Burj Dubai and Downtown Burj Dubai night photos,28/December/2009

‘Vertical travel’ within Burj Dubai in the world’s highest elevators

‘Vertical travel’ within Burj Dubai in the world’s highest elevators

57 elevators and 8 escalators streamline ‘travel in the Vertical City’
Double-deck elevators exclusively for visitors to At The Top, Burj Dubai, the observatory deck on Level 124
More than 75,000 professionals and skilled workers involved in elevator installation

Dubai, UAE; December 30, 2009: Call it vertical travel with a difference. Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building by Emaar Properties, set to be inaugurated on January 4, 2010 to mark the fourth anniversary of the Accession Day of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum as the Ruler of Dubai, is setting new trends as well as world records in elevator and escalator installation and operation.

In what is described as the ‘intelligent elevator installation,’ Burj Dubai will have 57 elevators and eight escalators streamlining the travel needs of the residents and visitors to the tower. These elevators also mark the highest installation in any building.

“Burj Dubai is envisaged as a work-live-play environment - a vertical city for all practical purposes, with homes, offices, corporate suites, a luxury hotel, retail outlets and fitness facilities. The advanced elevator technologies used in Burj Dubai are designed for seamless performance with a focus on safety, efficiency and the convenience of users,” said Abdulla Lahej, Executive Director, Dubai Project Management, Emaar Properties.

The mixed-use Burj Dubai features 1,044 residential apartments including 144 Armani Residences and 160 ultra-luxury hotel rooms of Armani Hotel Dubai. The Corporate Suites comprise 49 floors. To move easily in this environment to spectacular heights, the elevators have been carefully placed to different zones.

Each elevator zone serves different audiences – from visitors to office workers, to hotel guests, to residents – maximising their efficiency as a result and saving time, by the use of a sky lobby system.

The sky lobby is an intermediate floor where residents, guests, office staff will change from an express elevator to a local elevator, which stops at every floor within a certain segment of the building. Burj Dubai’s sky lobbies are located on level 43, 76 and 123 and will include a lounge area, a kiosk, amongst other amenities.

All elevators have been supplied and installed by global elevator leader Otis. No elevators are installed to travel all 160 floors of Burj Dubai. Instead, they are strategically grouped to align with the floor layout, offering passengers a direct express service to their destination by bypassing other floors.

The main service elevator, positioned in the central core of Burj Dubai, has the world’s highest elevator rise at 504 metres (1,654 ft) – more than the height of Taipei 101 in Taiwan (448 metres) and almost one-and-a-half times as high as Empire State Building in New York (381 metres). It travels at 9 metres per second, and also has the world’s longest travelling distance for an elevator. Another service lift in the spire, has the world’s highest landing at 636.9 metres.

The elegantly designed double-deck elevators with built-in light and entertainment features including LCD displays will exclusively serve visitors to At The Top, Burj Dubai, the world’s highest outdoor observation deck situated on level 124 of the tower as well as office users transferring at the sky lobby at level 123.

These double-deck units – used for the first time in the Middle East by Otis – are the highest rising double-deck elevators in the world and will travel at the speed of 10 metres per second. They have a capacity of 12 to 14 people per cab. Another highlight is the state-of-the-art circular observation elevator that serves three floors in the Armani Hotel restaurant area.

Unique to the elevators are 24 ‘green technology’ Gen2® machine-roomless elevators featuring flat polyurethane coated seat belts that reduce energy consumption by up to 50 per cent compared with conventional units. These energy-efficient Gen2 elevators do not require any additional lubrication, making them cleaner for the environment.

The elevators in Burj Dubai are indeed a celebration of sophisticated engineering. Passengers enter their chosen floor using keypads or interactive touch screens before entering the elevator. The system, after assessing the passenger requests, automatically assigns the passengers travelling to the same or nearby floors, thus reducing waiting time and travel time.

Since the inception of project until June 2009, more than 75,000 professionals and skilled workers from the Otis team have been involved in the installation of elevators and escalators at Burj Dubai. Work on the elevators started in May 2006.

Burj Dubai is currently over 800 metres (over 2,625 ft) high with over 160 floors, and is located in the centre of Downtown Burj Dubai, described as the new heart of the city.

New Burj Dubai portal soon to launch online ticketing for the tower’s observation deck on level 124

New Burj Dubai website opens door to life inside the world’s first ‘Vertical City’

Portal soon to launch online ticketing for the tower’s observation deck on level 124

Dubai, UAE, December 30, 2009: Emaar Properties, the developer of Burj Dubai, has unveiled a comprehensive new website dedicated to the world’s tallest building at www.burjdubai.com

The interactive portal provides a fascinating in-depth introduction to every aspect of life, work and leisure inside the world’s first ‘Vertical City.’

Burj Dubai will be inaugurated on January 4, 2010, which marks the fourth anniversary of the Accession Day of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum as the Ruler of Dubai.

The new website caters to the growing international interest in the tower. Burj Dubai will soon become a vibrant community as well as a breathtaking structure, a city within a city where thousands of people come to live, work and to enjoy its astonishing facilities for entertainment and hospitality.

The website is a window through which any visitor, be they a new arrival in Dubai, a long-time resident, or a foreign traveller planning his or her first trip to the UAE, can gain the most comprehensive knowledge of the world’s tallest building.

The easy-to-navigate website, www.burjdubai.com , has a large portfolio of images of the tower and the surrounding community of Downtown Burj Dubai, a 500-acre mega project including the world’s largest shopping mall, The Dubai Mall, developed by Emaar Properties.

