A joint venture of the local Midmac Contracting Company and Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) has been awarded the contract to complete the Sidra Medical and Research Centre for Qatar Foundation for Education, Science & Community Development.

The appointment of the joint venture follows the decision by Qatar Foundation to terminate the construction deal with Spain’s OHL and US-based Contrack. That contract was awarded in 2008, after a competitive tender that CCC also participated in.

The CCC/Midmac team is expected to start work on the scheme immediately and intends to employ sub-contractors previously engaged by OHL and Contrack.

Located at Education City on the outskirts of Doha, the Sidra medical complex includes a nine-storey hospital and accommodation for 350 nurses. It will have about 380 beds. Once complete, it will also serve as the primary teaching hospital of Weill Cornell Medical College Qatar, a branch of the New York-based medical school.

US-based Cesar Pelli & Associates is the architect for the project, while Ellerbe Becket, also of the US, is the design consultant. The project manager on Education City is the local office of Kuwait-based KEO International Consultants.

The scheme, which was originally meant to be completed in 2010, is supported by a $7.9bn endowment from Qatar Foundation.