Burj Khalifa bags ‘Award of the Year’

Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, has won the award of the year for the best construction project in the Gulf Cooperation Council for the Arab States.

MEED, the Middle East’s premier business intelligence provider, held a gala awards ceremony to recognise top projects across eight different categories at the first MEED Quality Awards for Projects, an independently-judged excellence recognition competition for projects completed in the GCC.

Held on 22 March at the Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the glittering awards ceremony was attended by key government officials and representatives from leading private sector enterprises in the region.

The gas desulphurisation refinery in Bahrain topped the list for the ‘Oil and Gas’ category whereas Qatar’s Mesaieed-A IPP won the ‘Power’ category. Al Ghubrah-5 in Oman and the GPIC carbon dioxide recovery plant in Bahrain emerged winners in the ‘Water Reuse’ and ‘Sustainable Project’ categories respectively. Kuwait National Library was selected for the ‘Social Project of the Year’ award that was sponsored by AMEinfo.

Projects from the UAE took away the maximum awards with five distinctions. Burj Khalifa was the undisputed winner in the ‘Building Project of the Year’ category sponsored by Technal Middle East, while the ‘Transport Project of the Year’ sponsored by Cadillac was picked up Dubai Metro Red Line. ‘Ferrari Experience’ won the leisure and tourism category for the UAE. Additionally, the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque in Abu Dhabi received a special award titled the ‘MEED Editors Outstanding Achievement for Culture Award’, while ‘MEED Editors Outstanding Achievement Award for Heritage’ went to the ‘Revitalisation of the Old Souq of Dubai’ project.

Edmund O’Sullivan, Chairman, MEED Quality Awards for Projects, said: “The 32 projects that were nominated for the GCC Awards have gone through a rigorous selection process at the national level. Each project was undoubtedly the result of a significant amount of planning and collective effort on behalf of the teams that have created them. The entries demonstrated an immense amount of maturity and each of them answers a specific need within the country where it exists.
“Ascertaining the GCC-wide winners across eight different categories was a difficult decision with projects closely contending for the top spot. To ensure a fair judgment, best practices and bias-free procedures were used while evaluating the first Quality Awards for Projects at the GCC level.” The award is aimed at promoting integrity and best practices across the GCC region in project management besides recognizing outstanding construction, engineering, sustainable development, architecture, construction and economic and social planning. Each of these was a key criterion that the winners had to meet.

The MEED Quality Awards for Projects are supported by the Bahrain Society of Engineers, Kuwait Society of Engineers, Oman Society of Engineers, Qatar Society of Engineers, Saudi Council of Engineers and the Engineers Society (UAE).