DUBAI | Burj Khalifah (Burj Dubai) | 828 M / 2,716.5 FT - Pinnacle | 162 FLOORS

[tristp]

what? is this a joke? the last picture it was at like 50 floors, and now it's at 150?! I know the floors are less wide as the tower rises, but the concrete still needs time to dry. WHAT.

[tristp]

or did someone just do some clever photoshop work?

[Lee J Buividas]

Great picture I love it!!

Lee J Buividas

[Ragging Tower]

Great picture. cant wait to see the real one.

[Joey D]

Wow... there are people who think that isn't fake.

Kudos to whomever did that pic

[Slugbelch]

New construction pics added over at SSC:

HERE (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=8256649&postcount=48)

HERE (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=8256761&postcount=50)

HERE (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=8256798&postcount=51)

and HERE (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=8256851&postcount=53)

(Don't worry, they are just the pics, not pages of teenagers' useless bullshit that occupies 95% of the threads.)

Nothing really significant about the pics other than the 2nd setback is more visible than the previous pics a week ago.

[CTroyMathis]

Thanks for the last set of updates.

[Adam186]

not pages of teenagers' useless bullshit that occupies 95% of the threads.)
Sadly, this true. And thats why you guys go through so many threads. Is there a way to have an age limit over there?:shrug:

This building is really growing on me. I really didn't like it to begin with, but as I see it going taller and taller and see more renderings I love it.:banana:

[malec]

Cool, great stuff, has really grown the past few days.

[Daquan13]

Yeah, I wouldn't want to be all the way up there in that crane!!!

[architect1]

I'm sick of seeing this little pictures of the structure being build fuck of get high and take the real photos then come back on hear.

Some concrete can dry in 2 to 4 days even faster but when you speed up the curing process it makes the concrete weeker. I remeber doing concrete tests 7 days after we poored are core samples and braking them up to 350,000 psi or roughly 30mpa concrete.

[Slugbelch]

Yeah, I wouldn't want to be all the way up there in that crane!!!

I was thinking of putting the steel structure (transition to spire?) on top of the concrete and make it even taller

[STR]

3D animation of Burj Dubai. (http://skyscrapermodels.us/pics/BurjDubai.avi)

Height of each setback in meters.
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/8003/bdsb6tw.th.jpg (http://img45.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bdsb6tw.jpg)

Look up shots with fixed model.
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/3733/f27vd.th.jpg (http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=f27vd.jpg) http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/9398/f14ce.th.jpg (http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=f14ce.jpg)

Desktop sized render.
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/2885/desktop4jh.th.jpg (http://img73.imageshack.us/my.php?image=desktop4jh.jpg)

[malec]

Wow, fantastic. I wonder if you've been offered money by anyone for this yet :D

[Bergenser]

those are great STR! :D

keep it up...

[STR]

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/2586/f60yr.th.jpg (http://img138.imageshack.us/my.php?image=f60yr.jpg) http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/9360/f50xk.th.jpg (http://img353.imageshack.us/my.php?image=f50xk.jpg) http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/2373/f43lx.th.jpg (http://img353.imageshack.us/my.php?image=f43lx.jpg) http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/2600/f32cf.th.jpg (http://img353.imageshack.us/my.php?image=f32cf.jpg) http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/5738/f11jg.th.jpg (http://img378.imageshack.us/my.php?image=f11jg.jpg)

[Slugbelch]

I can't see the look up shots with fixed model

Wow, fantastic. I wonder if you've been offered money by anyone for this yet :D

Why pay when you can get it here or SSC. Bikes did and put his own watermark on them.

[STR]

^I allowed him to do that. Should he abuse that, anyone who wants any more renders will get them privately only. No more public showings and don't expect anything on request.

And I deleted the old images because I corrected the model again.

[malec]

So will you make this into a diagram then?

[STR]

http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/images/40622.gif http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/images/40621.gif

[STR]

I've heard this theory before. It's called the Blue Sky Theory, critics point to its initials, BS, as the best decription for it. I'll let you be the judge.

May 3, 2006
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/HE03Dj01.html

SPEAKING FREELY
A bull market goodbye from Dubai
By Pete Kendall and Steve Hochberg

Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing.

