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Qatar: Sidra Center building to be ready by 2010

Work on the QR9bn Sidra Medical and Research Center project, the first academic medical center in the region, is progressing, with the concrete structure of the main hospital building to be finished in the early part of 2010.

"We are in the stage of mobilisation. Our company, WEN Holding Co, Ltd - Qatar, is doing the structural work. We are mainly working on the main hospital building, which will be finish in the beginning of 2010 - the concrete structure, I mean. But the finishing and acquiring and placing of the hospital equipment will be finished maybe around two years later," said Dr Eknarin Sriprasert, vice president of the WEN Holding Co, Ltd - Qatar.

The Sidra Medical and Research Center is a high-tech facility that will not only provide world-class patient care but will help build Qatar's scientific expertise and resources. The center will be funded by a $7.9bn endowment from Qatar Foundation, the largest endowment for a medical and research center in the world.

Located at the Education City campus, the Sidra Medical and Research Center is expected to open in 2012. The medical centre will initially have 412 beds with infrastructure to enable expansion to 550 beds in a subsequent phase. The center will work closely with the Weill Cornell Medical College - Qatar and the Hamad Medical Corporation.

"The main hospital building has a 225,000-square-meter total build-up area and will have around eight stories. Our company does the sub-contract from the OHL and Contrack companies - a joint venture of the Spanish and Cypriot companies," said Sriprasert.

Sriprasert said they will be hiring around 600 Thai people, who will arrive sometime in May, to help them work on the project.

"We will hire Thai people. We will also hire some staff locally. So by the middle of this year, we are expecting around 900 to 1,000 workers," he said. The workers who are coming range from carpenters, engineers, masons, and supervisors, among others.

According to him, Sidra is a big project that is ultra modern and all-digital. It will be a structure of steel, glass and white ceramic tile, which has been specifically designed to be a benchmark for healing environments throughout the world. The design and landscaping will include three atriums that will serve as indoor healing gardens - a unique feature that all patients will be able to view from their rooms. The building also incorporates water features in the lobby and drop-off areas and a comprehensive art collection. The towering atriums will divide the sweeping facility into sections and accentuate the dedicated entrances of the three "hospitals within a hospital" - one for children, one for women, and one for adults (male and female).

The architectural design of the Sidra Medical and Research Center is done by Cesar Pelli, an Argentine architect famous for designing some of the world's tallest buildings and other major urban landmarks, of Pelli Clark Pelli, and the project's executive architectural firm Ellerbe Becket. Pelli's designs are known for their curved façades and metallic elements. The center, when finished, will be affiliated with a leading US medical college for teaching, patient care and research

Joyce C Abaño

© The Peninsula 2009