40 November 2011 Climate Control News

Industry Insider

Bridging the GulfRecent immigrant to Australia, Ramiz Gabrial provides the full rundown of what it is like to work and live in the Gulf States and the opportunities that await interested engineers, technicians and architects.

When the Gulf region is mentioned, things that come to the mind of engineers and architects are high rise

buildings with glass facades and hot weather that require extreme air conditioning services.

It also brings to memory some iconic buildings such as Burj Khalifa and Burj Al-Arab (Dubai), Museum of Islamic Art and Pearls Island (Doha) among others.

Those of us who have visited the region or have worked there would agree that it is the type, the size and the amount of projects that are being designed and constructed in the region at present that makes it a place where many engineers, technicians and architects look to the opportunities to work on challenging projects in an exotic locale.

OppOrtunitiesBeside the large petroleum and gas industry that exists in the region, a huge number of commercial, institutional, health care, sport, mission critical, religious, airports, research

centres, hospitality, leisure, residential, infrastructure and other project types are being built in Qatar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and other Gulf States.

Architectural and engineering companies from all over the world compete to participate in designing and constructing projects. Some have regional offices, while others operate from their offices in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, North Africa and Australia. Professionals from all over the world seek employment, some have spent the bulk of their professional life in the region.

With summer conditions that go above 50ºC and a humidity ratio that exceeds 80 per cent, building services engineers are never short of demand.

The architectural beauty would fall short unless complemented by proper HVACR, hydraulic and fire protection, durable power supply and lighting systems to keep the buildings viable during the severe environmental conditions.

Keeping in tOuchOn the professional development side, the intense existence of building professionals in the region helped in the formation of local chapters of some international professional societies. Local chapters of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) exist in most Gulf countries. These chapters act as professional hubs for building services engineers to network and keep up to date with the latest technology developments. Smaller groups of the Charted Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) also exist in areas where CIBSE members gather.

In part due to the small size of the Gulf region and the sheer number and intensity of the construction projects, global interest in the market has led to a large number of professional development courses and specialised conferences in comparison to other regions.

The close proximity between different Gulf States (90 minutes flight maximum

computer graphic rendition of Qatar stadium being constructed for 2015 World cup

ramiz gabrial

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Industry Insider

between cities), makes it very common for professionals to participate in conferences held in another State.

turning greenSustainability is one area of global importance that is taken seriously by many Gulf States. The US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system has been widely adopted and applied in Qatar and the UAE. The British environmental building design system BREEAM has also been applied to some projects in the region. In addition a lot of research and development is underway to develop local Green Building rating systems. Qatar has developed Qatar Sustainability Assessment System (QSAS). The United Arab Emirates developed ESTEDAMA. Some states already made their rating systems mandatory requirements for new projects.

On the design and consulting field, consulting engineers are challenged to produce innovative solutions to the unique and ambitious architectural designs. The size and architecture of the projects are requiring different design stage energy modeling, lighting simulation and CFD analysis to give the client the required level of satisfaction that the design will perform as per intentions.

Program and project managers are trying hard to achieve integrated designs where all design disciplines, energy modelers, sustainability consultants, the owner, the contractor, local authorities and other project stakeholders contribute towards a well coordinated design and constructable projects.

Refrigeration equipment manufacturers are supplying larger capacities, higher efficiency water chillers to serve the high cooling loads. District cooling plants with capacities of up to 500,000kW have been built to serve large districts or university campuses.

While power is a cheap commodity in the oil-rich region, it is fair to say that there is much room for improvement on the power conservation side.

Sea water desalination plants represent the main source of water in the region. Water-cooled air conditioning systems are, by far, the largest water consuming system in these projects.

Treated Sewer Effluent (TSE) plants and distribution networks are used to save on potable water usage. Water efficient cooling towers represent a major challenge to a designer.

nO end in sightA question often asked is: “will this development spree reach an end soon?” Looking at the nature of some of the programs that are being developed and the international events that will be hosted in the region tells us that the development will keep going for many years to come.

For example, Qatar is preparing to host the 2015 World Handball Games and the FIFA 2022 World Cup. Stadiums are already being designed with sustainability in mind. Fifty thousand hotel rooms are planned to support these international events.

The Qatar Foundation (QF) is another highly ambitious education program with a strategic plan to build a knowledge-based society. QF started more than ten years ago in the construction and operation of Education City in Doha and has many years to go. It includes huge development of institutional buildings to host campuses for many world class universities as well as a state of the art Science and Technology Park, large scale convention center, high class staff and student accommodation housing compounds and others.

emplOyment OppOrtunitiesNo doubt, the Gulf is a large market that represents big interest to many large and medium size consulting, contracting and manufacturing companies worldwide. Some of the large Australian consulting and contracting firms have local offices in Dubai, Qatar, Abu Dhabi or other Gulf cities. These companies are, however, usually staffed by engineers and architects from other countries and different nationalities. Some of the top management staff may come from the firms’ Australian operations, but it is noticeable that the percentage of young Australian engineers and architects is lower in comparison to other nations. Probably it is due to less familiarity with the commonly applied American and British standards (such as ASHRAE, CIBSE, IEEE, IEE, NFPA, BREEAM and LEED) as well as less exposure to the design of such large capacity systems.

dubai construction.

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It is important to note that there are a lot of opportunities that would not only positively impact the individual’s professional and financial interests, but it could also have positive impact on creating large opportunities for the economy through introducing Australian product and services to the world market.

Another important issue is that middle age professionals who get exposed to dealing with these types of projects and such a culturally diversified professional environment, would build a wealth of engineering, managerial and intercultural personal skills that could add great value to the economic development in their fields when they return home.

