My Home

Here are a few pics of my home; Bahrain. Its not very lush of course, cos Bahrain is a desert but its a great place to live. Though it is a desert there are numerous projects going on to make it a greener place to live. It’s a beautiful country and a great holiday location. These pics are of the home i moved to in February 2005 after nine years at my previous place.

For those really interested in visiting, i have written a small description of the Island, it’s various ongoing projects and it’s sights and interesting places. Hope you like it.

Bahrain

Bahrain is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Middle East with over two million tourists a year. Most of the visitors are from Arab Gulf states but there is an increasing number of tourists from outside the region thanks to a growing awareness of the Kingdom’s rich heritage and its higher profile with regards to the Bahrain Formula One Race Track.

Lonely Planet describes Bahrain as “an excellent introduction to the Persian Gulf” because of its authentic Arab heritage and reputation as relatively liberal and modern. The Kingdom combines authentic Arab culture, contemporary Gulf glitz and the archaeological legacy of five thousand years of civilisation. The ancient civilisation of Dilmun, which dominated trade between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilization, was centred in Bahrain. The inhabitants of Dilmun left behind settlements and temples and tens of thousands of burial mounds which dot the landscape.

Dilmun prospered because it had fresh water, and it is this resource which has meant that Bahrain has long fought over by regional powers in a predominantly arid region. As a result, the island is home to many castles including the impressive Qalat Al Bahrain which was recently listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

The Bahrain National Museum has a wide-varied collection of artifacts from the Kingdom’s history dating back to the island’s first human inhabitation 9000 years ago.

Many new tourist attraction resorts are being planned in Bahrain such as the Al Areen Resort, Dannat Hawar, Durrat Al Bahrain, Amwaj Islands, Lulu Island, Riffa Views, iceberg tower and Bahrain Bay which will be home to the Kingdom’s first Four Seasons Hotel.

Attractions

Formula 1 Track - BIC

The Bahrain International Circuit is a venue used for drag racing, GP2, and an annual Formula One Grand Prix. For the first time in 2006, there was a V8 Supercar race, named the Desert 400, and also a 24 Hour Race.

The construction of the Bahrain circuit was a national objective for Bahrain, initiated by the Crown Prince, Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. The Crown Prince is the Honorary President of the Bahrain Motor Federation.

Race organizers were worried that the circuit wouldn’t be complete in time, and asked for the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix to take place in 2005 instead. However, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone refused this request. In the end, the circuit was not quite fully complete, but was good enough for the grand prix to go ahead.

The circuit posed a unique problem. Positioned in the middle of a desert, there were worries that sand would blow onto the circuit and disrupt the race. However, organizers were able to keep the sand off the track by spraying an adhesive on the sand around the track.

The circuit was designed by German architect Hermann Tilke, the same architect who designed the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. The circuit cost approximately US $150 million to construct. It has six separate tracks, including a test oval and a drag strip.

More than 12,000 tonnes of stone were used to construct the race circuit — a third of it Welsh granite, chosen for the track surface due to its adhesive qualities.

Pearl Roundabout

This may not be a place to visit, but definitely something to look and appreciate. Just down the road from the WTC and Financial Harbour, this amazing roundabout hosts on of the best looking sculptures, a pearl on a stand displaying Bahrain’s heritage of Pearl Diving.

Bahrain National Museum

Work on the new National Museum started in 1984 on the unique 123,000 square metre sea-front site situated between the cities of Manama and Muharraq. It compromises nine separate exhibition halls, each having a floor area of 625 square metres. A large foyer of 1450 square metres connects the halls which is used for temporary exhibitions. In addition, the Museum has administrative offices, conservation laboratories, storage facilities, workshops, photo labs, as well as a library, restaurant, lagoon, and car parks.

On going projects

Al Areen Resort
The unique Al Areen development that costs over $1 billion US Dollars and spread over an area of 2 million square meters furthers Bahrain’s reputation as a friendly destination for family and health-oriented tourists. The development is a 35-minute drive from the Bahrain International Airport, 25 minutes away from the city centre of Manama and 20 minutes away from King Fahad causeway. It is adjacent to the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), the Middle East’s first ever Grand Prix circuit and the Al Areen Wildlife Sanctuary.

Drawing upon the wealth of Bahrain’s long and distinguished past, the Al Areen gives you an opportunity to experience the legacy of the country’s rich and varied history, while maintaining the comfort and convenience of modern living.

