26 Screen Multiplex & Guy Fieri Restaurant

The task was to refurbish a very successful cinema complex, transforming it into a 26-screen multiplex with: the world’s most luxurious cinema seating, the most advanced sound and imaging systems (secured through an exclusive tie-up with Dolby Cinema), the first ScreenX in the Middle East, a standalone restaurant for 170 covers (in a partnership with American celebrity chef Guy Fieri) and four dine-in cinemas served from a tapas kitchen.

We were brought in to manage the second, most complicated phase when the first 14 screens were in operation, through to project completion.

• Ensuring the contractor could commit to fitting out the space in six months — a short timescale for the complexity and amount of work.
• Carrying out the refurbishment while some 14 auditoriums were in operation, and while the mall — the world’s largest — functioned as normal.
• Obtaining authority approvals — far more of an obstacle than expected due to complexity around assorted base build approvals.
• Understanding how small details in the design can have significant effects on the drawing power of the completed project.
• Creating three state-of-the-art kitchens — one for the Guy Fieri restaurant, one for the dine in cinemas and the other specializing in tapas for the Platinum screens. Approvals, especially for the gas supply, and integration into the rest of the mall were more demanding issues than normal.

• To ensure there were no unexpected surprises in the running of the 14 cinemas that were in operation, we performed daily on-the-spot and high level due diligence. This avoided unacceptable scenarios such as cutting off supply to the wrong parts of the development, for instance, wiring and adapting sprinkler valves.
• Daily meetings with the Dubai authorities was the only feasible way to get the approvals complete in time for the project to meet its opening date. Investing in relationships, with Emaar’s staff and the authorities, was important to speed up this process.