Bauer International, the German foundation specialist, has completed the final pilings for the Louvre Abu Dhabi as work continues on Saadiyat Island off the coast off the UAE capital.

Bauer International completed piling on schedule.

The company has been working on the site of the Saadiyat Island Cultural District since March to place 4,536 pilings, around 100 kilometres of steel and reinforced concrete pile sections, according to the Tourism Development & Investment Company, the state-backed master development in charge of a number of big projects in the emirate.

Lee Tabler, CEO of TDIC, said the company is “delighted” to see piling work near completion on schedule. “This is a significant moment in the delivery of this monumental institution as we look ahead to completion in 2013,” he said. “The next key milestone will be the development of the substructure beginning in the last quarter of 2010, along with the main contracts works.”

The Louvre Abu Dhabi will be the first cultural centre to be finished within the Saadiyat Island Cultural District, and was designed by Jean Nouvel. The project broke ground in March 2009. Today’s milestone follows first package of enabling works, also executed by Bauer International, completed in January 2010 after 503 km3 of earth had been excavated for the museum basement.

It will be eventually joined by Guggenheim Abu Dhabi – which will be the biggest of its kind in the world – and the Zayed National Museum. Piling work for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has just begun, says TDIC.

The placement of the 1,400 piles for Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will be carried out by Al Habtoor/HSSG JV and is anticipated to be completed in the first quarter of 2011. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi concrete works tender package is due out before end of this year

AECOM, the diverse US technical support provider with a business line in project management and has just purchased Davis Langdon, is among the other companies that have worked on the Cultural District.

Tourism Development & Investment Co, a state-owned developer of hotels in Abu Dhabi, signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank to provide home financing on Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island.

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: TDIC has signed mortgage agreements with numerous banks.(Getty Images)

The mortgages, which will comply with Islamic banking rules, will offer financing of as much as 85 percent and profit rates starting at 6 percent, TDIC said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday. The offer, effective immediately, will be in addition to existing finance agreements, TDIC said.

Saadiyat Island, which will have branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim Museums and the Abu Dhabi campus of New York University, will have homes for about 145,000 people when it is completed in 2020.

TDIC has signed mortgage agreements with numerous banks including Standard Chartered, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi. (Bloomberg)

TDIC and ADIB are offering a unique home finance package for potential Saadiyat Island residents, which includes finance of up to 85% and competitive profit rates starting from 6.0%. The package offers tenures of up to 25 years without processing or any other fees and deferment of up to 10% of the down payment to near handover date.

This Islamic home finance will supplement the existing home finance agreements already facilitated on the island. It will be available for the Saadiyat Beach Villas commencing immediately and will be an option for all future property financing on Saadiyat Island.

Rashid Al Suwaidi, TDIC’s Director of Sales and Leasing, commented, “As construction on Saadiyat Island progresses on schedule, TDIC is committed to ensuring that all potential residents have a variety of mortgage and leasing options including conventional and Islamic mortgages. This cooperation agreement between TDIC and ADIB will encourage and allow many local residents to be part of Saadiyat Island’s promising future.

“As more properties become available to buy on Saadiyat Island during 2011 and into the future, and the popularity of Islamic banking increases, we expect to see strong interest in these Islamic home finance packages in addition to our existing agreements with other banks in the UAE,” said Al Suwaidi.

Dhafer Luqman, head of Strategy Products Management International and Retail at ADIB, added: “The home finance option that ADIB will provide to TDIC clients ensures that all costs for the ultimate buyer are fixed initially and that there are no hidden fees or fluctuating installments. This kind of transparency is a key reason for the dramatic growth of Islamic finance. Clients are keen to avoid implications of any fine print or ambiguous terminology in contracts and this advantage, coupled with the competitive profit rate will aid the uptake of the ADIB option.”

Saadiyat Island is a natural Abu Dhabi island being developed by TDIC to offer the highest standards in community living and quality commercial surroundings whilst respecting and protecting the environment. Upon completion, Saadiyat Island will be home to around 145,000 residents.

The luxury Saadiyat Beach Villas are the cornerstone of the first phase of the exclusive Saadiyat Beach Residential community, and the first residential properties available to buy on the island. The product offering will consist of options of three to six bedroom properties in Mediterranean, Arabian and Contemporary styles.

