Gyproc® DuraLine just the recipe for Hilton’s new Muscat Hotel

Gyproc’s DuraLine impact-resistant boards have been chosen to meet a range of demanding acoustic, fire, strength and moisture resistance criteria at Hilton’s new Garden Inn hotel in central Muscat.

The first of Hilton’s new Garden City branded hotels in Oman’s capital City, the 4-star hotel will be just 20-minutes’ drive from the main airport and designed to attract a mix of business guests and other visitors with its 232 luxury bedrooms and apartments and range of meeting and leisure facilities.

To meet the exacting standards demanded of the Hilton brand, Consultants, Aedas Interiors, drew up a specification for all internal walls and partitions that included BS 5234 ‘Severe Duty’ impact performance, 56dB acoustic performance and a minimum of 60 minutes fire resistance. In bathroom areas there was an additional requirement for high levels of moisture resistance to prevent damage to the structure through damp and bacterial growth.

Working closely with technical specialists from Gyproc and contractors Kavan Construction, Aedas drew up a complete internal dry lining solution based on GypWall CLASSIC partitions lined externally with high performance Gyproc DuraLine – a gypsum plasterboard with a higher density core that provides enhanced levels of fire and acoustic performance and meets the required Severe Duty impact performance with just a single board lining.

To meet the client’s completion date, and reduce snagging time, the decision was taken to use innovative off-site prefabricated UniPod bathroom modules – the first time that these had been used on a major hotel project in Oman. These will be lined with Gyproc DuraLine MR – a moisture resistant grade of the same board, prior to delivery to site, enabling the modules, complete with sinks, shower units, toilets and even mirrors, to be swung into position and effectively ‘plugged-in’ to the main structure.

With an estimated value of AED 1.7million, the Gyproc products were supplied to both site and fabricators, against an agreed schedule, by specialist distributors SIG and Gemini International.

When complete in late 2019, the hotel will be surrounded by a 12,000 m2 urban park, complete with a variety of sports, entertainment and natural venues, including a square and water plaza, secret gardens, a children's playground, and a wellness trail for jogging and cycling.