By July, nearly 4,000 labourers will be working flat out on the external and internal finishing and the electro-mechanical works of the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan II mosque in Abu Dhabi, making it the most labour-intensive project ever seen in the local civil construction sector.

Even with temperatures set to rise above 40°C in the summer months, on-site worker Mohammed Abed and his colleagues know it is worth the extra effort. 'This is one of the most prestigious projects I will serve on and I feel honoured,' he says. Mubarak Rashed Alkhaili, project manager with the client - the Department of Municipality & Agriculture, Works - shares his thoughts. 'This is not just a project of the UAE and its people. [Former UAE president] Sheikh Zayed will be remembered for it.'

Originally conceived by Sheikh Zayed himself in the late 1980s as an iconic structure representing the peace and harmony of Islam, the mosque was assigned a 500,000-square-metre site between the Mussafah and Abu Dhabi Intentional Airport roads. With a total footprint area of 50,000 square metres, the complex was to become the third biggest mosque in the GCC after the two holy mosques of Mecca and Medina.

The facility was designed to have four minarets, each 117 metres high, 84 domes and a main prayer hall large enough to accommodate 8,000 worshippers. 'On special occasions, such as Eid and Ramadan, we could accommodate up to 25,000 people,' says Alkhaili.

In the early 1990s, the then Works Department was assigned the responsibility of building the mosque. What followed was a rigorous design competition involving several reputed international architects. 'Proposals came back and forth until a final selection was made,' Alkhaili says. In the end, Tractebel al-Khalij, the Abu Dhabi affiliate of Belgium's Tractebel, was awarded the design consultancy contract.

With the design fine-tuned and value engineering completed, the next stage in the project implementation was the issue of the tender for the main construction contract. After three competitive bidding and rebidding procedures, in 1996 the Italian joint venture of Impregilo Rizzani de Eccher - the low bidder on each of the occasions - was finally awarded the $398 million contract. The Italian group was tasked with completing the project within 42 months.

Work started in earnest, but in late 1999 and early 2000 the project faced the first of a series of hurdles: a dispute arose between the contractor and the client over the contract value. The Works Department announced that the project was considerably above its budget. The Italian contractor, which by then had completed site preparations and started work on the superstructure, found itself in a tight spot.

Resolution

Impregilo Rizzani de Eccher stopped work on the project and went to court, seeking compensation for the work it had carried out, as well as the equipment it had ordered. The client reacted by appointing New Jersey-based construction claims consultant Hill International to resolve the issue.

The litigation did not last long and in mid-2001 a settlement was reached. Impregilo Rizzani was to complete the structural works, foundations and superstructure. More than 500 workers were mobilised and work was completed in early 2003.

The first major hurdle on the Grand Mosque project had been overcome, but the scheme was still far from complete. The mosque was to have a decoration in white marble, adorned with a series of mosaics. More than 80,000 square metres of marble was to be used on the exterior and interior, besides carrying out detailed marble-inlaid works on the pillars, calligraphy and gold edging, extensive interior decoration, scaffolding, electro-mechanical works and the installation of chandeliers, fountains and carpets. The project would also involve vast landscaping works.

To hasten activity, the Works Department changed the contracting strategy. The remaining work was divided into more than 50 packages and in early 2004 a team of the local/Lebanese Arabian Construction Company with the local/Belgian Six Construct Abu Dhabi was awarded a $340 million contract to manage the external and internal finishing and electro-mechanical works. About $235 million or 70 per cent of the total contract is planned to be spent on the various subcontracts.

As part of efforts to effectively manage the various subcontracts, the client announced four new appointments: the UK's Halcrow as the design co-ordinator and construction supervisor; Hill International as the project manager; the US' Parsons as landscaping consultant; and, lastly, Hyder Consulting, also of the UK, as the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) consultant. This brought the total number of project managers/consultants to about eight.

Work is still ongoing, with contracts being awarded for several packages. At the end of January, about 15 subcontracts worth a total of $146 million had been placed, while over 20 more packages were at the bidding stage. 'We aim to complete the project by early 2007 at a final cost of about $550 million,' says Alkhaili.

Inevitably, there are some who will remember the Grand Mosque for the huge effort that has gone into its construction: for the combination of delays, cost over-runs, litigation and the multiple layers of project and construction management. 'Any project of this nature is bound to encounter problems. The good thing is the determination of the client, which has overcome all difficulties and persevered to see it through to the end,' says Khaled Majdlani, Abu Dhabi projects director of Hill International.

Alkhaili agrees: 'This is a big government project which had to accommodate varying opinions and we had to involve the higher authorities. Lots of ideas and opinions had to be overcome to achieve its completion. The Grand Mosque is not a small project, where decisions can be taken by on-site engineers.' With many more iconic projects due to follow in its wake, the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan offers some lessons for clients and contractors alike in the UAE.