Yorkshire experts help Qatar plan for World Cup

Leeds-based Turner & Townsend has won the contract to oversee the construction of a metro train network in the new city of Lusail ahead of the football tourn- ament.

It will also co-ordinate the building of highways, bridges, tunnels and road networks.

The tiny Gulf state of Qatar was the surprise choice to host football’s biggest competition.

The world’s richest country per head of population is keen to put on an impressive tournament in 2022.

It will spend £100bn over the next decade improving and expanding the state’s infrastructure and sporting facilities as well as building a new international airport in the capital Doha.

It plans to spend £23bn on building the new rail network from scratch.

Turner & Townsend has been appointed to cost manage the first stage of the project.

The group said trams and metro trains will link the various sporting venues and cities, while high speed trains will link Qatar to its neighbouring kingdoms of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Construction has just begun on the new city of Lusail, 10 miles north of the capital.

The city will become home to 200,000 people, as well as housing the football stadium that will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 World Cup.

Turner & Townsend is sending a team of 16 staff to ensure that the army of contractors involved deliver the work on time and on budget.

Turner & Townsend’s Qatar team leader Martin van Rooyen said: “We want to help ensure that Lusail is a landmark development for Qatar.

“By providing comprehensive management information that integrates with planning, and is distributed among all parties working on this project via an internet-based portal, we will give the Qatari developers full oversight of the entire programme of works.

“We’ll provide both the data and the analysis needed to keep the project on track.”

The company will also advise the Qatari authorities on the national rail network, which is due to start construction next year.

Turner & Townsend has been active in Qatar since 2009 and has an office in Doha.

Its clients include the Qatari oil and gas, education and health sectors, the Qatar Museum Authority, Qatari Diar and Shell.

The Qatar team is a mix of expatriates and locals.

Many of the expatriate team members have worked with Turner & Townsend in other locations.

Turner & Townsend is weathering the challenging domestic market by expanding its presence abroad.

While it is seeing good growth in the Americas, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Continental Europe and Australia, the UK market continues to experience tough market conditions.

Its international operations now account for almost half (47 per cent) of the group’s revenues, up from only 10 per cent 10 years ago.

Turner & Townsend’s chairman Tim Wray said non-UK revenues have grown by 22 per cent.

“This demonstrates the investment we’ve put into growing the international business over the past 10 years, ” he said.

“The UK has gone backwards slightly and moving forward we see it staying pretty flat.”

Despite the sluggish UK economy, Turner & Townsend has continued to win new business in Britain.

It has won a framework agreement with Yorkshire Water and is continuing to work with Bradford-based Morrisons in the region.

It will also provide a range of services for the Advance Manufacturing Park in the University of Sheffield.

In the year to April 30 the group’s turnover increased by nine per cent to £236m.

Pre-tax profits fell from £17.8m to £15.7m, reflecting the challenging UK market.

Over the course of the year Turner & Townsend produced a feasibility study on the nuclear industry for Sheffield Forgemasters’ manufacturing plant.

It was also responsible for cost and project management on the Hepworth, Wakefield, the largest purpose built gallery space in the UK outside of London, which opened its doors to the public at the end of May.

The group nearly doubled revenue from the mining and metals sector with growth of 95 per cent.

EXCITEMENT BUILDING IN HOST COUNTRY

With the World Cup heading to the Middle East for the first time in 2022, a massive development programme is under way in the host country, Qatar.

Projects include the £5.6bn New Doha International Airport and the construction of a new £4.3bn port at Doha.

Qatar will spend £12.5bn expanding its road network over the next five years and £10.5bn on doubling the amount of accommodation in the state.

It will build nine new stadiums and renovate another three.

Turner & Townsend said that while each of these developments is individually significant, the most challenging is the development of Lusail, an entirely new city 15km outside Doha.

Lusail will provide homes for 200,000 residents, employment for 170,000 workers and entertainment and accommodation for over 80,000 visitors.