The Nile Ritz-Carlton

Hill provided project and construction management services during the rehabilitation and conversion of the iconic Nile Hotel in Cairo, Egypt. The project comprised modernizing the existing hotel while retaining its architectural and interior design legacy and historic characteristics. Works as part of the 64,000 SM project included renovating the existing main building, which houses 331 guest rooms/suites and public areas, demolishing the office extension building and shopping mall, constructing a new ballroom and conference center, and adding an underground parking garage. In addition, the hotel infrastructure and engineering building services were replaced with updated systems.

When Hill was hired, renovation work had already begun. The project was undergoing several challenges, including disputes among the project team members. Hill addressed the issues in dispute, recommended and implemented solutions, and got the project moving again. 

In addition, the large number of stakeholders and construction packages required extensive coordination and caused contractual conflicts before Hill was on board. There also was a lack of coordination between the different design trades, which led to several design conflicts.  Most of these design conflicts were resolved with Hill’s recommendation that change orders be granted to the contractors. Hill also conducted many meetings to resolve project conflicts between different trades.

Communication and team building were essential to the project’s success. Hill established clear, consistent lines of communication among project team members, the project owner, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders, held regular meetings to discuss and resolve arising issues in real time, and help workshops with the contractor to help ensure the owner’s vision, design intent, and project milestones were clear and achievable. As work progressed, we also held workshops to discuss design or schedule changes, outstanding variations, regulatory and inspection requirements, issues that could impede progress, and ways to mitigate potential problems.

Hill also led the effort to issue new, modified drawings. To keep the project moving, items that were missing from the original drawings or were outside of the contractor’s scope were converted to change orders. In addition, Hill closely monitored the progress of these variations to minimize their impact on the overall project schedule, which positively affected both project time and costs. Storage areas for manufactured FF&E and operating supplies and equipment were very limited. To solve this challenge, Hill and the contractors agreed to rent outside air-conditioned storage units. The contractor provided an insurance policy for the storage units, and both the client and Hill agreed to pay contractors a portion of the material cost to avoid contractor claims.

The project won an Award of Merit in the Renovation/Restoration category from ENR.

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