Existing mortgage agreements with Standard Chartered Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Finance and the newest ADIB Islamic home finance agreement, Mashreq Bank and First Gulf Bank will be available on all of the remaining villas, in addition to further properties coming onto the market as development progresses on schedule through to 2020.

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia, currently ranked as the eighth most productive hotel guest market for Abu Dhabi, has shown a significant increase in the emirate’s hotel guests in the first half of 2010. The Kingdom, the largest market in the GCC, has accounted for 18,601 guests in the first five months of this year in the emirate’s 116 hotels and hotel apartments — a rise of 29 percent over the same period last year, according to Dayne Lim, product development director, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA). “We are convinced we can significantly build on this performance over the coming months.”

Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) is throwing its weight behind the campaign for the Bu Tinah Island to become one of the “seven wonders of nature”.

Located 130km west of Abu Dhabi, within the Marawah Marine Biosphere Reserve, Bu Tinah Island is one of 28 locations worldwide on a final shortlist. Courtesy Sheikh Ahmad Bin Hamdan

The move comes as it tries to fend off competition from global attractions such as the Dead Sea, the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef.

Located 130km west of Abu Dhabi, within the Marawah Marine Biosphere Reserve, the archipelago is one of 28 locations worldwide on a final shortlist, after more than 440 nominations were received from about 220 countries to become one of the New7Wonders of Nature.

The initiative is being run by the New7Wonders Foundation, a Swiss-based, government-controlled foundation.

The island, which is not open to visitors, has rare animal and marine life, including hawksbill turtles, dugongs and many species of birds as well as coral reef.

Laila al Hassan, a spokeswoman for the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD), said the agency was trying to generate support from other companies.

“We would like to see private-sector companies come on board for this campaign,” said Ms al Hassan.

Abu Dhabi plans to spend Dh28 million (US$7.6m) promoting Bu Tinah. TDIC said it was providing both financial and non-financial support for the project, including promotion of the island.

As well as raising awareness of the fragility of the marine environment in Abu Dhabi, Ms al Hassan said the campaign had other benefits for the emirate.

“It’s also important from a cultural heritage point of view because it’s one of the few places that haven’t been developed and is still wild,” she said.

Despite the even greater publicity and interest that would be generated if Bu Tinah were successful in the campaign, Ms al Hassan said there were no plans to open up the island to tourism.

The “new seven wonders” are scheduled to be announced on November 11 next year. The process is based on an online poll that is expected to attract millions of voters.

“The conservation, preservation and sustainability of the environment are part of TDIC’s philosophy,” said Ahmed Hussein, the chief operating officer of TDIC, which is the master developer of Saadiyat Island, designed to become the emirate’s cultural centre with attractions such as branches of the Guggenheim and Louvre museums.

rbundhun@thenational.ae

Aecom Technology Corp. has acquired Tishman Construction Corp. for $245 million, in a deal that combines one of the world’s largest engineering and design firms with the storied New York-based construction business.

Getty Images Tishman Construction's signature projects outside of New York include MGM Mirage's elaborate new CityCenter in Las Vegas, shown above.

The companies have overseen some of the world’s largest complex construction projects. Los Angeles-based Aecom is currently working on New York City’s new Second Avenue subway and Saadiyat Island, a $30 billion development off the coast of Abu Dhabi.

Tishman’s signature construction projects include the original World Trade Center; MGM Mirage’s CityCenter in Las Vegas; and the new Goldman Sachs Group Inc. headquarters in Lower Manhattan. It’s also handling the construction of One World Trade Center, which at 1,776 feet is expected to become the tallest building in the U.S.

The U.S. construction industry continues to struggle and some U.S. firms look abroad for new sources of business. Both Aecon and Tishman have weathered the downturn, benefiting from increased government spending on infrastructure world-wide, even as private-sector construction has sputtered.

Economists expect spending on U.S. nonresidential construction to drop 20% in 2010 compared with last year, according to a survey released Wednesday by the American Institute of Architects.

“For the most part, construction still seems to be dead in the water,” said Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America.

