COWI was among the five prize winners at the Affordable Housing Development Summit in September.

The event, which took place in Bahrain’s capital Manama, recognises outstanding building projects in the Middle East.

Shaikh Ebrahim bin Khalifa al Khalifa, Bahrain’s Minister of Housing, was on hand to present the jury’s five awardees.

COWI received top honours in the category 'Best Master Planned Community' for its Salman Bay project in North Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Complex master plan
The Salman Bay project involves a 72 sq km waterfront development on the Red Sea. Together with the client’s economic and market analyst sub-consultants, COWI produced a concept master plan.

According to COWI’s Head of Master Planning Department in Bahrain, Nathan Cox, the concept includes mixed-use retail and commercial centres, residential and community facilities, marinas and iconic tourist facilities, along with multiple waterfront resort developments.

He notes that the project’s complexity required a wide spectrum of in-house consultants whose specialties range from master planning, urban design and landscape, architecture, transportation, marine and MEP engineering.

Recipe for success
“It’s a real honour to accept this award on behalf of COWI as it recognises not only a prestigious master planning project of ours in the region, but also honours a diverse COWI team and its efforts to create a highly modern tourist and residence development that embraces both exclusive details and functionality," said Cox after the award ceremony.

He added that a detailed knowledge of local markets as well as focusing on clients’ needs was a key factor to meet the market demands for a project like Salman Bay.

“The success story stems from an understanding of the client's needs and maintaining achieving those client interests as our goals. We have delivered what is good for the client who is driven to deliver what is required by the community and respecting the environment and social fabric."

"Coupled with the expertise of our multi-faceted, high-quality team, we seem to have found a real recipe for success for our clients and us.”