Gulf Entertainment LLC for Cinépolis

Client’s requirements

Cinépolis, trading as ‘Gulf Entertainment LLC’, is a global Mexican chain of movie theatres. Over a 30-month period, Cinépolis plan to roll out cinemas in the GCC.

We were appointed by Cinepolis to provide programme management, project management and cost management consultancy services in the Middle East. This is an ongoing programme whereby we continue to work in partnership with Cinepolis to support their vision in delivering a true international, movie-going experience to the GCC population.

The cinema fit-out programme currently consists of developing and operating a number of anchor retail and entertainment outlets:

Oasis Mall, Sharjah, UAE – ten cinema screens and associated public and back of house spaces.

Oasis Mall, Sohar, Oman – eight cinema screens and associated public and back of house spaces. This will be Cinepolis’ first cinema complex in Oman.

Avenues Mall, Oman – 14 cinema screens and associated public and back of house spaces. This will be Cinepolis’ flagship complex with VIP facilities and gourmet dining options.

Salalah, Oman – eight cinema screens and associated public and back of house spaces.

Atrium Mall, Oman – 13 cinema screens and associated public and back of house spaces.

Damman, KSA – seven cinema screens and associated public and back of house spaces.

Our contribution

We were appointed to help in achieving the clients required designs.

We were able to deliver a competitive price based on accurate benchmarking data which aligned to the client’s requirements. Our advisory efforts have ensured we provided a product that is fit for purpose, protects the client, and delivers value for money. The knowledge and expertise we have shared has allowed the client to effectively manage their stakeholders and business partners, and has also resulted in agreed timeline adjustments that have ensured the quality of deliverables.

Since some of the cinema houses needed to be built within existing malls, this posed challenges with regards to the space available for design and fit out. We were able to overcome this by modifying the malls (i.e. raising ceiling heights, cutting into existing external walls, and adding additional high-level steel supports), to take the specifics of the cinemas. Our refined approach helped make the process streamlined.

Working on the programme as a fairly small team of ten consultants (covering both the project management and cost management scope), each team member has played a significant part on the account since our initial appointment.

Although the programme entailed a ‘learning on the job’ mentality, our success in handling such unfamiliar challenges should open doors for future similar appointment opportunities.

Making the difference

Two of the six listed projects are now complete and are open to the general public.

As this is an on-going programme, some of the remaining projects are only now at the tendering stage – whereby our team are striving to provide the client with best in class project management office (PMO) services as a single integrated GCC provider.

To date, we have successfully demonstrated ‘added-value’ to our service offering by:

• Deploying an efficient team with appropriate skills to meet the challenges of working on a project with this complexity.
• Delivering sound workshops with key stakeholders and project teams to mitigate any risks/threats for the successful delivery of the project.
• Managing the complex interfaces with stakeholders and third-party suppliers on the clients behalf.
• Using our experience and market intelligence for effective cost comparison for the design and construction.
• Facilitating clear communication to contribute to an outcome that vindicates the project goals and objectives.