Over 25 international companies were invited by the client in mid-January to confirm their interest in bidding the prestigious contract, and were informed by the client that the tender would be released within two weeks. The 400-day contract calls for the construction of a sports hall with a built-up area of 110,000 square metres. Spherical in shape, the sports hall will have a central basement area, three upper floors and a steel roof, with a span of 250 metres and a height of 36 metres.

The facility will cater for a range of sporting activities, including football, athletics, diving and swimming, squash, gymnastics and basketball.

The local Al-Huda Engineering Workswas awarded in September the QR 118.5 million ($32 million) contract to build the neighbouring sports academy. The client is close to appointing a consultant to supervise construction. The low bidder for the assignment is the UK's WS Atkins International. The design consultant on the sports academy and sports hall is the local Cico Consulting Architects Engineerswith France's Tallibert.