There is a great, and little-noticed, irony associated with the celebrations surrounding the 75th anniversary of New York's Empire State Building: historically, the construction of record-breaking skyscrapers has been associated with financial collapses.

The Empire State itself, for example, was begun during the euphoric 1920s and finished during the Great Depression. If we

China Business Big Picture


are concerned about an upcoming global decline, we might look around the world and ask: Is there a wave of super-tall buildings under construction despite collapsing markets?

Unfortunately, there is, and the most massive piece of evidence - literally - is the Burj Dubai, designed to be the world's tallest building, now under construction in the Persian Gulf city-state. Another screaming parallel is the response to the plunge since December in the stock market of Dubai and other once-remote financial outposts.

The chief investment strategist for a major Wall Street firm called the 53% collapse over four months in Dubai "an adjustment phase" and told a daily newspaper in the emirate, "We believe that Dubai is the Shanghai and Hong Kong of the Middle East." He'd better hope not. The Shanghai Stock Index remains down 42% from its bull-market peak nearly five years ago, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index is still down 13% from a peak in March 2000.

But what about the significance of that skyscraper in Dubai? This chart captures the remarkable heights that human ambition is scaling at the greatest top of all time.

The closest precedent is what happened in the late 1920s. Here's a description from a review of the book Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky by Neal Bascomb:

At the tail end of the 1920s, the Jazz Age was in full swing, and Americans experienced an unprecedented level of prosperity with no apparent end in sight. Though the Great Depression would soon wipe out many of those gains, three landmark buildings on the New York City skyline - the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, and the Manhattan Company Building [40 Wall Street] - remain as tangible reminders of the enormous ambition and exuberance that characterized the era.

All three buildings were conceived in the bull market and built through the peak, only to open for business amid the worst office-space market in decades. That great race to be the world's tallest is the building frenzy Edward R Dewey used to identify the "Skyscraper Indicator" back in the 1940s.

The latest "race to the sky" also features three contenders, in Malaysia, Taiwan and Dubai. But this time, the first two skyscrapers actually held the title of world's tallest for only a few years, eventually exceeded by an even taller monument to another region's euphoric surge in social mood.

Dewey originally observed that the "world's tallest" sell signal for stocks is given when a tower is conceived, because construction takes a while to complete. A new world's tallest building is invariably occupied only in the aftermath of the bull market that gave rise to its creation. All three of the new ones fit this profile, as the Malaysian market double-topped in 1994 and 1997, before the completion of the Petronas Towers; Taiwan peaked in 2000 ahead of the 2004 completion of the Taipei 101 building.

Everything points to a similar fate in Dubai, where the Burj Dubai is now being built through the wreckage of a crashing UAE Stock Index. As with the contestants for the world's tallest building in the 1920s, the height of the Burj Dubai is being kept secret for now. The latest projection is 800 meters, which would be a 77% increase from this era's first record breaker, the Petronas Towers. Billed as "the world's greatest vertical megaproject", the Burj Dubai is designed to "beat all records, and on a scale that will be a dramatic testament to Dubai's faith in the future". The same kind of rhetoric surrounded the move toward the heavens in 1929.

The latest sell signal rates as even more potent than that of 1929, for several reasons. A major one is the sheer audacity of the last and most dramatic tower. At 800 meters, the Burj will be close to half a mile high, more than doubling the Empire State Building's 381-meter height. Also, in addition to the repetition of the signal, there is its geographic spread and distance from the hub of the mania, New York City. In 1929, the projects were all within a few kilometers of the New York Stock Exchange. Dubai is 10,330km away, a city of less than 1.5 million people that was virtually non-existent just 50 years ago. It's also in the midst of an unstable region.

A big difference between this peak and those of the last century is that no new heights are being scaled in the United States. Since 1996, a handful of plans to construct the world's tallest building in the US have been announced only to be derailed for one reason or another. It takes a high level of social cooperation to pull off the tallest buildings, because they are less efficient than smaller structures (and, as it turns out, excellent terrorist targets).

In a divergence from the dramatic harmony at the end of 1929, developers just cannot pull the pieces together the way they did in the heart of the bull market. Through the peak in 2000, the aspirations are just as grand but, at this point, antagonism among developers, lenders, governments and other parties is making it hard even to replace the towers of the New York World Trade Center (WTC) that were destroyed on September 11, 2001.

