Qatar Rail, the company overseeing the construction of the country's integrated railway network, has won two major accolades at the International Property Awards gala held in London, UK.

The company was awarded the 'Best Arabian Architectural Design for Public Service’ and the ‘Best International Architectural Design for Public Service’ at the gala event held this month.

A panel of 20 international architects’ judges have given the two distinguished awards to Qatar Rail during the international nomination event attended by Qatar Rail's deputy chief executive Hamad Al Bishri and Mohamed Timbely, the senior director of Architecture and MEP department, said a statement from the company.

The awards were in recognition of the quality of the design of Qatar Rail’s “Vaulted Spaces” for stations on the Doha Metro.

This follows a win at the regional event in Dubai, UAE, last month where the company was named best “Public Service Architecture – Qatar” for the same project.

The regional award was received by Timbely and Hassan Al Marwani, the technical interface director.

The International Property Awards are running the awards since 1995 and are open to residential and commercial property professionals from around the globe.

Qatar Rail said it was the first company from the Arab world to win award in the International Public Service Architecture category.

According to the jury, the design for the Doha Metro creates a unique combination of a recognisable design across the network with an approach which allows each line in the system to have a distinct identity and individual stations to have designs which embody the culture and history of the area they serve.

All stations in the network will reflect an overall design concept – called “Vaulted Spaces” which is based on traditional Islamic architecture. The stations will therefore bring together the modern high-tech elements of the country’s future, yet will also celebrate its traditions.

Commenting on the win, CEO Saad Al Muhannadi said: "These awards recompensed two years of efforts where we tried to appropriate the concept of the Vaulted Spaces in order to be part of the heritage, culture and the national vision of the state of Qatar. It’s not only about architecture; it’s about a vision that we share."-TradeArabia News Service