The FITOUT successfully completes interior construction of 432 luxury apartments at the Palm Tower Hotel & Residences
The FITOUT announces the successful completion and delivery of interior fit-out services for the Palm Tower Hotel and Residences. The design and construction of the interior of 432 rooms were completed by the fit-out service provider.
The FITOUT’s opulent and innovative designs will feature the kitchen, vanity units, wardrobe, fridge, and other storage spaces of the 109,808 sq. m luxury building. As part of building the interior, The FITOUT offered state of the art fit-out solutions for fully furnished studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments that offer an astounding view of the Arabian Gulf, Palm Jumeriah, and Dubai skyline.
Sherif Nagy, general manager, The FITOUT said: “The interior of Palm Tower Hotel & Residences that follows the highest standards in the industry resonates with the quality of our work, and we were meticulous in following their requirements. As an organisation, we implement our projects in line with globally recognised benchmarks to ensure superior experience for our clients and their customers, especially in the hospitality sector. The successful delivery of this project is an illustration of our commitment to provide high-end, bespoke joinery and fit-out works in the UAE.”
He added: “By being the interior solutions provider for Palm Tower Hotel & Residences, we have also become part of their initiative to deliver a memorable and positive experience to their guests and residents.”
Furthermore, The FITOUT has also delivered top-quality bespoke joinery for the mega- project that aims to enhance the experience and convenience of residents and visitors in Palm Tower Hotel and Residences by offering premium interiors and top-class facilities.
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AGi architects completes Wafra Living project in Kuwait
Wafra Living by AGi architects is an innovative housing organisation in Kuwait, a new type of multi-family living as a social response to housing needs in the country. The design is guided by the requirements contemporary life while balancing traditional norms, and reintroduces urban life to the building level.
Wafra Living is designed as a high-rise building set back from the street, with an L-shaped building defining the street edge. It is conceived to maximise privacy within the community, whilst providing ample natural light and usable indoor and outdoor common spaces. Cuts have been made on the ground floors of the front building to provide better views for the tower apartments. The complex combines at different levels domestic and collective scales that are both private and public.
The architecture defines the edge of the block and creates a series of open spaces within the plot for the community, with various uses. The building cantilevers off the ground to draw street life into the building. The ground floor level opens up to the neighbourhood with accessible retail facilities on the street level, integrating into the urban fabric, and links up to a high square through an inclined, stepped garden. The project is composed of 16 types of living typologies -ranging from two bedroom to four-bedroom duplex- distributed across five cores to cater to a variety of tenants. The project public amenities include multiple gardens, gyms, pools, kids playing areas, squash court, public terraces and community multi-purpose space. A “High Square” is created. It acts as a large-scale, private communal area for all tenants that includes various landscaped pockets, pools, and access to the gym to enjoy leisure activities in a more private setting.
The building envelope provides a safe environment for the inhabitants, protecting them from the hustle and bustle of the street. From this level, one can see an aluminium mesh: a double skin that climbs the internal facade containing the emergency routes, and conceals the various service spaces that do not relate to the public. Behind the lattice are the five cores, which connect the residential floors. Passive design techniques and innovative materials are used to maximise thermal insulation and minimise light consumption, also enhancing ventilation of the building, avoiding the “heat-island” effect that occurs in this type of urban development.
With the pandemic, typologies like this one have taken on a renewed interest as they offer a variety of ‘communal’ and public space and how crucial it is to our well-being as a society. Wafra Living is socially driven, environmentally responsive and behavior-conscious. This development has set an example of how to approach urban issues and redefining areas; thereby becoming a catalyst for the city’s future growth.
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The FITOUT completes interior work at Courtyard by Marriott in Dubai
The FITOUT has carried out elegant interior fit-out work at the opulent Courtyard by Marriott Culture Village hotel in Al Jaddaf, Dubai. The company completed exclusive fit-out services for the premier establishment’s 168 luxury rooms within a short timeframe of six months.
Awarded in 2020, the mega project saw the FITOUT delivering its world-class solutions such as joinery, custom-made applications, and modern headboards, doors and architectural finishes. In fulfilling the project, it combined artistic interpretation with high-quality materials and cutting-edge technology while simultaneously focusing on sustainability.
