Plans for the equestrian academy include performance arenas designed for international show jumping and dressage competitions. Photo / Supplied
A New Zealander is heading a US$500 million ($740 million) Qatar property development project.
Dale Burtenshaw, originally from Timaru, is working for an Australian construction firm building an equestrian project in Qatar, an Arab emirate.
Burtenshaw, 45, is general manager of Leighton Contracting Qatar W.L.L., working on the 100ha Al
Shaqab Equestrian Academy. The project is part of the much larger 1000ha tertiary campus, Education City.
The equestrian project is due to be finished in just over a year.
The construction project is an upgrade of a smaller centre established in 1992 by the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
Al Shaqab's mission is to promote breeding and showing of Arabian horses.
"Among its many state-of-the-art amenities are multiple performance arenas designed for international show jumping and dressage competitions, a full-service riding academy and equestrian club, the region's most advanced veterinary clinic, hospital and research facilities, an endurance training centre and a breeding centre for Al Shaqab's Arabian breeding programme," the academy says.
The project will have indoor and outdoor public performance arenas with five-level back-to-back grandstands facing each arena, riding academy and clubhouse, visitors' centre and museum, endurance training centre, track and research facility and grass and sand paddocks.
"The project is worth in excess of US$500 million, has been running for three years and is due for completion at the end of 2010," said Burtenshaw.
Burtenshaw has a civil engineering degree from Canterbury University and has worked in New Zealand and in the Pacific.
He worked on Auckland's Britomart Transport Centre and has been in Qatar since March 2007.
"I managed the construction of the underground train station, refurbishment of the old Auckland Central Post Office and also the surrounding streetscapes.
"I joined Leighton in Qatar as general manager developing a new business here and am also project director of this equestrian project," he said.
The equestrian centre is owned by the Qatar Foundation, which was founded by the sheikh and chaired by his wife, Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned.
The foundation aims to promote education, scientific research and community development. It is also engaged in several corporate joint ventures.
Education City is Qatar Foundation's flagship project.
