Thursday, October 16, 2008

Engineers appointed for world's tallest tower

TALLEST TOWER: WSP Group has been appointed structural engineers for Nakheel's ambitious project.Consultancy firm WSP Group has been appointed structural engineer for Nakheel’s project to build the world’s tallest tower in Dubai, the company announced on Wednesday.

UK-based WSP said it was already working on plans for the more than one-kilometre high structure, which Nakheel unveiled last week as part of the multi-billion dollar Nakheel Harbour and Tower development.

WSP revealed it was also playing a major role in Meraas Development’s $95 billion Jumeira Gardens scheme, Dubai’s first master planned urban regeneration development, also launched last week.

The company said it was an integral part of the Meraas’s program management team supporting the development of the master plan and infrastructure works for the scheme, to be delivered over many years.

Chris Cole, WSP Group chief executive officer, said he expected the firm’s business operations in the Middle East to grow significantly in the next few years.

"Success in winning projects of the calibre of the Nakheel Tower and Jumeira Gardens is a strong endorsement of our strategy to increase our global business and provide our employees with the opportunity to work on major landmark projects around the world.

"We expect to announce our appointment to further high-profile schemes across the Middle East in the very near future,” he said.

Work on-site is already underway for a third high-profile Dubai project, the Dubai World Trade Center District, for which WSP is acting as design consultant.

It is providing structural, mechanical and electrical engineering input, in addition to environmental, infrastructure and transportation guidance for the $1.36 billion first phase of the project.

It follows WSP’s recent appointment to provide a similar range of services on the Dubai Exhibition City development at the Dubai World Central development in Jebel Ali.

In addition, WSP was appointed earlier this year to develop the Green Building Code for Dubai, supporting Dubai’s commitment to introduce strong environmental performance to the design and development of its urban space.

WSP is already working on projects across the region covering Abu Dhabi, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait.

It has increased staff numbers in the Middle East to around 1,000 after experiencing significant growth.

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