Sherif Nagy, general manager, the FITOUT, said: “True to our legacy, we have created a versatile interior environment that can captivate, inspire and connect people. Our work at the Courtyard by Marriott is not only innovative but it also exudes beauty and elegance that mirror the hotel’s individuality, brand image and commitment.”
“This project reflects our mission to enhance the visual appeal and usefulness of living spaces without losing sight of our social responsibility. Our design team once again employed its ingenuity, passion, and creativity to create modern interiors that adhere to the requirements of our client and the highest global standards. We thank Courtyard by Marriott for trusting our capability to provide interior fit-out solutions par excellence.”
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Havelock One Interiors completes turnkey fit-out of new Hilton Garden Inn Hotel in Bahrain
Havelock One Interiors, a leading turnkey fit-out contractor and manufacturer in the Middle East, implemented the interiors for the Hilton Garden Inn, an upscale yet affordable business and leisure hotel, nestled in the heart of the Bahrain Bay.
The 23-storey landmark destination opened its doors to guests mid-July this year. The hotel tower comprises 192 rooms, including 35 suites, with a mix of family, twin and king rooms. Covering 269,098 sq. ft., the hotel has other distinctively designed amenities such as an open all-day restaurant, meeting rooms, a gym, and an infinity pool.
Havelock One’s manufacturing and fit-out teams based in Askar and Sanabis, Bahrain completed the turnkey interior fit-out of this four-star property designed by dwp | design worldwide partnership. The hotel overlooks the Bahrain Bay and has a breath-taking view from its public areas, complimented with soothing sea-inspired hues and colour palettes for the interiors. The design vision of this hospitality project is to reflect the emergence of a unique urban hotel, anchored between a vibrant shopping mall—The Avenues Bahrain—and the bay leading out to the sea.
“Having completed the Hilton Garden Inn – Kuwait in 2019, we were very keen on the award of the fit-out packages for the property in Bahrain. The brand is young, vibrant and has a playful undercurrent, which allows us to be innovative with the specified materials and design features. Fortunately, our off-site mock-up rooms convinced all stakeholders, so we were recommended to manufacture the custom joinery, to carry out the finishing of the hotel’s interiors, as well as to coordinate all MEP works integration with the interiors,” says Jihad Raad, Division Director, Hospitality Manufacturing and Fit-out Bahrain at Havelock One.
Since Havelock One and its supply chain partners had been responsible for the mock-ups, already, they were able to fast-track and deliver the project even with the COVID-19 pandemic overshadowing the execution period. While the factory in Askar manufactured and supplied large ceiling panels, reception counters, banquet seating, tables, countertop, doors, sliding doors and complete millworks for the guest rooms, the fit-out team carefully selected premium materials for the finishes, which included regular and acoustic gypsum cladding, corridor wall cladding, painting, wallcoverings, tiling, carpets, glass and massive operable partition works.
“One of the eye-catching installations in the Hilton Garden Inn is their rickshaw (Tuk-Tuk) food truck located in the Together & Co Lobby Café. A Bajaj rickshaw was sourced by Havelock One and fully customised into a service station. This feature demanded our setting-out experts to develop a 3D digital design to fully understand and cater to the needs of the operator and to integrate the exact MEP requirements. The scope of the project also featured additional decorative items, such as a custom beam ceiling installation in the all-day dining area and customised operable partitions with pass doors in the meeting rooms,” adds Raad.
This fast-track project required a high-level of planning and coordination among all stakeholders, and hence the interior fit-out scope started along with the main construction works on-site to ensure that the Hilton Garden Inn Bahrain Bay was ready for its recent launch.
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Sweid & Sweid completes successful handover of Visa headquarters in Dubai
Sweid & Sweid has completed the successful handover of the prestigious Visa Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) headquarters development, located in Dubai Internet City. The build-to-suit project was delivered on schedule over a fast-track programme of two years – a task made more challenging with the onset of Covid-19, which occurred midway through the project build.
The G+5 building, which has been the recipient of numerous awards including Best Office Architecture and Office Development in Dubai at the International Property Awards, and Best Office Architecture and Office Development at the Arabia Property Awards 2020, is designed to be an “office of the future”.
