Oil Sector Complex

The Client:Kuwait Petroleum Company Corporation, Corporate Projects Department

Construction manager: Bovis-Projacs Joint Venture, Kuwait

Architects/engineers: Salem Al-Marzouk and Sabah Abi-Hanna, Kuwait, in association with Arthur Erickson Architectural Corporation, Canada

Supervision consultants: Salem Al-Marzouk and Sabah Abi-Hanna, Kuwait

The complex consists of the following buildings:

.    Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and Ministry of Oil offices - with a gross internal area of 57,000 sq m;

.    Central core building and level (0) basement - 18,134 sq m

.    Training centre - 1,972 sq m;

.    Central stores and maintenance workshops - 1,423 sq m;

.    Multistory car-park building - 25,256 sq m.

Situated at the end of the Gulf Road in Shuwaikh, the Oil Sector Complex is an architectural landmark, which will serve as the international head quarters of Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) and the Ministry of Energy (MOE).

The Kuwait Oil Sector Complex project is spread over approximately 75,000 square meters on a water frontage site. The KPC and Ministry of Oil offices are housed in two fan-shaped high-rise towers, each composed of a lens-shaped building at the front and a triangular-shaped building at the back. Both towers are connected by a bridge and an observation lobby at each floor through a central lifts core.

The KPC and the Ministry of Oil lens towers are 100 m and 80 m high, with 19 and 14 floors respectively providing approximately 57,000 square meters of office space. Roofs of the triangular buildings and central core are sloped. The central lift core is elliptical in plan and its apex is 115 m from the multi-leveled basement. A spacious glazed main atrium at ground level, and two full heights glazed internal atriums, between the lens and triangular buildings give the building an open spacious feel to them. The project is executed in stages with different contractors with separate Bid Packs, in total there are 11 Bid Pack contractors.

The project has a framed reinforced concrete structure and the load transferred to board piles through a reinforced concrete raft. A total number of 1500 piles were placed varying in diameter from 480, 600, 1000 and 1250 mm with a compression working load from 500 to 5400 KN. External finishes consist of curtain walling and limestone cladding, whereas internal finishes include raised floor in the offices, marble tilling in the bridges and the central core, de-mountable partition and dry walling in the offices, steel faced monoblock and GRG suspended ceiling.

External and internal doors are of glass, metal and wood. The lens tower has full height double glazed curtain walls with glass sunshades on the convex facades and limestone on the concave facades. Supporting facilities are housed in the basement and ground floor and includes auditorium, library, cafeteria, prayer halls, bank, archives, stores and electromechanical rooms.

The mechanical system include plumbing, HVAC, fire protection and building automation system. The electrical system comprises light, power and earthling, feeder and riser bus duct system, under-floor trunking, generator, CCTV audio and security systems. The conveying system for the complex consists of VIP lifts, personal lifts and service lifts installed at 14 locations.

Parking for the complex consists of shaded surface parking for 336 cars. A 4-level multi story car park of reinforced concrete with a tensile fabric sail roof, accommodating 684 cars. A storage facility building is situated at the far end of the complex. Hard and soft landscaping provides the complex with a pleasing environment of which water features such as the water steps, reflective pool (5000square meters), water cascades and fountains within the VIP areas.