A publicly traded company with $6 billion in annual revenues and 45,000 employees, Aecom derives roughly three-quarters of its business from government contracts. Tishman, a closely held firm with about $1 billion in revenue, generates about 40% of its business from public-sector work. Last year Tishman opened an office in Abu Dhabi, where it is developing several projects including an Angsana Resort and Spa.

The acquisition of Tishman expands Aecom’s construction-management unit, which is among the higher-margin businesses in the company’s stable. Aecom, originally a unit of chemicals company Ashland Inc., has grown largely through acquisition, acquiring 36 businesses around the world — from architecture firms to engineering outfits to environmental companies—over the past five years. The company is paying for Tishman with a combination of cash and stock.

Tishman was founded in New York in 1898 by the great-grandfather of the company’s current chairman and chief executive, Daniel Tishman. Though connected decades ago, the company has no business relationship with Tishman Speyer Properties, the prominent landlord that has run into financial woes with some of its top-of-the-market real-estate deals.

Another related company, Tishman Hotel & Realty LP, whose stable of properties includes the new Intercontinental New York Times Square, is also not part of the transaction.

Mr. Tishman, 55 years old, will become a vice chairman of Aecom and a member of its board.

“When we first started talking I said ‘Dan, are you going fishing?’ and he said ‘No I’m not,”‘ said John Dionisio, Aecom’s CEO. “If he was leaving, this deal wasn’t happening.”

In 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading, Aecom shares stood at $24.17, down 17 cents, giving the company a $2.77 billion market capitalization.

Write to Peter Lattman at peter.lattman@wsj.com and Anton Troianovski at anton.troianovski@wsj.com

Abu Dhabi National Hotels chief executive Richard W. Riley discusses the company’s growth plans and its responsibility as a major player in delivering the vision of the UAE capital

Chief executive Richard W. Riley wants ADNH to be a major player in delivering the future vision of Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH) plans to double its assets in three years and open 1500 rooms in Abu Dhabi by 2012. How will you achieve this?

We have purchased the land and we’ve done the designs and we have three properties under construction — the first one is called the Grand Canal. There was a management agreement with JW Marriott to run that hotel and because of the calibre of the hotel I didn’t feel so sure about the management agreement, so we are actually in negotiation right now and hoping that we will be in a position to make an announcement [imminently]. It is amazing, it’s a huge site…what’s nice is we’ve got a facility next to the hotel which we call the Venetian Village, which is a retail restaurant complex which we will operate. We have some great brands, different from Dubai.

That project is one year away — the reason for that delay is not only constructional, it’s also management. We made a decision and that decision is the right one I’m sure. So that set us back a bit, but what’s interesting about that is we were the first into Saadiyat Island. I have lived here for five years and I’m a surfer from Hawaii, and trust me, Saadiyat is my favourite beach. We have a Park Hyatt going in there with us, it’s a world class set-up. It’s an amazing hotel, it’s topped off and we are really one year away, so the reason I bring it up is because what has happened because of the slight delays to Grand Canal is that we will have two major openings a year from now.

We have another hotel that we are in the process of developing as well. When I say double the asset base, that includes our transportation company [and tours and catering].

ADNH also operates hotels under the Al Diar brand. Are there any plans to expand this?

Right now we have to consolidate the Al Diar brand. There’s a market for these hotels so we have to work on the brand equity and we have to consolidate — that will be one of the things that I need to be successful with. We don’t want to give up the brand, we do want to grow it.

Are you still working to develop the Yotel brand in the region?

We are still in discussion with the airport and our goal is to get a Yotel put in the airport and it’s still on the agenda, but it’s very slow to come. I think that is because of the re-design of the airport and the commencement of the new terminal etc. That was something we signed and we have every intention of going forward…if we can get that one launched then it leads to the next.

A big Yotel is going to open in New York next year, which nobody ever expected — 21m² rooms and very high prices so it’s very interesting and a great concept.

Does ADNH plan to continue with the strategy of working with management companies or would you like to launch another brand?

