Dermot O’Meara, Qatar Rail’s Project Director for Doha Metro Redline South led a presentation to an audience arranged by CIHT Qatar on 23 May 2017. He provided an overview on the progress of the Red, Green and Gold Metro lines which aim overall to complete their 37 stations in 2020. He highlighted the huge progress to date, including the 111.5 km of tunneling operations which were completed in September 2016 and which achieved a Guinness World Record of 21 tunnel boring machines (TBMs) active at any one time. 

 

Dermot referred to how the in-house sustainability programme was driving the company forward into delivering one of the most highly recognized sustainable construction projects in Qatar.

This theme was picked up by Jeff Kersey from Jacobs UK. Jeff is the PMC Sustainability Manager for the Red Line South and Red Line North projects and provided a captivating presentation on the sustainability challenges and opportunities. He emphasized the richness of the Qatar environment and how important it was to protect this rich heritage. He was pleased to say that Qatar Rail is delivery according to Qatar National Vision 2030.    

 

It was highlighted how Q Rail was continuously reviewing its design and construction methods to integrate large sustainability benefits throughout its mainstream engineering functions and how these result in substantial reductions in carbon footprint through the projects’ lifecycle.

 

Jeff spoke about a number of the key elements to success which included participation across its partners and sub-contractors and identifying sustainability targets through its use of score rating systems for all the key activities. A key Employer’s Requirement for sustainability is the achievement of GSAS Rail 4 Stars. This is a robust sustainability assessment methodology developed by the Gulf Organisation for Research & Development (GORD) for the Middle East.

 

Jeff explained that Qatar has a challenging environment in which to achieve sustainability outcomes for this type of construction project not least due to the above average summer temperatures, high water table and high particulate matter concentrations. However, he highlighted opportunities to contribute to sustainable development.  He provided the audience with examples of a host of sustainable opportunities possible from Qatar Rail’s wide ranging construction activities including benefits in energy and water savings, low carbon materials, together with internal and external environmental considerations. 

 

During a lively question and answer session, Dermot explained how the critical sustainability principles would be carried through into the future operation of the Metro.

 

CIHT Qatar is sponsored by AECOM, Atkins, DCE, Egis, Fugro, PAF, Seero, TMS and WSP.