Dubai World Trade Centre work delayed

The delivery of the first office buildings at the business hub will be 9 months later than planned.

Construction work on the first phase of the Dubai World Trade Centre District project has been slowed as the developer focuses on expanding exhibition space at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. The delay means the delivery of the first office buildings at the business hub, which will include seven office buildings, two hotels and retail outlets, will be about nine months late.

"As our immediate focus is on the construction of our new exhibition halls in order to meet regional MICE industry demands, we have pushed back our build programme for our Dubai Trade Centre District project, and completion of the first office buildings in phase one of the district is expected by the end of quarter three in 2011," a spokesman for Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) said in a statement.

Meanwhile, people familiar with the project say there has been little activity on the site for about a week while contract renegotiations take place with construction suppliers to take advantage of falling costs. Al Jaber Engineering and Contracting, which is owned by Abu Dhabi's Al Jaber Group, won the Dh3.4bn main construction package for the first phase in May last year. The contract was one of the largest to be awarded in 2008.

Other companies involved in the project include Mace as project manager, WSP as structural engineer and Hopkins Architects as consultant. All three firms are based in the UK. Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) is providing the district cooling system to the project. "We have started the renegotiation," said a project insider. [e-mail]