I think Abu Dhabi always wanted a brand of its own and that’s a little of the Jumeirah effect and at the end of the day it has to be the right thing, it has to be followed through. I think you have to find the white space… everything’s getting so blended together so is there any white space left or are we just doing this? Are we doing this for the right reasons? It’s a huge investment so if you really want to do it right you’ve got marketing, reservations, you’ve got your presence on the line, you’ve got development, the look, the feel, the taste, the brand — it is massively expensive. Or you can just put money behind it and buy your hotels and put your name on it. I don’t want to get in to that, but you can look at that because that’s happened right in front of our eyes.

What is ADNH’s role in contributing to Abu Dhabi’s tourism industry and the Vision 2030?

For us, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) chairman Sheikh Sultan’s Leadership Award [at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference] was very important and we have spent time and effort at trade shows in support of the ADTA and we believe in what they’re doing. We believe that the most important thing right now is to get the right products delivered, which will differentiate at the end of the road. Dubai has done an amazing job, it has great products, but what we have to do is make sure we’re not replicating and people have a reason to go to Abu Dhabi — it’s a different city but it’s very important. We feel that our most important goal is to be a major player in delivering Abu Dhabi and to make sure that we don’t make mistakes and so we looked at [our new] properties very carefully and we’ve been slow.

Are you not worried that demand will over-meet supply?

I think the hotels that will come to fruition will be slower than expected. When we first did this strategic study about a year and a half ago, we said 2013 would be a nudge year — in other words in 2013 hotels would be running 55% occupancy for the first time ever in Abu Dhabi since 2005, but that is now a push back to 2015. You’ll also see that there is a slow down for buildings to reach the market and the whole thing will give us more time to deliver on the leisure side.

In the future, where would ADNH like to expand outside of the UAE?

Saudi Arabia has the infrastructure and is very attractive, especially the Riyadh side I believe. We were talking about Doha strategically a year ago and Doha has reached an in pass at this moment, it is challenging right now but it is good timing for us because by the time Doha turns the corner, that might be an option for us. I still think places like Algeria are exceptional for the future and even Libya and Syria. We are Abu Dhabi National Hotels so we will look at this region first, then the MENA region.
Now is a good time to buy but our pipeline is such that we have a lot of money tied up right now.

ADNH by the numbers

Five divisions: Hotels Division, ADNH-Compass, General Purchasing, Al Ghazal Transport, Sunshine Tours.

Six owned hotels: Hilton Abu Dhabi, Hilton Al Ain, Sheraton Abu Dhabi, Le Meridien Abu Dhabi, Mercure Grand Hotel Jabel Hafeet, Sofitel Jumeirah Beach Dubai

13 operated hotels: under the Al Diar brand

Three ongoing developments in Abu Dhabi: Park Hyatt Hotel and Villas Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island, Grand Canal Hotel and Villas (operator TBA following termination of JW Marriott management) and a third project TBA.

1500 units: planned to be opened in Abu Dhabi by 2012 in the form of three hotels.

AED 170 million: net profit for Q1, 2010, an increase of 13% over the same period in 2009.

80%: occupancy in Q1, 2010, a drop of 10%.

Saadiyat Island – “Island of Happiness” is a large, low lying island 500 meters off the coast of Abu Dhabi island to be developed.

A US$ 27 billion mixed commercial, residential, and leisure project is currently under construction on the island, expected to be completed in 2018.

Source:  www.youtube.com

The Tourism, Development and Investment Company has granted an extension to companies submitting tenders for the main contract for Abu Dhabi’s Louvre museum by almost four weeks.

The Louvre will be set in the Saadiyat Cultural District.

The government owned body stated that following an appeal by all prospective bidders for more time, it has set a new deadline of 1st August for the AED1 billion project.

“Construction of the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum, in the Saadiyat Island Cultural District, is on schedule and will be completed in 2013 as previously stated,” it said.

The TDIC is an independent but government-owned entity which is master developer for a wide range of Abu Dhabi projects including Saadiyat Island, Desert Islands as well as numerous hotels and residences.

“The extension to the bid deadline will not have any effect on the final delivery date for the museum, and all the remaining museum projects in the Saadiyat Island Cultural District continue on schedule,” it added.

In a press briefing in April, TDIC said it will be tendering for the construction of the super-structure of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi nearer the end of this year. It will be the world’s biggest Guggenheim.