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<p>Beirut Central District Sectors A&D Infrastructure<br>Lead Design & Supervision | Beirut, Lebanon | [Year]<br>Scope: Lead design and construction supervision for roads and infrastructure serving 70-hectare seafront reclaimed area - Sectors A&D of Beirut Central District. Extension to traditional BCD serving highly dense mixed-use district (public open spaces, office hub, residential hub, leisure). ~10km road network integrating pedestrian experience, bike lanes, and archaeological sites while preserving sea view corridors. Complete primary, secondary, and tertiary wet and dry utilities networks with accessible operation and maintenance design: water supply valve chambers, MV culverts and inspection hand-holes, duct banks. Central technical area with 4,000m³ reservoir and pumping station for public green park irrigation. Site utility investigation and coordination with public authorities/service providers.<br>Challenge: Achieve three Solidere objectives: design road network integrating pedestrian/cycling experience and archaeological preservation while maintaining critical sea view corridors, create infrastructure adaptable to market-driven land use variations and up to 20% potential BUA increase, and fully service all plots with infrastructure connections before development - eliminating future road disruption. Technical complexity of reclaimed seafront land requiring thorough geotechnical investigation and performance-based seismic analysis. Design complete infrastructure while corresponding programs remain unfinalized - requiring flexibility for unknown future uses.<br>Approach: Site utility investigation documented existing infrastructure at boundaries - survey and inspection of characteristics, condition, and capacities. Coordinated with public authorities, service providers, and operators on proposed utilities interface (connection points, spare capacities) with 20% extra capacity provision beyond projected loads. ~10km road network designed to withstand heavy traffic loading during plot development and construction phases. Primary, secondary, and tertiary utilities networks prioritized ease of accessibility for future operation and maintenance - water supply valve chambers, MV culverts, inspection hand-holes, duct banks strategically positioned. Central technical area with 4,000m³ reservoir and pumping station serves irrigation across all planned public green parks. Infrastructure design accommodated potential phasing scenarios including temporary facilities servicing options. Reclaimed land nature necessitated thorough geotechnical investigation and site characterization before tender design completion. Performance-based seismic analysis established infrastructure design criteria for reclaimed seafront conditions.<br>Status: Completed</p>
Infrastructure engineering
Roads engineering
Laceco responded to the above objectives by:
Designing a consistent urban framework that nevertheless provided a diversity in the individual architectural character of buildings.
Curating a seamless pedestrian experience in a site that had a challenging topography and was exposed to dominant winds.
Anchoring the site along three platforms linked to each other by a continuous game of terraces, stairs, suspended bridges and esplanades that gently slope down the length of the development.
Conducting value engineering and cost optimization studies to preserve economic viability of the development.
Laceco responded to the above objectives by:
Conducting a Site Utility Investigation for the existing infrastructure at site boundaries: existing conditions survey and inspection in term of characteristics/condition/capacities.
Coordinating with the concerned public Authorities/Service providers/Operators regarding the proposed utilities interface with the existing ones (connection points/spare capacities etc.), with a 20% extra provision on proposed loads capacity.
Designing around 10km of roads that can withstand heavy traffic loading during plots development/construction phase.
Implementing primary, secondary and tertiary wet and dry utilities networks, with ease of accessibity for future operation and maintenance as a major concern: water supply valve chambers, MV culvert and inspection hand holes, duct banks.
Designing a central technical area, with a 4,000 m³ central reservoir and pumping station to serve the irrigation of all planned public green parks within the district.
Accommodating the utilities design for potential phasing scenarios, including temporary facilities servicing option within the design.
Interesting facts:
Reclaimed nature of the land on the sea shore, that necessitates a thorough geotechnical investigation and site characterization before tender design completion, as well as a performance based analysis to set the seismic design criteria for infrastructure.
Fully servicing the private and public lots and open spaces while the corresponding programs are not finalized.
