Burj Dubai

Burj Dubai, UAE

www.dubaifaqs.com

Burj Dubai - the tallest tower in the world ('History Rising')

Burj Dubai and Downtown Dubai development - artist's impression

31 December 2007 - U2 to perform at Burj Dubai party 2008 New Year's Eve?

Earlier in 2007, Emaar announced plans to hold a New Year's Eve party in the Burj Dubai on 31 December 2008 to celebrate the completion of the building - expected to open before Christmas 2008. Arabian Business, a UAE business magazine, carried a brief story that U2, an Irish rock band, were rumoured to be booked to play at the party.

As Emaar developments are usually fairly strict on no-alcohol policies (Dubai Marina restaurants are still waiting for alcohol licenses promised long ago), it would seem an unlikely mix. Irish rock band and no beer? Especially for a New Year's Eve party?

13 September 2007 - Burj Dubai tallest free-standing structure on the planet

The Burj Dubai construction is up to 150 storeys and reaches a height of 555 metres, just ahead of the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada at 553 metres which was tallest free-standing man-made structure in the world since 1976.

22 August 2007 - 1300 dhs for a tour of the Burj Dubai?

7 Days, a Dubai newspaper, reported that someone called Tunafish was advertising, on dealbay.ae, VIP tours to the top of the Burj Dubai for 1300 dhs per person (US$354), by dressing customers up as construction workers. S/he claimed they had permission from Emaar Properties to do the tours. Emaar Properties were not amused and said that was incorrect.

21 July 2007 - Burj Dubai the tallest building in the world

The Burj Dubai overtakes the Taipei 101 to become the tallest occupied building in the world at 512 meters, with 141 floors. There are a couple of unoccupied structures taller than the Burj Dubai - the 553 meter CN tower in Canada, and the 629 meter KVLY/KTHI television mast in Blanchard, North Dakota, USA (which is not free-standing).

Another milestone is achieved as the Middle East reclaims the title of tallest building in the world. It was previously held by the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt until 1889, when the Eiffel Tower in Paris took over the title.

31 May 2007 - Burj Dubai becomes second tallest building in the world

Burj Dubai height now up to 468 m and has 130 floors. The highest occupied building in the world is the Taipei 101 at 509 meters.

07 April 2007 - Burj Dubai building has highest number of floors in the world

The Burj Dubai reaches 422.5 metres and 120 floors, setting a world record for the most number of floors in a building.

04 March 2007 - Burj Dubai becomes tallest structure in the Middle East

The Burj Dubai is up to 380 metres and 110 floors making it the tallest building in the Middle East and Europe, and equal with the Chicago Sears Tower with the most number of floors in a building worldwide.

31 January 2007 - construction delays due to bankruptcy of cladding company

There were reports that the completion of the Burj Dubai would be delayed up to a year due to the bankruptcy of the cladding company, Schmidlin (see 22 February 2006 below), but Emaar Properties, the developer, said that they were only a couple of months behind schedule and expected to catch up so as to open on schedule at the end of 2008. They had appointed a new cladding supplier - the Far East Aluminium Works Company in China - and installation would be done in partnership with the Arabian Aluminium Company starting June 2007.

17 January 2007 - Burj Dubai reaches 100 floors

The Burj Dubai becomes one of only 6 buildings worldwide that have more than 100 floors. Height of the Burj Dubai is almost 350m.

16 December 2006 - Burj Dubai second tallest UAE building

The Burj Dubai becomes the second highest building in the UAE as it reaches 95 levels and a height of 329 meters - taller than the Burj Al Arab at 321 metres but less than the Emirates Towers office tower at 355 metres (which is the tallest UAE building).

12 November 2006 - Burj Dubai 81 floors up

81 floors or storeys completed - about half the total expected height. Current progress is a floor completed every three days.
"Construction Weekly" (a UAE based weekly newspaper) said that as cladding work had not yet started, there could be delays to completion deadline of December 2008.
Emaar properties responded by saying they still aim for substantial completion by end of 2008 or early 2009. In other words there'll be a delay...

22 February 2007 - Schmidlin bankruptcy

Schmidlin Ltd. Facade Technology, a Swiss company, was supposed to supply the exterior cladding for the Burj Dubai, but went filed for bankruptcy.

Burj Dubai metro station

The Burj Dubai area will have a metro station on the Red Line, which is scheduled to open in 2009.

Background Information

The Burj Dubai construction, will be the tallest tower in the world when completed, with a hotel, shopping, and residential accommodation all incorporated inside. But it is part of a much larger project which involves shifting the center of Dubai from wherever it is (no one really seems to know) to the Downtown Dubai development which will include the Burj Dubai, and have Business Bay (another large development) nearby.

Architect is Adrian Smith, a partner with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, who has been involved in the design of several other tall buildings around the world.
'Burj' is Arabic for 'tower'. 'Dubai' is Arabic for 'mind bogglingly tall'. Or might as well be.
The final height is supposed to be a secret but several sources related to the construction have leaked the final height as around 810m. Total number of floors will be 160.
Design was inspired by the Hymenocallis - a desert flower seen throughout the region. The Burj Dubai also incorporates elements of Islamic design. At least that's the official story. An unofficial story is that the design was based on the cancelled Grollo Tower tower which had been proposed for construction in Melbourne, Australia.
Excavation work began in January 2004, the Burj Dubai is expected to be completed by December 2008.
Samsung Corporation of South Korea awarded building contract in December 2004, value AED 3.3 billion then, now (June 2006) it's quoted as AED 3.7 billion. Other contractors involved are Besix and Arabtec, and Al Naboodah for labour supply.
Burj Dubai construction site is the largest in the world and will have over 20,000 slav ... ahem ... construction workers. Presently there are 3000 working on the Burj Dubai tower.
In March 2006, rioting workers started to reverse the construction process by damaging cars and offices on the site in protest at their low wages and poor treatment. Value of damage caused was estimated to be about AED 3.7 million.
Footprint of 8000 square meters, concrete is 3.7 m thick with 192 piles sunk to a depth of 50 m.
50 levels reached on 20 June 2006 with one level finished about every four days.
When completed, the New York based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats will award the Burj Dubai the record in all four categories the CTBUH recognises – highest structure, roof, antenna and occupied floor.
Centre of the AED 73 billion Burj Dubai district in Downtown Dubai (name seems to have changed to Burj Dubai Downtown recently) which includes these developments:
- The Boulevard - main road through the development (or may be called Burj Dubai Boulevard now).
- Burj Dubai Lake Hotel - luxury hotel apartments (available for individual purchase).
- The Dubai Mall - the largest shopping mall in the world when it opens in 2008 (originally expected to open in November 2006).
- The Old Town - low rise apartment and villa residential area.
- The Parks - Burj Dubai version of Central Park or Wimbledon Common (but with more sand).
- The Residences - nine residential towers in the Burj Dubai area.
- Old Town Island
- Burj Dubai Business Hub
- The Lofts
- Burj Views
- South Ridge
- 8 Boulevard Walk
An observatory is planned for the 124th floor and it won't take long to get there since the Burj Dubai will have the world's fastest elevator - at a speed of about 60 kph.
Giorgio Armani is designing a 172-room hotel to be lost inside the Burj Dubai somewhere - with the unexpected name of The Armani Hotel.

In the end though, it may not be the tallest tower for long. Nakheel announced a 800-900 m tower (the Al Burj) to be built in Dubai Waterfront and in 2006 Kuwait annouced a tower that just creaks over a kilometer in height, at 1001m, to be built as part of their Madinat Al Hareer (City of Silk) development.