Kuwait selects consortium to build Faculty of Arts and Education

08 February 2011

The UAE’s Arabtec and local Combined Group Contracting Company to build $428m buildings

Kuwait University has awarded the consortium of the UAE’s Arabtec Construction and the local Combined Group Contracting Company to build the KD120m ($428m) Faculty of Arts and Education buildings at its new Sabah al-Salem University campus.

Kuwait’s Central Tender Committee (CTC) approved the contract at a meeting on 31 January. CTC approval is the final step before a formal contract award is made.

The project will involve the construction of the faculty buildings and associated facilities, site improvements and landscape development. Both colleges will comprise five-storey academic buildings, faculty offices and administrative office buildings.

Kuwait contract awards*
 Percentage of $4bn 
Public buildings12.50%$0.5bn
Govt facilities12.50%$0.5bn
Roads35%$1.4bn
Other40%$1.6bn
Total100%$4bn
*=Q1 2010 to Q1 2011. Source: Meed Projects

The two College of Arts buildings combined will cover approximately 54,000 square metres, and the two College of Education structures will cover a total area of 55,000 sq m.

The arts faculty will include a 500-seat auditorium, a multi-purpose hall and dining facilities. The College of Education will contain a 250-seat auditorium, learning resource centre and a dining facility.

The Faculty of Arts and Education is the second major university project to be awarded in recent months.

In December, the university selected the consortium of the China Metallurgical Construction Corporation and the local Khalid Ali al-Kharafi & Brothers to build the College of Engineering and Petroleum (Coep) at the new campus.

Designed by the local Gulf Consult and US-based Cambridge Seven Associates, the new facility will include eight engineering departments, as well as the university’s department of architecture.

Scheduled for completion in 2014, the college will be divided into two buildings – one for male students, the other for female students.

The two buildings will contain separate laboratories, lecture halls, auditoriums, conference rooms, exhibition space, prayer rooms and faculty offices, while sharing a central library.

When completed, the $3bn Sabah al-Salem integrated campus will comprise more than 25 faculty buildings. It will include a 600-bed hospital, car parks with space for more than 32,000 vehicles, dormitories, sports facilities and auditoriums (MEED 27:12:10).

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