Originally, the Freedom Tower, which is being built on the site of the WTC, was supposed to win the crown of world's tallest building at 540 meters, but the project has been continually delayed. A New York Post columnist described the effort to date as a failure that is "Homeric in scale. The paralysis can only be explained by a heart that was never really in the job, or gross incompetence - or both."

Construction work on Freedom Tower finally did begin last Thursday. But as a Daily Show "news" commentator dryly noted, Osama bin Laden may have brought down the WTC Towers, but he did nothing to destroy the bureaucracy that will keep a new tower from ever being rebuilt. All of this is evidence that the United States has begun to lose its world dominance.

Pete Kendall and Steve Hochberg, analysts with Elliott Wave International, edit The Elliott Wave Financial Forecast.

[bmorescottamanda]

They need to stop ripping people off on oil.

[Stu]

The typical STR excellence.

[Stu]

They need to stop ripping people off on oil.


Don't troll.

[Stu]

They need to stop ripping people off on oil.


D/P.

[malec]

A crash wouldn't be the end of the world. It would probably mean a lot of projects that haven't started construction would get the axe, like that shitty new replica one.

[udigold]

"The Empire State itself, for example, was begun during the euphoric 1920s and finished during the Great Depression." Huh?

Whoever wrote this should take a hsitory class. The ESB construction commenced after the stock market crash...

[STR]

The typical STR excellence.

Thank you, thank you.

They need to stop ripping people off on oil.

Sorry dude, no one in the UAE is causing oil to spike. It's mainly commidities traders here in the states (mostly in Chicago) that are bidding it up to get rich at everyone's expense.

If you're going to troll, troll right with facts.


"The Empire State itself, for example, was begun during the euphoric 1920s and finished during the Great Depression." Huh?

Whoever wrote this should take a hsitory class. The ESB construction commenced after the stock market crash...

It was proposed before the crash though. That's the point. The idea is that they're launched during boom times, but open in busts.

[Ragging Tower]

One of my favorite pictures.
http://i3.tinypic.com/vs0ydz.jpg

[STR]

New Animation (http://skyscrapermodels.us/pics/BD2.avi)

[malec]

^^ Is that the 810m version?

With all the controversy over that project with all the replicas the (real) burj dubai is still as great as ever and is rising higher and higher:

http://static.flickr.com/52/140295954_c6a66ec9a1_o.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/49/140295957_cbdbc7d19d_o.jpg

[Slugbelch]

^Thanks.

Looks like core will start to slow down so they can change formwork for the next mechanical levels.

[Lecom]

Great photos. The tower is already a significant addition to the skyline.

[hoosier]

With the massive amount of construction occuring in Dubai, which is certainly unprecedented in magnitude, I wonder what effect this has on the residents of the city. Do they feel like their area of residence is always in a state of flux, never a chance to get acclimated to any structural status quo so to speak? Living in an area that has gone through a building boom of SIGNIFICANTLY lower proportion, I find myself having to constantly readjust to my erstwhile community. I can't imagine how I would respond if Dubai were my hometown.

[Lecom]

^I'd be like "Ha, my hometown is building a bigger version of your hometown. I don't care where you're from, we are replicating EVERY town now, even ourselves with a copy of BD in Dubailand :P "

On a serious note though, I pass.

[malec]

With the massive amount of construction occuring in Dubai, which is certainly unprecedented in magnitude, I wonder what effect this has on the residents of the city. Do they feel like their area of residence is always in a state of flux, never a chance to get acclimated to any structural status quo so to speak? Living in an area that has gone through a building boom of SIGNIFICANTLY lower proportion, I find myself having to constantly readjust to my erstwhile community. I can't imagine how I would respond if Dubai were my hometown.
yup that's right

[STR]

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9800/landmarks9zs.jpg

[STR]

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3111/bdcr0jx.png♀

[Finlay (Portland Or)]

But this thread should be a sticky that remains at the top of the page!

[Thskyscraper]

This is going to be a great building.

[Bergenser]

Great models of Burj Dubai STR ;) keep them going...

[Bergenser]

they are very cool.....

[phillyskyline]

WOW! Great job.

