News releases
Atkins to design infrastructure for major new Abu Dhabi community - 04 September 2012
Abu Dhabi General Services (Musanada) has awarded Atkins, one of the world’s leading engineering and design consultancies, a contract to design the infrastructure for a new £1.3 billion, 42 km² Emirati community in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Known as North Wathba Urban Development, this vital social infrastructure scheme will eventually house a community of 130,000 people, marrying world-class international design standards with the cultural heritage and needs of local residents.
Situated north of Baniyas and south of Shamkhah on Abu Dhabi mainland, the project is being led by Musanada, which is responsible for delivering shared services for Abu Dhabi Government entities, including design, procurement and construction management.
Dr. Ghassan Ziadat, director of infrastructure and regional head of bridges for Atkins, says: “This is an important and far-reaching project for Abu Dhabi which will provide an excellent quality Emirati neighbourhood, including links to public transport networks and high levels of sustainable design.
“Our role will involve the design and tender documentation for the enabling works and permanent infrastructure including primary and local roads, streetscape, public realm landscaping and amenities as well as all the utility transmission and distribution networks comprising drainage, sewerage, potable water, power, gas, district cooling and telecommunications.”
The North Wathba Master plan was completed by Abu Dhabi’s Urban Development Council (UPC) and includes housing, civic, institutional and commercial buildings, as well as parks and open spaces.
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Notes to editors:
Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world's leading engineering and design consultancies*, employing some 17,420 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. It has the breadth and depth of expertise to plan, design and enable some of the world's most technically challenging and time critical infrastructure projects.
*It is the largest engineering consultancy in the UK (New Civil Engineer Consultants File 2012) and the 13th largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2011).
Recent projects include:
- Major infrastructure works, such as the design and programme management of the civil works for the Dubai Metro red and green lines in the UAE;
- Key rail projects – providing architectural and engineering design services on Crossrail, Europe’s biggest civil engineering project in London, UK, and designing stations, tunnelling and track systems for Gautrain, South Africa’s first high speed line;
- Renewable energy schemes – transformer platform design for the Thanet offshore wind park in the North Sea;
- Multi-year architecture-engineering construction management services for the US National Park Service, including projects such as rehabilitation of the Furnace Creek Visitor Center and Administrative Complex at California’s Death Valley to meet the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification standards;
- High profile transport planning and urban design – our innovative scheme to deliver a diagonal crossing at Oxford Circus in London, UK, has helped tackle the problem of pedestrian crowding;
- Water and environmental projects – critical programme management of storm protection works in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Southern Louisiana in North America, providing expertise in coastal restoration, engineering, environmental and GIS support to rebuild defenses and protect habitats;
- Multidisciplinary building design – Northwood Primary School in Darlington, UK, is an exemplar project which raises standards for environmental design and community engagement.
Atkins was named among The Sunday Times 25 Best Big Companies to Work For 2011, won Consultancy of the Year in the CIBSE Low Carbon Performance Awards 2010, received the first ever certification of the Carbon Trust Standard awarded to an engineering consultancy in the construction sector, and was included in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2011 and The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2010. Atkins was also construction and civil engineering sector winner for the fifth consecutive year in the Target National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2010 and was awarded a RoSPA Gold Award 2011 for excellence in control of health and safety in the workplace.
Atkins is the official engineering design services provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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Dr Ghassan Ziadat
Atkins' director of infrastructure and regional head of bridges