Work begins on Nakheel's Al Burj

From arabianbusiness.com

French company Soletanche Bachy is tipped to win the piling and foundations contract for what is expected to become the tallest building in the world, Nakheel’s Al Burj, sources close to the project told Construction Week on Tuesday.

With initial designs putting Al Burj, or the Tall Tower, at over a kilometre high, the building will easily overtake Emaar Properties' Burj Dubai as the world's tallest.

The Burj Dubai is expected to be around 900 metres upon completion at the end of this year, although the final height remains a closely guarded secret.

A spokesperson for Nakheel denied an official award had been made, but confirmed the French company had begun some work on the project.

The spokesperson said testing work had been done on site and an official launch was planned in March.

A source at Soletanche Bachy’s Dubai office confirmed the Tall Tower was among the projects it was working on.

It is common practice in the region for companies to start work on projects prior to actually winning the contract.

Al Burj was initially planned to form part of the Dubai Waterfront development, but the location was moved to between Jumeirah Lake Towers and Ibn Battuta Mall on Sheikh Zayed Road.

RELATED: World record Al Burj looking for new home

Initial designs for the tower indicate there will be 228 floors, a four level basement and one service sub-level.

The total built up area will be 1.49 million square metres, with 492,000 square metres of usable space. The development will house offices, apartments and hotels.

The top habitable floor will be at 850 metres, topped by a 200-metre central spire with a three level function area and three service floors.

Among the consultants working on the project are the UK’s WSP, US-based LERA, Australia’s Van Der Meer Consulting (VDM) and Olive Group, while foundation-engineering company Fugro Middle East has just completed soil investigations on the site.

Soletanche Bachy was recently awarded a foundations contract for the Norman Foster-designed Russia Tower in Moscow with the STT Group. At 612 metres high it will be the tallest building in Europe.

The company also worked on the foundations for the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and constructed the 2.4-kilometre long canal on the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.

Al Burj location on a diagram map

Here is the Al Burj location on a diagram map, you will notice the new location if further away from the sea then the previous location.. I feel this is a smart move on their part if you believe in global warming and future sea level rise.

Soletanche Bachy at Al Burj site update

Soletanche Bachy,a French company was awarded the piling contract of Al Burj and their on the project site... Here is some more photos of the work going on at the Al Burj site.

Soletanche Bachy at Al Burj site more photo's

Soletanche Bachy,a French company was awarded the piling contract of Al Burj and their on the site... Soletanche Bachy also did the piling work on the petronas towers, so their accustom to this type of work. Here is some more photo's.

Soletanche Bachy at Al Burj site

Soletanche Bachy,a French company was awarded the piling contract of Al Burj and their on the site... Soletanche Bachy also did the piling work on the petronas towers, so their accustom to this type of work.

Al Burj site photo update January 2nd 2008

Here is some photos taken on December 20th, the last photo was taken on December 30th of 2007. They show the drilling rigs at the Al Burj site and the view of Dubai in the background.