The Al Habtoor Group has appointed China Railway 18th Bureau Group as the main contractor for its newest landmark development, the Al Habtoor Tower, coming up in the heart of Dubai.

 

The project, which is being built at the Al Habtoor City using innovative, creative, and selective construction techniques, is estimated to cost around AED3.7 billion ($1 billion).

 

Once completed, the mega Al Habtoor Tower will be the largest residential building in the world with ultra-luxurious living facilities, comprising 1,701 keys over a built-up area of 3.5 million sq ft and 81 floors (G+7+73) above ground. 

 

Announcing the contract award, Founding Chairman Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor said: "Knowing the complexity of taking on such a project, which requires a progressive and unique approach to construction, selecting the right contractors for the construction works was crucial for my team and me, as our goal is to complete Al Habtoor Tower at the highest quality in record time."

 

"The tender inquiry was published countrywide. We initially accepted 10 bidders and shortlisted three key ones in an extensive process. We accepted the documents of European, Local, Indian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern companies," he stated.

 

"China Railway 18th Bureau Group was selected based on a list of criteria, mainly for; a) Meeting the projected target for completion of 36 months, b) Their full technical compliance for state-of-the-art quality, and c) their successful track record in mega projects," explained Al Habtoor.

 

Zon Lin, General Manager of China Railway 18th Bureau Group, said: "As we embark on this challenging, prestigious project, we assure you that together we will forge a formidable team with all stakeholders to overcome all the arduous and challenging tasks and create a victorious and win-win situation for the project."

 

"We look forward to a long-term successful and beautiful relationship with your prestigious company," he stated.

 

On the non-conventional construction method, Al Habtoor said: "This is a project of many challenging firsts, following a structural system used for the first time in Dubai and validated by a detailed engineering peer review from world-renown experts; Structural San Francisco, Imperial College London and Terrasol Paris. We are choosing to save the current structure instead of demolishing it and building afresh at a lower cost, which would have meant more than 3,000 trucks of wasted concrete and sand."

 

"That is why we have opted for the innovative sustainable approach, using a top-down construction method whereby we have employed very heavy equipment from Bauer (the piling contractors), ranging from 60 to 100 tons each, to manoeuvre on top of the current building, reutilizing, and reusing the existing structure," he noted.

 

"Once completed, our carbon footprint will be less than half of any similar construction, where building 1 sqm of equivalent projects is usually 1 ton of CO2, using our method, our CO2 footprint will be less than 0.5 ton per sqm. Environmental experts will follow the Al Habtoor Tower construction journey closely as we work towards achieving LEED Platinum Certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) from the highest authority in green building rating systems worldwide," he added.

 

The piling contractor Bauer expressed delight at being engaged by Al Habtoor Group for this prestigious development. 

 

"Bauer has developed a unique foundation solution with the Client, Project Consulting Engineers and Architects to enable the construction of the superstructure above an existing three-level deep basement," said a company spokesman.

 

"The foundation solution utilizes deep barrette foundation elements capable of carrying the substantial building loads," he noted.

 

"One of the unique challenges involves the construction and installation of the foundation system from the top of an existing basement structure. Innovative engineering and design solutions and construction methods have been developed to meet this unique project need," he stated.

 

"The works at site are well underway with our specialist machine ‘Bauer MC96 BC40 Cutter’ in action constructing barrette foundation elements to depths greater than 90m," he added.-TradeArabia News Service