[MercurySky]

Hey STR can you insert a person at the very base to show some kind of scale?

[Thskyscraper]

Hey STR can you insert a person at the very base to show some kind of scale?
All he has to do is place a period at the bottom and there you have it, lol.

[TREPYE]

Any body notice a similarity of the shape of this tower to the figment on the left in Van Gogh's Starry Nights painting??

http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content05/burj-tower.jpg


http://www.moma.org/images/collection/FullSizes/00103071.jpg

[Fury]

:previous: Yup. In a LSD flashback kinda' way ... :yes:

[STR]

Hey STR can you insert a person at the very base to show some kind of scale?

I threw in a ♀, which looks like a person and at 7 pixels tall approximates a person.

[Ragging Tower]

At SSC New shot of Burj at night, already a new skyline folks.

http://www.baidas.net/public/images/BD002s.jpg

[Slugbelch]

42 storeys and going......
http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/8259/bdnight2ak.jpg
put the two (from post below) together

[Ragging Tower]

Some more for you....

http://www.baidas.net/public/images/BD001s.jpg

http://www.baidas.net/public/images/BD003s.jpg

http://www.baidas.net/public/images/BD002s.jpg

[Fabb]

I bet the construction site is busy at night.

[Ragging Tower]

Yeah since they have a completion in 2008 i belive

[Ragging Tower]

New Shot

http://standaard.typepad.com/./photos/uncategorized/pict0027.jpg

And an airal for who asked for it, but kind of old.

http://misheli.image.pbase.com/o4/93/329493/1/56425723.DubaiAerialsFeb06022.jpg

[Slugbelch]

^Probably the last shot we'll see the -5 level. It's barely visible here

[STR]

http://www.besix.com/ProjectImages/29_62e58570-ae4d-4f39-a510-5d933364fa05.jpg
Source:http://www.besix.com/en/markets/Detail.aspx?id=29

[Slugbelch]

President of Korea visits Burj Dubai Tower
Thursday, May 11, 2006

Armed with state-of-the-art technology and a pioneering spirit, Samsung Engineering and Construction is emerging as a world-class builder of tall towers.

The company, one of the divisions of Samsung Corp., began to build an impressive reputation in the world skyscraper market after it won the contract to construct the 92-story Petronas Twin Towers (452 meters) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1993.

Since then, the company has completed numerous mega-high-rise building projects, such as the fit-out works of the 101-story Taipei Financial Center (509 meters), which is currently the world's tallest building.

Such landmark achievements in the skyscraper construction market helped the company win a large-scale project to build the world's tallest tower in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

The Samsung-led consortium, which included Belgium's Besix and the UAE's Arabtec, won the $900 million project, by defeating seven other consortia, in December 2004.

The construction of the "Burj Dubai" tower is part of the UAE's $8 billion 500-acre Downtown Dubai Development Project, which also includes the building of a mammoth shopping mall and a rich residential complex.

It will have a total floor area of about 460,000 square meters.

"We awarded the contract to Samsung Corp. because it has a reputation for unrivalled expertise in constructing tall towers," said Issam Galadari, vice chairman of Emaar Properties in the UAE, the company in charge of the project. Emaar Properties is the UAE's largest real estate developer invested by its government.

Samsung officials said the company was able to win the project thanks to its achievements in building other skyscrapers around the world with more than 50 stories each and the possession of more than 120 experts in engineering.

They added that by winning this project, Samsung construction has now been involved in the construction of the world's three tallest towers - the Burj Dubai, the Taipei Financial Center, and Malaysia's Petronas Twin Towers.

They said they expect that their successful bid for the project will help the company secure a leading position in the world's skyscraper construction market.

"When the Burj Dubai project is completed in 2008, our company will be the world's undisputed leader in skyscraper construction," said a company official.

Lee Sang-dae, president and CEO of Samsung Corp.'s engineering and construction division, said, "The company gained credibility in the world skyscraper construction market, which is forecast to grow to $40 billion by 2010, by winning the bid in Dubai."

"We expect to win more high-rise building construction contracts around the world and more construction orders in the Middle East."

