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British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
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If
we build it... As part of my MSc studies in international construction, I joined a field trip to Dubai in March. I found that the future of tourism in this much-hyped location is even bigger than he had imagined. What follows are notes based on my diary at the time. Sunday
9 March "In total, Bawadi would include over 29,000 hotel rooms, not to mention 1,500 restaurants and 10,000 robot ninja security commandos." The scale of the project and the thought of robot ninja security commandos is an early indication of how surreal the city is. Our first hosting company in Dubai was to be Atkins, a multinational engineering and design consultancy firm. We were greeted at Union Square, the site of one of the stations of the new Metro system which was under the Design Management of Atkins. Kevin Williamson, Design Manager for the Metro project, provided a presentation for half our group, while the remaining members were given a tour underground to see the site of the station, the tunnel, and the giant boring machine which is ready to continue the tunnelling. The Dubai Metro system is the largest transport infrastructure project currently under design and construction in the world. The two main lines - the Red Line and the Green Line - are both being co-ordinated by Atkins. Together the two lines will comprise a total of 74.5km of track and 44 stations - 10 underground and 34 above ground level. The platform in each station must be at least 85m long in order to accommodate the trains which will be made up of five 18m long carriages. Interestingly, stations which are being constructed under current parkland will have their parkland restored after completion while those built under vacant land have been designed to support high-rise buildings in the future. The station which we were visiting at the time, Union Square Station, is an important landmark for the project because it is the interchange station between the Red Line and the Green Line. The Red Line is scheduled for completion on 09 September 2009 (or 09-09-09 as the Atkins team refer to it), exactly 18 months from the date of our visit to Union Square Station. If the Red Line is completed on time it will mean the entire project was completed in just 3.5 years since construction began in March 2006. Much work remains to be done during the remaining 18 months of the project, especially considering there is no evidence of a complete or even partially complete station anywhere in the city. Columns have been erected around the city ready for the Metro Lines, but for the most part they remain just that - columns. Evidence of actual track surface and a finished Metro Line is scarce, but the Atkins team insist that they are well on target for completion by 09-09-09, and this gives an indication of the speed at which construction moves in Dubai. Later that morning we travelled to Atkins' offices in Bur Dubai where we received a presentation on the Trump International Hotel and Tower from its architect, Lee Morris, followed by a presentation on other Atkins projects in Dubai and the Middle East. Morris began by explaining how Donald Trump had decided he no longer liked the existing design for the Tower which was based on the image of a Fabergé Egg. He liked the curvatures, however, and wished them to remain in the new design, so Morris set about adapting the proposed 'Egg' to create what has now been accepted by Donald Trump as the shape of his Dubai International Hotel and Tower. The site for the Trump Tower is to be along the trunk of the existing Palm Jumeirah Island. It will provide housing, office units, leisure units and commercial space, as well as hotel accommodation. The 250m Tower will comprise 72 floors, and will be supplied with a total of 27 high-speed lifts, which will be able to travel from ground level to the top of the building in no more than 10 seconds. Interestingly, one of the main concerns during the design of the building was that of sustainability. In such a hot climate it is important to minimise the sunlight entering the building, as this would save huge amounts of money in power costs which would otherwise be incurred in order to cool the building. I was previously unaware that money was a concern for developers in Dubai. Atkins are involved with several other projects in the Middle East, including the new International Airport in Dubai. The new airport will contain 6 runways and will be, according to Atkins Associate Director, Paul Abbosh, "the size of O'Hare and Heathrow put together". These are two of the largest and busiest airports in the world (2nd and 3rd busiest respectively since 2002), and the reason for the need for an airport of this size in Dubai is Dubailand. The theme park is currently under construction and is due for completion in 2011. Mr Groves explained that Dubailand will be approximately twice the size of Dubai itself (the city rather than the entire Emirate, since Dubailand will be located in the desert on the outskirts of the city) and that the airport must cater for the 600,000 expected daily visitors to Dubailand. After a splendid lunch provided by Atkins, we travelled to another of their current construction sites, Sky Gardens. The 160m apartment building provides 45 floors of luxury accommodation within the Dubai International Finance Centre. It is characterised by five large atriums which allow vast quantities of light into communal areas to be furnished with plants and water features on completion. While the design is very appealing both inside and out, and the views are superb (at least until another skyscraper springs up next door), I am not convinced that the two-bedroom apartments we explored are worth their £1.5million price tag. Monday