The new website will soon allow visitors to buy tickets to the tower’s 124th floor observation deck, At The Top, Burj Dubai. The site provides a detailed account of the experience awaiting visitors near the summit of Burj Dubai. It also provides visitor information including directions to the At The Top tour, which begins at The Dubai Mall. They can also get insights on the various aspects of the journey.

The website has dedicated sections on the exclusive residences and offices inside Burj Dubai, and a full account of the world’s first Armani Hotel Dubai. There is also a detailed overview of the surrounding Downtown Burj Dubai community, including a virtual tour of its many retail and hospitality attractions.

Burj Dubai stands at more than 800 metres (over 2,625 ft) high and is already the world’s tallest man-made structure.

About Burj Dubai:
A mixed-use tower featuring the world’s first Armani Hotel Dubai and Armani Residences, alongside corporate suites, residences, retail and leisure facilities, Burj Dubai is at the centre of Downtown Burj Dubai, a 500-acre mega-development by Emaar Properties. Among an array of lifestyle amenities, the tower will have a public observation deck - At the Top, Dubai - on level 124.

Described as the new heart of Dubai, Downtown Burj Dubai encompasses The Dubai Mall, one of the world’s largest shopping and entertainment destinations; several hotels; offices and homes. A stellar attraction within the community is The Dubai Fountain, the world’s tallest performing fountain.

At over 800 metres, the Burj Dubai has already achieved the distinction of being the world's tallest structure surpassing the KVLY-TV mast (628.8 metres; 2,063 ft) in North Dakota, USA. The tower is taller than Taipei 101 in Taiwan, which at 508 metres (1,667 ft) has held the tallest-building-in-the-world title since it opened in 2004. Burj Dubai also surpassed the 31-year-old record of CN Tower, which at 553.33 metres (1,815.5 ft) has been the world’s tallest free-standing structure on land since 1976.

Designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), Burj Dubai is constructed by high-rise experts South Korea’s Samsung Corporation. New York-based Turner Construction International is the project and construction manager. The tower employs the latest in wind engineering, structural engineering, structural systems, construction materials and construction methods.

About Emaar Properties PJSC:
Emaar Properties PJSC, listed on the Dubai Financial Market, is a global property developer with a significant presence in key markets world-wide. Besides building residential and commercial properties, the company also has proven competencies in shopping malls & retail, hospitality & leisure, education, healthcare and financial services sectors.

Emaar is set to inaugurate Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building and free-standing structure, and has opened The Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping and entertainment destination. In Saudi Arabia, Emaar is developing King Abdullah Economic City, the region's largest private sector-led project in Saudi Arabia, featuring a Sea Port, Central Business District, Industrial Zone, Educational Zone, Residential Communities and Resort District.

Emaar has joined hands with Giorgio Armani to strengthen its presence in hospitality. The company is also opening educational institutions and healthcare centres in South Asia, Middle East and North Africa and the Subcontinent.

Emaar holds 30 per cent equity in Dubai Bank, focused on retail and commercial banking. Emaar is also the largest shareholder in Amlak Finance, UAE's leading Islamic home financing company. For more information, visit www.emaar.com.

Burj Dubai photos from the Business Bay,25/December/2009

Burj Dubai opening ceremony preparing works photos, Downtown Burj Dubai, 25/December/2009

Burj Dubai photos, 25/December/2009

Burj Dubai and Swiss Teddy photos from the Rose Rayhaan by Rotana Hotel 63rd floor,25/December/2009

Burj Dubai and Downtown Burj Dubai photos, 24/December/2009

Burj Dubai landscaping photos, 24/December/2009

Merry Christmas To All My Readers !

The world’s tallest building,Burj Dubai by the numbers

The world’s tallest building,Burj Dubai by the numbers

Dubai, UAE; December 24, 2009: When the world’s tallest building is inaugurated on January 4, 2010, by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President & Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, the record books will brace themselves to receive a flood of new entries.

For many, Burj Dubai will be defined by its soaring beauty. Others will marvel at the audacity of its engineering. Countless more will cherish the breathtaking views from At The Top, Burj Dubai, the observation deck on level 124.

But for the compilers of the record books, it will be the statistics that etch the deepest impression.

At over 800 metres and with more than 160 floors, here are some of the essential numbers associated with the world’s tallest building:

• 95 – the distance in kilometres at which Burj Dubai’s spire can still be seen
• 124 – the floor location of ‘At The Top, Burj Dubai’, the world’s highest and only publicly accessible observation deck with an outdoor terrace

• 160 – the number of luxury hotel rooms and suites
• 605 – the vertical height in metres to which concrete was pumped in the construction of Burj Dubai, a world record for concrete pumping

• 504 – the distance traveled, or ‘rise’ in metres of Burj Dubai’s main service lift, the most of any elevator

• 49 – the number of office floors, including the 12-floor annexure
• 57 – the number of elevators
• 1,044 – the total number of residential apartments inside Burj Dubai
• 3,000 – the number of underground parking spaces
• 5,500 – the capacity in kilograms of the tower’s service lift
• 31,400 – the amount of steel rebar in metric tonnes used in the structure of Burj Dubai

• 28,261– the number of glass cladding panels making up the exterior of tower and
its two annexes

• 15,000 – the amount of water in litres collected from the tower’s cooling equipment that will be used for landscaping irrigation

• 900 – the length in the feet of the world’s tallest performing fountain, The Dubai Fountain, that lies at the foot of the tower

• 19 – the number of hectares of lush green landscaping that envelops the foot of the tower

• 12,000 – the numbers of workers on site during peak of construction

Burj Dubai cladding progress,spire,safety record board and Armani Hotel staff photos,Downtown Burj Dubai,21/December/2009