CONSTRUCTION & TECHNOLOGY

The US$20 billion Downtown Dubai is the world's newest and most all-encompassing urban development. Described as the 'new heart of Dubai,' this 500-acre development is anchored by Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, and also features The Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping and entertainment destination.

Lewis joined Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) LLP in 1986, beginning his career at the New York City firm as a designer, and is today a director. The 75-year-old firm is known for designing many of the world’s tallest and most complex structures including the recently completed 160-floor Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

If the project goes ahead, it would top the Taipei 101 Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Centre and Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers – the world's three tallest buildings after the 828m Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

With the Burj Khalifa and Chicago's Trump Tower, the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has had quite a supertall skyscraper run lately. And guess what? The run ain't done. SOM just opened another supertall, this one called the China World Trade Center Tower. It's Beijing's tallest building.

The initial phase of the airport will feature an A380 capable runway, 64 remote stands, a cargo terminal with annual capacity for 250,000 tonnes of freight, and a passenger terminal building designed to accommodate five million passengers per year. “Dubai International currently has capacity for 2.5 million tonnes of cargo, while volumes are expected increase to 3 million tonnes by 2015. On the passenger side we expect to see numbers skyrocket from the 41 million that passed through Dubai International in 2009 to 98 million by 2020 and 150 million by 2030.”

Imdaad has signed a three year contract with Emaar to undertake waste management and recycling for the Burj Khalifa. The FM company will collect and dispose solid waste and collect all recyclable material generated from the entire building, including its 1044 residential apartments, on a daily basis. "Delivering waste management solutions to one of the world's most prestigious buildings is something we look forward to with great enthusiasm.

Other than a few iconic structures such as Dubai’s Burj Khalifa or Riyadh’s Kingdom Tower, most of the new planned developments in this part of the world are alien to their context. They could as easily exist in Kuala Lumpur or Frankfurt as they could in the Middle East.

We didn’t have to look far for inspiration for this collection of world toppers. Dubai still ranks as one of the world’s tallest cities – with 51 skyscrapers all standing over 200m high, matching New York’s tally. Hong Kong has 52 but Dubai has the Burj Khalifa, and six others that stretch to over 300m – including the world’s tallest hotel (building used exclusively as a hotel), the Rose Tower, at 333m and 72-storeys.

During his early career, Suwaidi overcame a number of difficult obstacles. But, it was when he first started work at the Burj Khalifa that he faced his biggest professional hurdle. “I was very happy to get the job at the Burj Khalifa. I was delighted,” he insists.

Dubai-based Alumco, one of the UAE’s largest architectural facade specialists, says the effects of the global economic slowdown finally filtered through to its services this year but, with a number of high profile projects completed in Saudi Arabia and several more under development, Alumco’s activities outside Dubai have kept the company buoyant.