Burj Dubai will have world's highest elevator installation

BY MOUSHUMI DAS CHAUDHRY

12 March 2006

DUBAI — Burj Dubai, the tallest tower in the world will have the world's highest elevator installation and also the world's largest shopping mall, The Dubai Mall. The Observatory Elevators (double deck cabs) will have the world's highest travel distance from lowest to highest stop and will be the world's fastest at 18m/sec(40 mph).

The building service/fireman's elevator will have a capacity of 5,500 kg and will be the world's tallest service elevator. Burj Dubai will be the first mega-high rise in which certain elevators will be programmed to permit controlled evacuation for certain fire or security events. The tip of the spire can be seen by a person 95 km (60 miles) away.

Apart from this, the amount of rebar used for the tower is 31,400 metric tons laid end to end. This would extend over a quarter of the way around the world. The concrete used for the Burj Dubai is equivalent to, a solid cube of concrete 61 metres (200 ft) on a side, a sidewalk 1,900 kilometres long (1,200 miles), over five times the volume of concrete used for the CN Tower in Canada and the weight of 100,000 elephants. The curtain wall of the Burj Dubai will be equivalent to 17 football (soccer) fields or 25 American football fields.

According to Robert Booth, executive director for Emaar Properties, “History is rising. The tower is taking shape. We're moving forward and we are on schedule. This is an endeavour whose scope and magnitude reflects the ambitions of the city of Dubai. Our plans and projections are rapidly becoming reality and the moment is not far away when we will see the full scale of our spectacular Downtown Dubai projects emerging.’’

The iconic signature tower is part of Dh73 billion urban development in the heart of Dubai spreading across 500 acres and is a combination of residential and commercial space. It will include a boutique hotel, recreational facilities and entertainment venues, serviced residences and apartments . The tower is due for completion by 2008.

The Burj Dubai's water system will supply an average of about 946,000 litres(250,000 gallons) of water per day. At the peak cooling times, the tower will require approximately 10,000 tons of cooling per hour, which is equivalent to the capacity provided by 10,000 tons (22.4 million lbs or 10.2 million kg) of melting ice in one day.

The tower will also have a condensate collection system which will use the hot and humid outside air, combined with the cooling requirements of the building and will result in a significant amount of condensation of moisture from the air. This condensed water will be collected and drained in a separate piping system down to a holding tank located in the basement car park.

This water will then be pumped into the site irrigation system for use on the tower's landscape plantings. This system will provide about 15 million gallons of supplemental water per year, equivalent to nearly 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The tower's peak electricity demand is estimated at 36 MVA, equivalent to roughly 360,000 100-watt light bulbs all operating at the same time. There will be 200 mtrs of spectacular dancing fountains at the foot of the Burj Dubai.

The tower will house the first Armani Hotel and will be surrounded by The Old Town, The Dubai Mall, Burj Dubai Business Hub, Burj Views, Burj Dubai Boulevard, The Residences, restaurants, hotels, residential facilities and much more - all located on the banks of a spectacular man-made lake.

The tower once completed will cover 22 million square feet of total development and will include 30,000 homes, 9 world-class hotels,19 residential towers , 6 acres of parkland and 12 hectare Burj Dubai Lake.