15
december 2013
international
construction
ICEF REVIEW
Amsterdam success
Record-breaking hotel wins award
International Construction Project of the Year won by Brookfield Multiplex
T
he winners of the inaugural ICEF awards were revealed at a gala dinner held on 21
November.
The winner of the International Construction Project of the Year award, which
recognised a scheme of international significance worth US$ 100 million, was the JW Marriott
Marquis Hotel in Dubai, entered by main contractor Brookfield Multiplex.
The hotel is a twin tower complex that, at 355 m high, breaks the Guinness World Record for
the World’s tallest dedicated hotel.
It was selected from a shortlist of five, and the panel of judges said the winning JW Marriott
Marquis Hotel was an outstanding project that demonstrated a close working relationship
between the construction team and other stakeholders, without compromising safety.
Meanwhile, the winner of the construction equipment innovation award was Caterpillar, for
its 336E H hybrid excavator. The machine uses up to -25% less fuel compared to standard
models by capturing waste kinetic energy via hydraulic accumulators, helping it optimise
performance.
The judges said the hybrid machine was a fantastic innovation that dramatically cut costs
using tried and trusted technology, with a short pay-back period.
The winner of the construction equipment innovation award for component or sub-
system design was Liebherr, for its PowerBoom technology for crawler cranes. The winning
technology increases lifting capacity by more than +50% over the standard load chart.
The judges said the PowerBoom was as an example of innovative engineering that not only
radically increases capacity and productivity, but does so in a way that is cost-effective and
flexible for the customer.
and not profitable and, at the end of the day, it was a big failure.
This year in May we decided not to continue with the subsidiary
because it was unsustainable.
“The main mistake was a very rapid growth in foreign markets
without establishing knowledge of countries and situations first.
We have to learn from this.”
However, that is not to say the contractor is giving up on its
domestic market, far from it. “In Spain, for sure we are going to
maintain activity, and we are waiting for a recovery, which we see
coming in the following years. We think that the worst has passed
- the economy is out of recession,” Mr Fernández said.
Manufacturers
Meanwhile, prominent figures representing the manufacturing
industry also addressed the conference, including Zeng Guang’an,
president of Liugong Machinery.
In a dynamic address, Mr Zeng spoke about the coming of age
of China’s construction equipment industry, and sought to dispel
some stereotypes about Chinese-made machines.
“There is a stereotype of low cost and low quality in Chinese-
built products, and while this idea existed 10 years ago and was
right, today it has totally changed. There are many misconceptions
about Chinese manufacturing,” he said.
Mr Zeng added that these kinds of misunderstandings – that
Chinese companies produce poor quality machines, copy western
designs and provide poor or no support – would lead western
companies to ignore the true progresses of Chinese manufacturers.
He also forecast that consolidation would increase among
Chinese construction equipment manufacturers as the country’s
construction equipment market enters a decade of slower growth
compared to the last 10 years.
“I think the current figure of 300 manufacturers in China will
reduce to 100 in the coming years,” Mr Zeng said. “Production
of Chinese construction equipment will slow down to more
reasonable growth. We have to go from high-speed growth to low-
speed growth and the industry’s values are also changing.”
Forecasts
Attendees also heard comprehensive outlooks for the construction
industry. Opening the first day of the conference,
iC
contributor
and director of construction and industry at IHS Global Insight,
Scott Hazelton forecast that construction growth would pick up
Zeng Guang’an, president of Liugong,
spoke about the coming of age of China’s
construction equipment industry.
International Construction Project
of the Year award winners Graham
Sonley (L) and David Miller (R) from
Brookfield Multiplex, with
International
Construction
editor Chris Sleight.
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