Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi Journey (1/3)

Making plans, and sticking to them

In what felt like no time at all, what was once a dream and vision, Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi become a reality.

 Today, one of the region’s most innovative and exciting attractions is open to the public, and people from around the world are enjoying the manifestation of our vision. That makes me so proud.

 But the journey wasn’t easy. Thirty-nine months of laughter, smiles, challenges and sleepless nights. These are part and parcel of large-scale projects. The type of projects our team at Miral knows only too well. This journey started with Plan A – and a bold strategy of opting for no Plan B.

 It started back in April 2015. We broke ground and appointed a general contractor, who would become one of our closest partners. From that moment, it was full speed ahead on Plan A. The entire team was working hard to ensure that every single milestone was met so the deadline of 31 July 2018 was met.

 A year later, we proudly updated the nation on the project’s construction progress, offering a first glimpse at the park, highlighting how far we had come.

 That day, we promised a world-class theme park like no other in the region or world.

Bigger than before

 This project was one of the first to be delivered by Miral at such a large scale. This is why we already had a structure above ground when offered the update and 2018-completion date. We wanted to show how serious we were about our promise on this and future projects. 

After we released this announcement, I was often asked in interviews about the exact completion date, and if it will be end of 2018 as per the normal practice within the industry. My answer would always be a quiet smile.

 Deadlines were incredibly important to us. We worked closely with all our partners and contractors to meet them by overcoming any challenges we were facing. The biggest, un-ironically, was time. We had none to waste. My team knew this, thanks to its extensive experience earned during the construction and realization of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and Yas Waterworld. The team wanted to make sure we avoided any and all difficulties that were faced when building those parks. That’s the beauty of experience – it’s priceless.

We brought a handful of lessons into this project with us from across the team. One key one was to keep only one plan and one deadline as a target. We set a goal, and there would be no deviation.

 During the first phase of construction, we were pushing everyone further than anyone had ever done before. This is because I had faith in every team member and every partner, and knew we could make good on what seemed to be an impossible task and deadline.

 I can’t say that at times the team didn’t have doubts, or didn’t lose the vision that we had set, especially with the challenges we were facing. We went back to the drawing board on several occasions, and the team started talking about a Plan B, but the result was always the same: we need to stick to the agreed plan and timeline. We didn’t want to resort to a Plan B. As a result, I saw an increased commitment and determination to meet and achieve our set vision as a unified team.

to be continued...

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