10 March Interchange 5.5 is a major new interchange being constructed on the main Sheikh Zayed road. It is so named because Dubai is expanding at such a pace that a new interchange was required between existing interchanges 5 and 6. We were told that since this one had been started, another interchange has been commissioned just a few hundred yards further along the same road and will be known as interchange 5.75. Since the start of the interchange project, the price of rebar (reinforcing steel bar) has increased by almost 70%, rising from a price of 2,200 dirham per ton to over 3,700 dirham per ton. The price of diesel has doubled and cement has tripled in price since the beginning of the project just over a year ago. These price movements are significant, and could have major consequences for a construction firm which does not have an effective risk management strategy in place. In the afternoon we travelled across town to the site of the new Burj Mall which is currently under construction and due for completion this summer. We were treated to some splendid local cuisine while project manager Johan Viljoen told us about the mall which he was overseeing. At over 1.3 million square metres and with 23km of shopping street it will be the largest shopping mall in the world. The mall will be made up of 33 separate buildings, and will have the Burj Dubai as its centrepiece - currently the tallest building in the world and still under construction. There will be over 1,200 tenants and no two shops will be the same. This gave rise to one of the major problems and potential setbacks to the project: it was difficult to find 1,200 stores keen to locate themselves in Dubai, even given the prestige of owning an outlet in the world's largest mall. Many stores from Europe, Asia and Australasia signed up, but the American stores seemed reluctant to agree - they argued that it was not logistically viable to incur the transport and set-up costs just to own one store halfway round the world from any of their other stores. Emaar, the developer, got around this problem by building 200 additional shopping malls in the Middle East in order to entice the Americans, and it worked! It comes as little surprise that Emaar is the wealthiest developer in the world. The mall will also house a Fashion Island - a permanent catwalk for fashion exhibitions - the size of a football pitch; an Olympic sized ice rink with 400 spectator seats and the world's largest permanent television screen (20m x 10m) showing video footage of any skating talent on the ice at the time; and the largest aquarium in the world, with 10 million litres of water and over 30,000 different fish. The day's activities were completed with a friendly game of soccer-beach. Sadly my team was put out of the tournament in the first round, but it allowed time to relax in the last hour of sunshine and to reflect on the success of the trip so far and the genuine feeling of camaraderie now prevalent in the group. Tuesday
11 March The World is a group of 300 islands of varying size, designed to serve a variety of purposes: residential; commercial; services; estates; resorts; and there are even islands dedicated as hubs for transportation. The World is intended to be a community, and it is marketed as a unique property venture, but the prestige has not yet been enough to attract buyers for every island. At £28 million, Shanghai was the latest island to be sold, with many more still to be claimed. The project will provide an additional 232km of beachfront to Dubai, attracting yet more investment and tourism. Later that afternoon we attended a presentation by Dr Dulaimi at the British University in Dubai (BUiD). After a tour of the university campus, and a short speech from the university Vice Chancellor who welcomed us to 'Dubai Knowledge Village', Dr Dulaimi answered what had until then seemed somewhat of a conundrum for me: is there really need for all this construction? In short, 'yes'. Dr Dulaimi revealed that there is an aphorism in Dubai: If we build it, they will come. It may sound absurd to think that the population boom and tourist influx can be so heavily influenced by the level of construction in the city, but it appears to be true. Tourism has increased year on year as the growth of the city continues, and residential properties are being sold before construction is complete, often before it is even started. It is hard to imagine an end to the city's development any time soon. Wednesday
12 March MotorCity is a huge complex of racetracks and motor sports related facilities, as well as residential units. Essentially it will be an entire community built around the central theme of motor sports. It is even equipped with a racetrack which meets the requirements of Formula 1, but we were informed that Bernie Ecclestone has claimed he will never allow Dubai to host a Formula 1 event on account of the bitterness he bears towards Sheikh Mohammed for his tardiness to the meeting at which the matter was to be discussed. We were also informed that Laing O'Rourke incurred substantial financial losses for its work on Dubai International Airport. This was due to the rising prices of oil, rebar and cement during the course of the project, and an insufficient risk management strategy. In addition to the financial loss, five labourers were killed when a section of reinforcement cage for a buttress wall collapsed. In short, the airport has not been a huge success for Al Naboodah Laing O'Rourke. Thursday
13 March Situated within an exclusive 3-tower complex of 27 to 30 storeys and raised from a 6-storey podium, The Lofts offer unique views of the Burj Dubai Boulevard as well as the entire Burj Dubai Development - poised to become one of the most exclusive addresses in the world. The apartments are available as one and two bedroom units, with the emphasis throughout being on light and space, high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows that are signature features of stylish apartments in European cities. Essentially, it provides a contrast to other apartments currently available in Dubai. The importance of the large windows became apparent when we ascended the building (in a hoist) to the 27th floor. The panoramic
views of the city and the horizon are breathtaking, and could not be fully
appreciated without large windows. No windows, nor even external walls,
had been fitted yet, so we were afforded unspoiled panoramic views of
the entire city. It was even possible to see The World islands in the
distance. Following this we returned to AFC's offices where we were provided with the finest meal of our trip, followed by a presentation on their other projects in the Middle East. Not wishing to slight the presentation in any way, I found the most interesting topic was an anecdote on playing golf in the summer heat. When it reaches temperatures of 55°C, it is important to spend as little time outside the air-conditioned buggy as possible and to take advantage of the bottled water handed out at every tee. Even with these precautions, it sounds like summer golf in Dubai is a sweaty affair! ** Whatever the hype about Dubai, it is actually understated. The reality is that only the biggest and the best of everything will suffice for the leaders of Dubai - they want a city full of record-breaking features and during our trip to Dubai we learned that they have the vision and means to accomplish this. First
published in VISA 80 (Aug 2008) |