Norman Disney & Young to work on Nakheel Harbour & Tower

Leading engineering firm Norman Disney & Young (NDY) is expanding its global influence with the launch of its Dubai office and the announcement that it will work on the landmark Nakheel Harbour & Tower project in Dubai.

NDY will provide mechanical, electrical, fire and hydraulic services for the kilometre-high Tower, plans for which were unveiled this month. The Nakheel Tower will have more than 200 floors, 150 lifts and enough facilities that residents need never leave the building. It will also lead the way in sustainable design.

The Nakheel Tower is NDY's biggest project to date, and the firm will provide services to an approximate 30-40% of the overall project value, including hydraulics, air conditioning, fire protection and evacuation systems.

In order to meet the task ahead, NDY has opened an office in Dubai. With ten staff already in place, it plans to double this number by the end of 2008, and continue recruiting into next year.

The sheer scale of the project will create a range of different and new challenges that NDY will have to mitigate, including:

- Temperature - the Tower experiences five different climactic conditions and, as a result, there are design considerations at each level. One such consideration is known as a 'reverse stack effect'. This will cause high pressure differences between inside the building and outside which will require careful management to prevent such problems as doors being very difficult to open, lift doors jamming and high air loss from air conditioned spaces.

- All water systems will require pumping in stages because pressure requirement exceeds the pressure rating of equipment and pipework. In the case of chilled water, the number of stages which can be used is limited by the temperature rise as the water passes though the heat exchangers between each pressure stage.

- Electrical systems - the project has the power requirements equivalent to those of a small city, necessitating substations throughout the Tower. Back up power supplies will also be crucial because in the case of fire the Tower's 156 lifts will be essential for evacuation.

- Environmental considerations - these will include an on-site black water treatment plant, providing the equivalent of 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools of recycled water per day. This water will be used for irrigation within the overall development.

Dennis O'Brien, NDY director, said:

'The Nakheel Tower represents one of the most groundbreaking construction and infrastructure projects in the world to date, and we relish the opportunity to be involved. Every project raises fresh challenges but none more so than this one. NDY is committed to finding the most effective solution for each challenge.'

'As a business, this project also presents the opportunity for NDY to grow into the Middle East, with the launch of our new office in this expanding market strengthening the firm's international position,' O'Brien added.

Nakheel invites contractors to submit plans for Tall Tower in Dubai

Contractors have until 20 November to bid for 1-kilometre-high skyscraper.
Selected companies have been invited to submit proposals by 20 November for a tower at least 1 kilometre high at the AED140bn ($38bn) Nakheel Harbour & Tower development in Dubai.

The companies are the local/Australian Al-Habtoor Leighton, the local/UK Al-Naboodah Laing O'Rourke, South Africa's Murray & Roberts Construction (Middle East), South Korea's Samsung Corporation, Japan's Taisei Corporation, and France's Vinci Construction Grand Projets.

The AED30bn tower will be developed over a period of 10 years. The client plans to shortlist two groups by the end of the year and select one group to provide pre-construction services by early 2009. The pre-construction period is expected to last for at least one year.

Enabling works on the development are being executed by France's Soletanche Bachy. The package is scheduled for completion in October 2010, and work on the tower's superstructure is expected to follow shortly after.

In June, sources close to the project said the tower had been designed to be 1.4km tall. However, Nakheel has only confirmed that it will be more than 1km high. Once finished, it will be taller than the Burj Dubai, which is expected to be about 820 metres high when completed in 2009.

The Tall Tower was originally called the Pinnacle and was to be located on the Palm Jumeirah, before becoming part of the Dubai Waterfront scheme, when it was renamed Al-Burj. The consultancy team for the tower includes UK-based WSP, US-based Leslie E Robertson Associates and Australia's Woods Bagot.

The development will be built alongside the proposed Arabian Canal and next to Ibn Battuta Mall and Jumeirah islands. It will cover an area of 2.7km and will be home to more than 55,000 people (MEED 8:10:08).

"The cost of construction of the tower, canal and other buildings will be AED140bn," Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai World and Nakheel told those attending the formal launch of the project on 5 October.

The development will include 250,000 square metres of hotels and hospitality space, and 100,000 sq m of retail space.

Other Nakheel projects have been affected by the global credit crisis. Work on its multi-billion dollar Palm Deira project has been scaled back, and it is now unclear what its development strategy across its $100bn-plus portfolio will be in the coming months.

It is likely that Nakheel, along with other developers in Dubai, will prioritise certain projects. The move to select a contractor for the Tall Tower suggests the scheme is a priority for Nakheel and the Dubai government.

In addition, the costs incurred during the preconstruction period will not be such a large financial burden as actual construction work such as dredging.

By 2011, when work on the tower's superstructure is due to start, the economic crisis may have passed, allowing Nakheel to proceed with work in a more benign financial climate.

Nakheel Harbour & Tower Renders

The tower was designed by Woods Bagot architects and it will be built by Nakheel, the same developer which has built those fancy state-of-the-art man-made islands in Dubai. The skyscraper will be called Nakheel Tower and as a bonus, there will also be built world’s first inner city harbor.

The entire construction area will be of 270 hectares, and when the Nakheel Tower and Harbor will be finished, it will provide enough space for 55,00 inhabitants, workplaces for 45,000 people, and for millions of tourists every year. Although it will be one kilometer-high, the skyscraper will only feature 200 floors, but this could change as the developers don’t want to tell us more about the actual height as rivals could build taller towers.

Nakheel Harbour & Tower Photos

Nakheel Harbour & Tower Photos, The future worlds tallest building / skyscraper photos. When this tower is completed Dubai will have the worlds first 1km high tower.

Nakheel Harbour Tower aka Al Burj/Tall Tower photos

Nakheel Harbour Tower aka Al Burj/Tall Tower photos, photo update of the construction site.




Also:

Nakheel tower overcomes design issues.

Structural design challenges associated with building the Nakheel Tower has been overcome, according to WSP Middle East director of engineering Stephen Taylor.

Nakheel appointed WSP Group as structural engineer for its Nakheel Tower project earlier this month.

The tower, which will be more than 1km in height, will form the centrepiece of the US $38.12 billion (AED140 billion) Nakheel Harbour and Tower development.


"All I can say is that the tower is well into the design and most of the challenges have been solved," Taylor told Construction Week.

He refused to comment as consultants working on the tower have had to sign confidentiality agreements concerning the project details.

The Nakheel Tower is set to "race for the skies" with Saudi Arabia-based Kingdom Holding, which announced plans for a tower standing in excess of 1km immediately after the Nakheel Tower launch.

WSP has also played a programme management role supporting the development of the masterplan and infrastructure works in Meraas Development's $95 billion Jumeirah Gardens project, the first master-planned urban regeneration development in Dubai.

The firm was one of many hired by Meraas for the project. "We've made sure that the master plan, with the 30 plus consultants that we have had working on it, is one that we are confident with," Meraas CEO Sina Al Kazim said.