Another obstacle the team faced was the lack of available lifts to transport labour across the project. “A major challenge was that the development was a shell and core facility. The base build contactor was still on site when we commenced the fit-out work. They were here doing various snagging and commissioning works, and one of the commissioning items not complete was the elevators. We planned to use the lifts to transport materials and labour up and down the floors. It was a top-down construction and begun with the demolition from the top.

“When COVID crept in, all the restrictions started coming in, we had to limit the labour onsite and, in the elevators, to maintain social distancing. It became a bit of a challenge as we did not have all the elevators available and, we also had to reduce the number of labour that could use the elevator at a time. The huge volume of men we were trying to move on the project for the demolition works just got hindered by COVID.

“We had to re-sequence the process, we started demolition on the lower floors to save us having to transport men to level six,” Ross illustrates. Nonetheless, work progressed as planned regardless of the hurdles. The contract also presented Khansaheb with other unique characteristics. One such being the exposed services on the acoustic ceiling. Jamie elaborates: “We had 11,000 sqm of exposed acoustic ceiling that was installed prior to the MEP services being installed. That created a challenge as we had to install the services and not damage the finished ceiling. All the MEP work comes on through the threaded rods so we tried to plan as much as we could to work on the joints of the ceilings. It required a lot of coordination.”

A positive outcome
Khansaheb’s exceptional work ethics and professional conduct not only ensured the project is on target towards delivery and completed on time to an exceptionally high quality, but it has also achieved a million-man hours accident free. Ross credits the success to the firm’s internal resources and capabilities.

With most of the work being done during the pandemic, Khansaheb has not reported a single positive case of the virus among its labour on the site. Ross attributes it to the stringent health, safety, and wellbeing policy of the company.  “A lot of preventive measures were put in place right from conducting safety trainings to limiting capacity on our buses transporting operatives to and from the site to camp as well as socially distancing on site.

“A lot of activities had to be re-sequenced for their health and safety. We also had to phase breaks for the labour, so we did not have too many operatives in the welfare facility at the same time. We had to maintain social distancing spots all over the floor and ensure they were not congregating at one area. A two-metre distance is always maintained. We installed hand-sanitisation stations all over the place and we have continuous cleaning of high touch points – on transport, on site and at the camps.”

A joint effort
Real estate advisors, JLL, who have been the consultants on the project, have had a positive experience on the project.

Paul Ludlam, Director, Head of Fit Out UAE, JLL Project & Development Services, said: “Working with Khansaheb and the design team has been an excellent experience. It has been a collaborative project with a brilliant partnership from all the teams involved. We signed the contract in April 2020, and it has been a quick construction period for such a large space, and during a pandemic.

“It has been an extremely well-run project, organised, clean and well-managed. We worked together as a team to get around issues and do things as one. I think that’s paid off and we’ll be handing over the project very soon.”

JLL has provided Heriot-Watt a full suite of services from project development services to strategic consulting, project asset management, cost management and sustainability services.

In closing, Ross said: “We have achieved great success on this project due to a collaborative effort by the project team, JLL, BDP [the architects] and Hoare Lea [MEP Consultant]. It’s been a fantastic team effort with all parties focused from the outset towards achieving successful delivery of the project.”