The CAT/LKH joint venture will be assisted by Singapore consultant TY Linto develop 'buildability' into the designs to enable it to deliver the contract in 27 months. TY Lin is the Singapore affiliate of Marina Towers executive designer Dar al-Handasah (Shair and Partners - MEED 23:5:03).

The initial contract involves the construction of the concrete frames for a 150-metre-high, 26-storey tower and a 40-metre-high, 10-storey tower. The venture will also carry out mechanical and electrical services, cladding, fit-out and landscaping of a 3,000-square-metre garden. The enabling works have been carried out by Germany's Bauer.

A spokesman for the client, London-based Stow Securities, said the contract could be increased to $75 million to include construction of a third building currently being designed. This is likely to be a second 40 metre-high, 10-storey structure and would have to be completed within the same 27-month period.

The building system designed by TY Lin is expected to involve extensive use of post-tensioning of concrete floor slabs and pre-casting of concrete beams and columns to allow fast-track construction and a high-quality finish to the concrete, much of which will be exposed. The project manager is Saudi Arabia's El-Seif Engineering Contracting.The design team includes US architect Kohn Pederson Fox Associates (KPF), the UK's Buro Happoldis structural engineer and EC Harris,also of the UK,is cost consultant. The local Atelier Renee al-Khazenis the landscape architect, and Beirut-based Jean Louis Mainguy Architecture Interieureis doing the interior designs.

Located next to the recently-completed Beirut Western Marina, Marina Towers will be the largest development on the eastern Mediterranean coast, and has drawn considerable interest from investors, which include Al-Safadi Group Holdingand Stow Market- both local, and Al-Jeraisy, Al-Rashid and Al-Omran Engineering & Construction- all of Saudi Arabia. Nearly 75 per cent of apartments in the high-rise building have been sold.