The AKH Tower in Dammam ... an artist’s rendition.
Corporate symbol
Shapoorji Pallonji starts work on the Al Abdulkarim Tower
01 December 2014
Designer-contractor Shapoorji Pallonji Mideast, the regional arm of the Indian business conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group, has begun substructure work on the 150-m-tall Al Abdulkarim Tower (AKH Tower) in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
The 40-storey structure on Al Khobar-Dammam Highway, designed by Dewan Architects and Engineers, will house the new headquarters for Al Abdulkarim Holding Company.
The tower comprises basement and ground levels, a seven-storey podium with 416 parking spaces, 27 standard office floors, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) service levels. The building is clad in a combination of glazed curtain-wall and aluminium composite cladding systems.
This is Shapoorji’s second tower in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, and is expected to take two years to complete.
Mohan Dass Saini, managing director and CEO of Shapoorji Pallonji, says: “We are very pleased to have been selected by Al Abdulkarim Holding to complete this flagship project in Dammam. As a company with extensive experience in design and build, we are exceptionally well positioned to fully optimise the tower’s function and aesthetics on behalf of the client.”
According to Dewan Architects and Engineers, the design of straight versus tilted and solid versus translucent is expected to represent AKH’s status as a world-class organisation, while the clear glass portion of the tower demarcates the leasable lower office from AKH’s dedicated floors.
The tower’s façade and juxtaposed volumes create distinctive and dynamic office spaces on each floor, allowing it to cater to companies with varying spatial needs.
The tower will feature a back-up standby generator and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system. The ‘intelligent’ building will also be equipped with state-of-the-art telecommunications, closed circuit television (CCTV), access control, energy-saving, and computer-based building management system (BMS), data centre and advanced audio-visuals in its conference rooms.
Beyond the core and shell, Shapoorji’s scope of works includes all MEP services as well as the fire alarm and detection, communications, conveying and security systems. The company will be responsible for co-ordination with local authorities, testing, commissioning, reporting, delivery of operations and maintenance manuals, demobilisation and handover.