The project offers the level of flexibility required to accommodate the future needs of the world’s leader in digital payments, with hot desks, breakout spaces and collaboration zones to encourage innovation. The project also features four basement levels, as well as an activated urban frontage that integrates with the public realm and gives prominence to the entrance.
From the regional headquarters, Visa will serve almost 90 countries. Maher Sweid, managing partner of Sweid & Sweid, said: “Visa entrusted Sweid & Sweid to deliver a fit-for-purpose headquarters from which they can continue their growth across the region. The project has been an outstanding success, and the client is very happy with the outcome, which is testament to the efforts of the team involved in its delivery.”
The Visa CEMEA headquarters is now open to employees, and will serve as a destination from where staff, clients, and partners can collaborate and develop solutions for the digital commerce and payment sectors.
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Summertown Interiors completes Picnic Square, Times Square Center’s food court refurbishment project
Summertown Interiors completes Picnic Square, Times Square Center’s food court refurbishment project
Summertown Interiors has completed and handed over ‘Picnic Square’, Times Square Center’s 2,330sqm food court refurbishment project located in Al Quoz, Sheikh Zayed Road.
Summertown collaborated closely with Times Square Center management team to deliver the sustainable design and build project, handing over the vibrant family-friendly dining space in the first week of November 2021. The unique food and beverage options selected by Times Square Center for Picnic Square will now start to be integrated into the food and beverage outlet spaces. Picnic Square will be officially opened in February 2022.
Picnic Square has an artisanal feel and will offer deli-style dining, setting a new design standard for shopping mall open plan dining areas. The newly refurbished dining space features natural materials, the integration of biophilia and plants, and a variety of welcoming seating options. There are family-friendly seating zones including stylish ‘private pods’ for mothers to feed their babies in privacy in the functional open plan design.
In line with Times Square Center’s sustainability focus, Summertown delivered the fit-out according to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) requirements (pending certification), a global green building standard which encourages the design, construction, operations, and maintenance of resource-efficient, high-performing, healthy buildings.
A key challenge during the refurbishment was that it was a live project in an open shopping mall, so much of the work was completed in the evenings to avoid too much noise and disruption to tenants and customers. The new open ceiling design also required specific focus to ensure the mechanical, electricals, and plumbing (MEP) where coordinated seamlessly to create the desired white finish.
Nicola Trivett, Summertown’s Projects Director on the design and build project said: “The successful delivery of this project is the result of high-level communication between our project team and the mall’s management, ensuring the timely completion of the project. We are delighted to handover this high-end sustainable family-friendly dining area that fulfil our client’s goals.”
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Havelock One completes the fit-out of Yalla! Bowling at Atyaf Mall, Riyadh; designed by Unick Consulting
Leading interior solutions provider, Havelock One was nominated as the fit-out contractor of Yalla! Bowling at Atyaf Mall. Situated opposite the newly-opened VOX Cinemas, this Yalla! Bowling is a standalone leisure facility and diner, combining eight lanes of bowling alongside pool tables, foosball, and air hockey, with a mix of lane-side booth seating and high tables. Visible from the mall side through shopfront glazing, customers have full visibility of the 10,500sqft venue beyond. Majid Al Futtaim appointed Unick Consulting to develop the design of this space. Majid Al Futtaim is growing its portfolio of brands that invite families and friends alike to celebrate togetherness and fun.
Bowling brand, which is already well established in multiple locations across the MENA region. The multi-disciplinary consultant was tasked to enhance and create a vibrant entertainment environment, combined with a variety of gaming and dining experiences, either as an integral element or a standalone location.
The latest Yalla! Bowling branch is located in the northeast of Riyadh at Atyaf Mall and is the third Yalla! Bowling destination in the Saudi capital, following Al Qasr Mall and Riyadh Park Mall.
Materials are chosen to be robust and neutral, acting as a backdrop to the main attractions within, and the combination of digital screens and themed artwork creates an environment suited to all age groups. Despite the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions during the height of the pandemic, Havelock One’s KSA-based fit-out team managed to implement the project within a tight timeline of five months.
Products and materials specified and sourced internationally that caused logistical challenges were addressed with temporary solutions from local providers; Havelock One’s factory in Askar, Bahrain manufactured all joinery, seating, tables and feature ceiling items as well as the F&B counter and bulkhead made of laminated patterned glass.
Photographer: Jamal Al-Mousa
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