The contract is structured as a partnering agreement that will see the contractor and client sharing responsibility for the delivery of the project.

Known as the Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Academic Medical Centre, the 400-bed hospital is scheduled to open in 2011. The local/UK BK Gulf has been appointed for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing works.

The consultancy team includes GHD, Confluence Project Management, both Australian, UK-based Davis Langdon, and US-based Ellerbe Beckett. The client is Dubai Health Care City.

It is the second major teaching hospital contract to be awarded in recent months. In late January the joint venture of Spain’s OHL and US-based Contrack International was awarded the QR8.6bn ($2.3bn) contract to build the Sidra Medical & Research Centre in Qatar (MEED 29:1:08).