Tall & Urban News

Hill International is shaping the skyline at El Alamein, a new hub for tourism that the Egyptian government has planned, with its contract to provide project management services for five planned towers. The Marina Towers project is located in a prime waterfront location at the New Alamein city on the Mediterranean Coast and is in line with Egypt’s plan to develop multiple boutique tourism and mixed-use facilities. The site of the towers is much like Dubai, where a series of new high rises were being built on the Shaikh Zayed Road or the adjoining Dubai Marina defining the skyline of the emirate.

The client is the Ministry of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities – New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) – City Edge Development and the Marina Alamein Towers (also called Marina Towers) consists of residential and hotel development with five towers heights ranging from 36 to 42 stories (150 meters to 170 meters). Towers 1, 2, and 3 will have a built-up area of about 350,000 square meters, and Towers 4 and 5 will have a total area of 225,000 square meters.

At present, construction is ongoing simultaneously for the skeleton package of all towers, says Perihan Elwy, vice president for Egypt Projects, noting the development has been divided into two main construction packages.

The raft foundation for Tower 3 is complete, while work is progressing for the first-floor slab of that tower. For Tower 2, raft foundation work is almost complete with the last concrete due to be poured by the end of March, while 25 percent of the raft foundation is complete for Tower 1, Elwy says.

For Towers 4 and 5, the raft foundation is complete with work now underway for the first-floor slabs for both towers, she said, adding work has also started for the podium foundation.

The targeted completion for the current awarded packages (concrete skeleton and block work) is January 2024 for CP01 (Towers 1, 2, and 3) and February 2024 for CP02 (Towers 4 and 5).

Hill International had difficulty with the development of the project’s design occurring as work started with the enabling package.

Managing all project stakeholders (client - NUCA, design consultant – EHAF, Developer City Edge, hotel operator – IHG for the Tower 5 – hotel) and the main contractor for each package was another task that had to be carried out in unison and the solution was to establish proper communication channels, a stringent project reporting system and to remaining laser-focused on coordinating all elements, she said.

Hill also maintained close coordination with the client to ensure a seamless project cash flow and eliminate potential risks of cost overruns or delays in the implementation schedule, she said.

Hill is not only providing project and construction management services for the metro, museums, and several iconic hotels along the Nile in Egypt but also bringing its knowledge and expertise from across the globe to give a new dimension to the construction of high rises to the North African nation, says Waleed Abdel Fattah, President of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.