During his three-day visit to the UAE, which starts today, President Roh Moo-hyun is expected to visit Dubai to tour the construction site for the Burj Dubai and offer his encouragement to company construction officials. It is the first time that a Korean President has made an official visit to the UAE. Dubai is growing into a dynamic international trade zone where a number of local companies, including Samsung construction, are actively engaged in business.

The company was awarded first prize in the national customer satisfaction index on housing for the eighth consecutive year in 2005 and placed first in the evaluation of domestic builders in 2004 and 2005.

The Korea Herald (http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2006/05/12/200605120015.asp)

[malec]

;)


http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/710/comp16wd.jpg

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/8762/comp24if.jpg

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/1236/comp37lc.jpg


Thanks to STR for introducing me to Sketchup. I was looking for a free 3D program for ages!!

[Slugbelch]

When looking at it at a glance, Dubai should have built the mall vertical and not horizontal. I see you guys at ssc working on it. Good work.


From post below:
Slugbelch, nice night pics.
They're not mine, but they are nice. That property has uniform color lights and really shines a brilliant white at night. Especially when viewing it from a distance, like from the (old) downtown area.

[Thskyscraper]

Slugbelch, nice night pics. DUBAI, DUBAI, DUBAI!!!!

[mclancer]

Hey Melac

could you post the file or a link for
the sketchup file for your Dubai?

thank you

[Lover Fighter]

^^^^WOW, I have not seen that rendering before. Gives a great idea on the layout of the new downtown area in relation to the Sheikh Zayed Road area.

A question though, what is that tower that looks like it's wearing a corset (thinner in the middle than the top and bottom)?


Oh, and cool night shots! It's neat to see so many lights and activity going on at the night there.

[Slugbelch]

One year ago:
http://img279.imageshack.us/img279/9078/burjdubaihistoryrisinghighres3.jpg

Current:
http://img279.imageshack.us/img279/3680/dubaiaerial5tz.jpg
bottom pic from Ragging Tower

[malec]

^^^^WOW, I have not seen that rendering before. Gives a great idea on the layout of the new downtown area in relation to the Sheikh Zayed Road area.

A question though, what is that tower that looks like it's wearing a corset (thinner in the middle than the top and bottom)?

It's the burj al alam quickly done in about 1 to 2 minutes. Go to www.burjalalam.com to see the real tower.

[malec]

Hey Melac

could you post the file or a link for
the sketchup file for your Dubai?

thank you

Sure, here it is:

http://rapidshare.de/files/20248237/big_fat_map.zip.html

This business bay section you see there is actually only half of the development but that part will be mostly villas, parks, lowrises and midrises. This is the part with the tall towers. Also the section to the south in business bay also consists mainly of midrises from say, 15 to 20 floors.

[Ragging Tower]

Sweet, the skline on SZR is amazing, i remeber last year when i was there first entering Dubai from Abu Dhabi was amazing, 1 hour drive throw the desert then you see a Burj Al Arab in the distance then Bam your on SZR, just amazing.

[malec]

:D

My very shit and very quick attempt at making the burj.

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/4715/145be.jpg


The setbacks are nowhere near right, in fact everything was guessed since I was lazy. I don't think I'll even try to make a good one since STR made such a brilliant model recently.

[tayser]

Instaskyline! YEAH!

[Slugbelch]

May 13 construction update on ssc:

here (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=8438866&postcount=132)

(pics only)

The banner on the bldg. is probably because Koreas president is making a visit.

[Crazy Ivan]

I bet the construction site is busy at night.

I was in Cairo a few years ago around this time of year. Nearly all construction work took place at night. It becomes unbearably hot during the day.

[Beyond 1000]

I was in Cairo a few years ago around this time of year. Nearly all construction work took place at night. It becomes unbearably hot during the day.


Ivan that's so Crazy.

[Slugbelch]

Again?

Thursday, May 18, 2006
7,000 Indians strike in Dubai

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Nearly 7,000 Indian workers employed in a construction firm here stayed away from work for the second day today demanding better pay and working conditions.

The employees of the Besix Construction Company which has between 7,000 and 10,000 workers, stayed away from work yesterday and today demanding a minimum salary of dh1,000, dh300 food allowance and annual vacation, Indian consulate sources said.

Indian officials visited the labour camp thrice before the protests began, but could not persuade the workers. The company also made some concessions.

"We are aware of the problems faced by the workers of Besix Construction.