The mission of developments projects is to transform its distinctive desert location area into a diversified range of health, residential, hospitality and entertainment components. Major components of the development include the Banyan Tree Desert Spa and Resort - Al Areen, “The Lost Paradise of Dilmun” Water Park, Hotel Al Areen, Al Waha Resort, Oryx Hills, Downtown Al Areen, Sarab Al Areen and a number of residential villages, entertainment and recreational facilities.

Durrat Al Bahrain

Durrat Al Bahrain is jointly owned by the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Government and Kuwait Finance House (Bahrain). It is named after the most perfect pearl and sets out to be a model city resort of life as it should be in the 21st century. The character and design of Durrat Al Bahrain will reflect the highest quality of design principles and will set a new standard for urban development in the Kingdom.

This 20sq.km. seaside city resort, located on the south coast of Bahrain, will include 13 different islands with over 2,000 villas, more than 3,000 apartments, luxury hotels, restaurants, promenades, shopping centres, spas, a planned marina, and a proposed golf course among its many sports facilities. Plans for ongoing development will evolve according to the city’s needs and wants.

Bahrain Financial Harbour

The $1.3 billion Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH). Built on reclaimed land, the Financial Centre will be the focus of all monetary activities within the development. This phase of the project incorporates the Dual Towers, the Financial Mall and the Harbour House. Scheduled for overall completion in 2010, the BFH project will spread over 380,000m² of reclaimed land designed for commercial, residential and leisure purposes.

Bahrain Bay

Another Bahraini project that is destined to have a major impact on the local (and regional) economy is Bahrain Bay, a $1.5 billion urban development based in the kingdom’s capital, Manama. Incorporating commercial, residential and retail space set around the Manama waterfront, the project will include Bahrain’s first Four Seasons hotel and will be also home to Arcapita’s new global headquarters.

Contracts for the building works and infrastructure packages are due to be awarded shortly.
Upon final completion — expected in December 2010 — the total built-up area of Bahrain Bay will be over 1.1 million m2 and will transform the kingdom into a regional centre for banking and finance. “There are many aspects that make Bahrain Bay a particularly attractive opportunity,” says Atif Abdulmalik, CEO, Arcapita. “The demographic changes within Bahrain, its proximity to the rapidly growing Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and the location within Manama’s prime northern corridor make this a compelling project.

Bahrain World Trade Center

Near to BFH and Bahrain Bay is the 240m twin tower Bahrain World Trade Center (WTC). Designed by Atkins, the structure incorporates three 29m diameter horizontal axis turbines mounted between the WTC’s triangular-shaped towers.
These will be used to harness the wind energy from the Gulf, and are predicted to provide the building with up to 15% of its power demands.

The Bahrain World Trade Center is an extension to the existing Sheraton Hotel complex. The towers are integrated on top of a three-storey podium which accommodates a new boutique shopping centre, fine dining, business centre and car parking.

The building also incorporates a large number of other sustainable features which make it environmentally responsive in reducing carbon emissions. The deep gravel roofs in some locations provide kinetic insulation, while balconies to the sloping elevations with overhangs provide shading. Dense concrete core and floor slabs will level loads and reduce peak demand with associated reductions in air and chilled water transport systems.

Amwaj Islands

Amwaj Islands is a pioneering project in Bahrain. It is the first to offer 100% freehold land ownership to expatriates living in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is also filling the niche market for waterfront property which is in surprisingly low supply for an island nation. Almost complete with regard to the provision of infrastructure such as electricity, roads, water, sewerage and telecoms, Amwaj is now ready to welcome its first residents.

From an engineering perspective Amwaj introduced a number of new technologies to the region including geotubes for the reclamation phase of these man-made islands, vacuum sewerage, fibre optic “Smart City” technology, and many other innovative applications.

The Amwaj Islands were reclaimed from the relatively shallow seas to the North East of Muharraq Island, which is the northernmost island in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The overall size of Amwaj is just under 30 million square feet, or 3 million square meters approximately. The Islands contain residential, commercial (high rise) and hotel and retail components, as well as a 240m diameter circular marina with over 140 berths, designed by M/s Maunsell, out of their Sydney office.

The project is connected to the mainland by a causeway, approximately 1.8 km in length. Other facilities include a school and university, a hospital, fuel station, theme parks, a lagoon-side dining and cafe precinct, and so on.

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