I have met many professionals outside the Gulf region who ask about the life and work environment in that region and how you can survive there. My answer is that all you need to survive in the Gulf, in addition to your

professional knowledge, is to be an ordinary realistic person who, preferably, can speak Arabic. While Arabic is the official language in the region, English is spoken by almost everybody in the street, shopping centres and government and business offices. Life could be quite enjoyable for the whole family depending on what you want to do and as long as you respect local culture and traditions.

In Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman women are free to work, drive and wear fashion. All international fashion shops have representation in all the Gulf States. High standard international schools exist all over the Gulf. Accommodation for professional level employees varies between acceptable to super luxury. The standard of accommodation depends on the company you work for and the level of seniority.

Work conditions vary depending on the specific company. Government and public

sector establishments, generally occupy nice and well equipped buildings. International companies generally keep good office locations and facilities.

In Qatar, the public sector work between 6:30a.m. to 2:30p.m., Sunday to Thursday. The private sector work 8:00a.m. to 5:00p.m. Sunday to Thursday (or Saturday to Thursday).

Multiculturalism is a feature of the Gulf region enriching the experience of living there.

design challengesOn the practical side of the design process, the designer (who is new to the region) must expect some different design outcomes as a result of issues such as: extreme design conditions, length of the cooling season, need for heating and boilers, extreme filtration requirements, rain intensity and others.

With summer design conditions approaching 50°C dry bulb temperature and more than 30°C wet bulb temperature, which are quite different from the conditions we have in Australia, refrigeration equipment capacities, air duct sizes, required ceiling spaces and system selections must be given careful attention.

Air conditioning systems are needed, starting from middle to late April and until November. This requires careful consideration of equipment selection and allowance for standby equipment.

museum of islamic art, Qatar.

aBOVe: Burj Khalifa, dubai.

united arab emirates region

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While winter is fairly short (December, January and parts of February) temperatures could go down to 7°C during late night and morning hours. Temperatures of 15 to 24°C are very common during winter days.

The very short season (in many cases) does not warrant installing central heating system.

In the event of installing heating systems, electrical heating coils are very common due to the low energy cost.

Residential buildings are normally not heated. The use of boilers in buildings is almost limited to applications where the boilers are needed for other essential services such as hotels and hospitals. In these cases, hot water central heating systems are installed.

In the desert environment, controlling sand infiltration through the air conditioning system is of prime importance.

While in many regions we would be happy with weather louvres and some panel filters, in the Gulf sand trap louvres with high efficiency air filtration are essential.

Air handling unit systems, generally, are equipped with 50mm panel pre-filters and high efficiency bag filters.

Dealing with rain in the Gulf is also a tricky business. On one hand rain is only expected to fall during a few days of the short cold season. Yet, on the other hand, very heavy rain storms can cause major flooding. Accumulation of sand in the rain water reticulations during the long dry and hot season create major blockages that can easily complicate rain water network design and maintenance.

District cooling is another mass cooling concept that is providing a growing share of the air conditioning sector in the Gulf.

Large cooling plants of 40,000Kw to 500,000Kw cooling capacity are constructed and chilled water is distributed to serve a large number of buildings within a residential estate, commercial complex or university campus. Large chilled water loops can run for kilometres to deliver cooling to buildings.

Projects such as Qatar Foundation Education City, Doha West Bay district, Pearls Island (Doha), Nakheel Island (UAE), Al-Shaqab Equestrian club (Doha) and others are examples of large scale projects that use district cooling plant services. These systems achieve higher COPs in comparison to other central systems.

It also saves valuable rental space within prime commercial buildings that would otherwise accommodate central chilled water plants. Building owners also do not need to worry about the operation and maintenance of the central plant, as it is being taken care of by service providers.

An area of professional deficiency with large room for improvement, as far as I am concerned, is the lack of availability of statistical information about these projects; e.g. what worked, what went wrong, efficiencies, materials used, etc. Availability of such information could offer a useful data base to improve and facilitate future project designs. Everybody seems to be busy rushing the current project out and begin with the next one. The situation is leading to some mistakes getting repeated. Some large international companies are building their own data base or accumulated knowledge documents for their own use but, naturally, are unwilling to share the intellectual property.

Similar to other parts of the world, the Gulf region had its share of the global financial crisis. Dubai had the biggest hit, probably due to the volume of commercial projects and high class residential buildings. Other projects were either reduced in size or postponed construction. Strategic government projects do not seem to have suffered at the same rate due to pre-allocated budgets.

Despite all what is said about the global financial situation, the amount and pace of the construction activities in the region is much higher than many other regions. With oil prices firming up and the hope of global financial recovery, projects and activities should improve and go back to normal.

expand yOur hOrizOnsIn summary, the Gulf region represents a very good field for the individual professional and engineering companies to be involved in world class projects that can be rewarding professionally and financially. However, it does not come hassle-free. There are times of frustration dealing with many different cultural backgrounds with different sets of expectations and ways of task prioritising.

Ramiz Gbarial, P.E., M-ASHRAE, LEED AP is a building services consulting engineer with 25 years of experience in the design management of various building types. He has a major interest in sustainability and integrated building design. A registered professional engineer in Virginia, USA, he has worked with major consulting firms and client bodies in the United States, New Zealand, Qatar, UAE, Jordan and Iraq. He is the f ounding member and the immediate past President of the Qatar Chapter of ASHRAE. Ramiz is currently based in Melbourne, Victoria and welcomes feedback on: rgabrial@gmail.com.

About the author

aBOVe: West Bay Business district, doha, Qatar.

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