ACLA

ACLA’s parent company Hyder has been awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for International Trade in the UK.  Queen’s Awards are one of the most prestigious awards for business performance and acknowledge and reward companies who have made outstanding achievement and growth. 

Since its acquisition, ACLA consistent growth and delivery excellence was one of the key contributors to the success in international trade in which we have delivered a group-wide 66% increase in international sales over the past 3 years.

Tim Wade, Hyder’s Chief Executive commented “This Award is a great endorsement of the progress and reflects the truly international nature and profile of our company. This award would not have been possible without the combined efforts of our outstanding people across all our regions.  I would like to congratulate and thank you all for your work and commitment which has culminated in this award and I look forward to our continued success”.

ACLA is well represented during this years World Architecture Congress in Singapore.  Robbert van Nouhuys will be delivering a paper on ‘Sustainable Urban Design: The Ecological Footprint of a City’, covering topics such as : -Measuring the ecological carrying capacity of a city; -Ensuring sustainable design is integrated in the urban development process; and several case studies relevant to Sustainable design solutions for sustainable living.

In addition Robbert will lead the Workshop on Architecture for Sustainable Cities and examines how urban centres can become carbon neutral and how green building techniques can increase efficiency and reduce environmental impact. He will also explore the latest in green innovations and the quest to achieve zero energy consumption.

This workshop will include presentations, case studies of international projects and discussion.

ACLA has been appointed to complete the master plan for a 265 ha integrated resort development along the coast in northern Vietnam. The resort development will include 200 luxury homes, a golf course and several luxury resort developments. The project also include educational facilities and upgrading of existing villages fishing harbour and commercial facilities for both local and tourism clientele. The site is undulating with steep cliffs and extensive beach areas. The total project coast line stretches beyond 4 km.

Robbert van Nouhuys ACLA Director for International Projects explains : “The growing number of tourism arrivals projected for the next 5 years combined with the increase in GDP over the same period has put a lot of pressure on developers to deliver quality destinations with quality service. This project has a unique potential being able to regenerate and revitalize an entire area well beyond the site boundary and provide quality employment and business opportunities for the local population.” He continued : “ The prominent location and unique site features warrant an ecologically sensitive and sustainable site development approach. This is in line with demand generated by the fastest growing segment in the tourism industry ; eco-tourism.”The project is scheduled for completion in 2009-2010.

ACLA has been commissioned to master plan a 200ha integrated mix use, luxury resort and tourism destination in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Located just outside Tbilisi on the top of a 800m elevated ridgeline, the site overlooks the entire city with 360 degrees view of its surroundings. The project includes high end residential mid rise units, a commercial shopping street, hotel and convention centre, international school and 300 luxury residential villas. The unique sloped site conditions provide both an engineering challenge as well as design opportunities.
Dastin Hillery, project coordinator and senior designer on the project commented : the design challenge is to match the site characteristics with a strong urban design statement to really unlock the development potential and essential qualities”.

ACLA has completed the concept and design packaging for the 12ha Another Park in Beijing in record time. The project is now nearing completion and is already well received by the general public. Tomm van Dyke and Phyllis Cheung, both  Directors in ACLA stated, this park has an important function in city of Beijing and ensuring the delivery of it to the highest quality standards was essential. This could only be achieved through close collaboration between the ACLA offices in Hong Kong and Beijing, the Client and the contractors.

ACLA and Hyder Consulting have been awarded the Greening Master Plan (GMP) for all of Urban Hong Kong, some 11,310 hectares of urban areas and country parks.  This assignment is the single largest landscape and urban improvement project ever awarded by the Hong Kong Government.  This master plan will realise the aspirations of Hong Kong people for improved quality of life and their environment. ACLA have undertaken two previous greening master plan commissions, much smaller in area and scope, namely the GMP for Central and the GMPs for Sheung Wan to Causeway Bay. The scope of services includes extensive data collection, opportunity mapping, strategic advice and design direction.  We will also produce full construction documentation and manage the implementation of the proposals.

ACLA, the master planning and landscape architecture Company recently acquired by Hyder Consulting, was announced as winner of the Cityscape Dubai Master Planning Award, for Cairo Future City.  Earlier this year, ACLA won the Award for Parks and Open Spaces for Dubai Festival City, from the Singapore Institute of Landscape Architects. 

Cityscape Award judges commented “This is an ambitious proposition for a 21st century city outside of Cairo which proposes an environmental section including roof level mesh covering much of the site"

The design brief for Cairo Future City demanded the design of a sustainable city for the future which would meet the environmental demands of the present population without compromising future generations.

“The simplicity and openness of this brief provided us with the opportunity to create a design which focused on preserving the present environment of Cairo for future generations, rather than developing for short term gain” explained Mona Rizk, Project Co-coordinator, ACLA.

The banks of the River Nile are already suffering the effects of urbanisation.  So, rather than creating a design which would further damage this region, areas of desert outside of this zone were selected to provide a 3,900 hectare community which could accommodate over 900,000 people. 

ACLA felt that the major economical, social and environmental concerns of the present and future generations of Egyptians needed to be addressed.  The main concept was to create a development that would consist of three self-sustainable satellite cities around Cairo city: Village Zone, Urban Zone and Metropolitan Zone. 

The Village Zone plan is a dispersed urban area where recreation and open landscape mix with residential.  Dwellings range from subterranean and courtyard housing to individual farmhouses in compound walls with a multitude of courts and patios, as well as three-storey Kasbah apartments.

The design of the Urban Zone would comprise a mixed residential programme.  Commercial and business activities take place on the first levels, while apartment complexes ranging from 4 to 8 storeys with stepped terrace levels continue to the top floor.  The urban fabric is compact and dense, allowing the buildings to shade the streets and courtyards. 

The Metropolitan Zone design represents a global city in the context of the Egyptian desert.  The mixed program of office and residential on the top floors, and residential on the lower ones would  appeal to a wide audience.  Buildings range from 9 to 15 storeys, and the compact fabric with multiple towers on podiums gains strong character from the many wadis that cut through the area.

Unique concepts for the design include a super-intelligent multi layered mesh to allow filtering of the sun’s rays.  An ecological buffer comprised of a layer of vegetation on terraces between the mesh and the built form of the city, would minimise heat transmissions, and provide a source of oxygen.  The terraces would also be connected to the city’s water network to collect the highest possible level of rainwater.  Khamsin winds would effectively blow over the horizontal buildings leaving little effect on the city tucked into a gently sloping hillside.  Natural wadis would allow penetration of the Northern winds, and also act to divert flood streams, while their fertile grounds would form a base for the development of urban parks. 

Mona continues “We are delighted to have received this award, which serves to recognise the fact that biggest is not always best, and sustainability and environmental considerations will hopefully bear more weight in the design of future developments.”