Burj Khalifa Dubai, The world's tallest building

The building's glitzy opening took place with Dubai's 100 billion dollar debt pile lurking in the background. It was recently renamed in honour of the president of the UAR, no doubt due the recent 25 billion dollar bale-out Dubai received from its neighbour.

Construction began in September 2004 and the exterior was completed in October 2009. The building is part of a 2 km2  development.
Some Interesting Facts:

• Height – 828 m well above second tallest structure the Taipei 101 at 509 m.
• Construction costs  - 1.5 billion dollars.
• Prices for the 334000 m of office space remain uncertain and there are reports that they have halved since the 2008 peak.
• There are 900 residential apartments which according to the developer were sold within the first 8 hours of being placed on the market.
• The Burj Khalifa nevertheless remains the most expensive property in the region with maintenance fees being amongst the highest.
• The contractors set the world record for pumping concrete  to a height of 606 m.
• There are 160 floors.
• The building has the world's fastest lifts at 64 km per hour. There are 57 lifts and 8 escalators.
• The spire is composed of approximately 4000 tons(?) of structural steel.
• More than 1000 pieces of art will adorn the building. Cymbals plated with 18 carat gold will be placed in the lobby which will be struck by falling water representing water falling on leaves.
• The exterior is clad with 142000 m2 of reflective glass.
• The exterior temperature at the top of the structure is 6 degrees cooler that at the base.
• To clean the building's 28000 windows, 3 horizontal tracts have been installed each holding a 1.5 tonne machine that work both horizontally and vertically using heavy cables.
• The building sports a fountain that cost 217 million dollars. It has 6600 lights and 50 colour projectors.
• The concrete and steel foundations contain 192 piles, each 1.5 meters in diameter and buried more than 50m into the earth.
• The building used more than 45000 m3 concrete, 31500 tons of steel - enough to pave about 2000 km.
• It took 22 million man hours to construct the building.
• A cathotic protection system is used to protect the foundations from the effects of corrosion from groundwater.
• Special mixes of concrete were used to withstand the pressures of the massive building weight. To combat the detrimental effects of local high summer temperatures the concrete was poured at night and ice was added to the mixture.
• The building has the world's highest swimming pool on the 76th floor and the world's highest place of worship with a mosque on 158th floor.

Comment

Environmental groups have criticised the building's huge power consumption, especially in a city with the world's highest per capita carbon footprint. It is estimated that at peak times it will consume about 50 MVA electricity, enough to power about 500000 100 W light globes.

While there is no doubt that the building is a construction marvel the question remains as to whether the building will be remembered as the herald of a new financial dawn or as the supreme monument to gross extravagance and folly?  Is it perhaps significant that about 80 years ago, the then tallest structure, the Empire State Building, opened on the eve of the Great Depression. In both cases the developers found difficulty in finding tenants to occupy the buildings. It took almost 20 years for the Empire State Building to become financially viable and this is probably the last of Dubai's mega-projects for many years to come.

Bruce Lyle | Membership Services Manager