Land reclamation of the Durrat Marina islands, part of the luxury Durrat al Bahrain residential resort, has been completed ahead of schedule.

Over 5m cubic meters of material has been reclaimed in just 24 months to create the three new islands now ready for development.

Designed by Atkins, the 400-berth marina will become a vibrant hub for the South East area of the Kingdom. Intended as a truly mixed-use development, Durrat Marina will act as a catalyst for retail and commercial development and accommodate young families and professionals.

One of the key commercial advantages of Durrat Marina is that the majority of residences will benefit from sea views and easy connections to public landscaped spaces, beaches, boardwalks and a cosmopolitan lifestyle.

With the successfully handing over of phase I of the Durrat al Bahrain Islands to tenants well under way, Atkins was retained to continue as engineering and site supervision for the three islands which have a total area over 480,000m².

With water forming the central theme, work on the marine reclamation and shore protection of the three curved islands necessitated complex engineering as the design looked to maximise sea frontages by incorporating canals and beaches. The elliptical shorelines are protected by over 600,000 tonnes of locally quarried limestone rock revetments and 150,000 tonnes of concrete quay wall edge protection.

Significant to the speed of installing the edge protection following reclamation was the predesign of foundations to accommodate predicted settlement within subgrade materials below the quay wall foundations. This method enabled the contractor to progress with construction on site whilst closely monitoring settlement of the completed sections of walls to ensure that settlement was within the expected limits. This method also meant that volumes of what would normally be considered unsuitable material could be left in place thus significantly reducing the overall construction cost of the islands.

Reclamation work on the Golf Course linked to the marina continues with completion planned for the end of the year.

Durrat Marina won the CNBC Property Arabia Waterfront Award in 2008, in recognition for its cultural and economic contribution to Bahrain.