Bahrain Bay

Bahrain Bay is situated on coastal land adjacent to the original business and political area in the heart of Bahrain's capital city Manama. (Geographically, Bahrain as an island, sits in the center of the Persian Gulf and is connected by a bridged causeway to neighboring Saudi Arabia). shallow waters which form the bay.

The project was designed by American firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who also designed the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower. The master plan was designed by then-SOM architect Michael David Kirchmann, who explored the idea of concentric circles appearing as ripples from the central anchor structure.

Completed in 2012 and sporting several flyovers, Bahrain Bay is linked to the main multi-lane carriageways of the city by the purpose-built North Manama Causeway. This is a raised 6 lane highway some 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) in length which loops around the bay. This carriageway has wide exits and entrance ramps along its route which connect to the various areas of Bahrain Bay. The main road leads to the North and West highways at one end (Al Fateh Highway) and the nearby Bahrain Financial Harbor at the other. This junction also leads to the east and southbound routes (King Faisal Highway) and the old central Manama ‘souk’.

Reclamation was completed in 2011 with infrastructure foundation and 3.3 kilometres (2.1 miles) of key walls in place. A district cooling facility with chilled water connects to all land parcels.

A 66 kV primary substation with five small 11 kV substations have been designed and constructed to power the entire project with redundancy built in. This and two sewerage pumping stations complete the utilities infrastructure.

Created by the reclamation of three islands – the north island, south island, and the Four Seasons central island – the development creates an inner harbor adjacent to the northern corniche of Manama. It is connected to the mainland by two multi-lane causeways, and encircled by a new ring road called the North Manama Causeway. The project has a total reclaimed area of 1.35 square kilometres (0.52 square miles). The project uses 3.3 kilometres (2.1 miles) of quay wall, and 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) of vehicular roads. As part of the infrastructure, the project has built four 66 kV primary substations, five 11 kV substations, two potable water reservoirs, and two sewerage pumping stations.[1]

The Promenade is a wide waterfront walkway that partly encircles the island on which the Four Seasons Hotel is situated. A bridge connects the North and South islands of Bahrain Bay intersected by a water canal. In 2017 the Promenade was opened to the public as it hosted the second edition of Bahrain Food Festival.

There are two Anchor Developments to Bahrain Bay which form the cornerstones of the project:

Third-party developers who have purchased land in the project include:

• Al Baraka Banking Group, a global Islamic banking institution.[6]
• Salhia Real Estate, a Kuwait-based real estate company.[7]
• Guidance Financial Group, an international finance firm for Sharia-compliant products and services; constructing a 240-room hotel complex for the 'Shaza' five-star hotel chain.[8]
• Ajmera Mayfair Realty Group, an India-based real estate firm; constructing a residential tower at Bahrain Bay.[9]
• Damac, a Dubai-based real estate developer of private, residential, leisure and commercial projects; developing a residential tower project at Bahrain Bay.[10]
• Arjaan Rotana, a hotel and serviced apartments chain.[11]

Soon after reclamation, the international investment bank firm Arcapita was the first developer to start construction. Also designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the predominantly glass Arcapita Headquarters is a rectangular structure on two low concrete arches. As well as being the Arcapita Headquarters, the total office space of 18,500 sqm houses several semi-governmental institutions which includes Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the Bahrain Tender Board, Osool, Amlak and the Economic Development Board of Bahrain.

In 2015 the Kingdom's first 68-floor Four Seasons Hotel was opened. It stands on its own island, is H-shaped amd has 273 hotel rooms.[12]

Bahrain Bay has won several awards since its inception, including two Arabian Commercial Property Awards in association with Bloomberg Television for Best Mixed Use Development Arabia and Best Mixed Use Development Bahrain in 2010.[13] That year the project went on to be nominated in the Best Mixed-Use development global category. It received the International Arch of Europe by Business Initiative Directions in 2007 (a vanity award), and was nominated in the Master Plan Award category of the 2011 Cityscape Global Awards.[14]

The island falls under the Capital Governorate.

There are two causeways connecting Bahrain Bay Islands with Manama on Bahrain Island.

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  Map 1
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  District Map
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  Bahrain Sea Festival - The Bahrain World Trade Centre in the background
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  Landscape at Bahrain Bay

The state of progress of Bahrain Bay as of September 2011

Bahrain Bay in October 2019.