existing buildings on site, intensive efforts to incorporate these waste streams into the new works were successful with over 96 per cent re-use achieved.”

Wright will address industry professionals at the CityBuild Construction Summit on April 18  at 11:30am. Running alongside CityBuild Abu Dhabi, the summit will also feature speeches from some of the region’s most influential business figures, including Fatima Al Jaber, chief operating officer for Al Jaber Group; Laurie Voyer, CEO and MD of Al Habtoor Leighton Group; and Khaldoun Tabari, CEO of Drake & Scull International. 

The second edition of CityBuild Abu Dhabi is co-located at Cityscape Abu Dhabi from April 17-20 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. – TradeArabia News Service