The workers had contacted the consulate earlier. We visited the camp and they have given us a list of grievances. "We have discussed the matter with labour officials and the company management who have assured us to look into the problems of their workers soon. We have informed the workers about this and urged them not to protest. We are trying to solve their problems soon," an Indian consulate official said.

Besix workers declined to report to work at various construction sites, including the Burj Dubai Construction Project, demanding an increase in salary and elimination of arbitrary salary deductions. "The company has not increased the salary of workers since its inception. People who have worked for years and those who are new are paid the same salary," a worker said.

Meanwhile, some 350 migrant workers of the al Huda Contracting Company staged protests for not having been paid on time. They marched in the scorching heat from their labour camp in Jebel Ali, some 10 kilometres from Dubai's centre.

Workers of al Huda said the company has delayed their salaries. "I did not get my salary for the last three months. The living conditions in our labour camp are bad. We do not have electricity in the camp and the generator does not work sometimes," alleged a worker. However, Dubai officials informed the Indian consulate that they have sorted out the matter with the company and that dues would be paid to the workers soon.

"We discussed the issue with the director of the company. The company agreed to pay the workers their salary for the month of February yesterday, and the salary of March will be paid next month," Lieutenant Riyadh Shafeeh, Member of the Permanent Committee for Labour Affairs, said.

The Financial Express (http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=127443)

Probably at the mall again, but the press can't help but put the BD in there to attract global attention.

[malec]

Nope, I think Besix are the ones doing the actual tower. What does it matter anyway, underpaid workers are underpaid workers no matter what the project is they're working on.

[Slugbelch]

I think they are underpaid too, but according to Besix, they are not underpaid because there are no shortages of workers on the tower.

I think it matters quite a bit. It is because of this tower, and this tower alone, that it is getting this much global attention about workers rights.

Dubai is doing what every developing country does. CNN and other outlets talk about Dubai and not China because of the Burj Dubai (but the ports issue just feeds the media flame).

China has a huge amount of worker issues, just ask Michael Jordan, Frank and Kathie Lee, etc. No news on China labor issues lately, or maybe just so much that we are tired of hearing about it.

If they would only just pay them on time (it's only $5/day) they wouldn't strike and we wouldn't hear about it.

Many people here probably feel we are underpaid too, but as long as the check is on time, we're ok with it. If not, we'll get another job.

UPDATE:

Union troubles surface from beneath UAE’s glitter

By Steve Negus in Dubai
Published: May 18 2006 18:49 | Last updated: May 18 2006 18:49

from Financial Times (http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1b18f098-e694-11da-a36e-0000779e2340.html)
highlights:

It states that as of May 16 the employees of Besix construction will no longer go to the work site until their list of demands is met.

The Besix workers, none of whom wished to be identified for fear of deportation, said they earned far less than the sums promised by labour agents in India. They are demanding a basic fixed salary of 1000 dirhams ($272, €212, £144) a month, with an eight-hour day and an annual holiday.

An Emirati labour official however said that the law was not on the striking workers’ side, as they had signed a contract with their employer on their arrival, and the problem of dishonest recruiting agents was a matter for the Indian authorities.

A statement from Besix’s subsidiary Six Construct said that the salaries and benefits were equal or superior to those of other UAE construction companies. It claimed that a survey of the camps indicated that the vast majority of workers were willing to return to work, and “a few unknown agitators are physically threatening the others”.

The Besix workers, however, said the main organiser behind the protests was a longtime employee of the company. They say the decision to strike was prompted by an incident in which a company officialkicked a worker’s meal out of his hands when he took an unauthorised break.

The absence of legal unions makes negotiations difficult, with labour representatives reluctant to come forward for fear of deportation. ‘’The company asked us to send two representatives to their offices, but no one went because we would never see them again,” said one employee.

The wave of militancy has clearly troubled the government, which is fiercely protective of its reputation for providing a stable business environment. Last week the labour minister recommended that workers who struck “without cause” be prosecuted.

In the long run, however, Emirati officials concede they must legalise some form of labour unions, if only to meet the requirements of a trade deal being negotiated with the US.

Intersting sidenote from Besix website:

Labour disturbances on Dubai construction sites: relation to BESIX?
23/03/2006

On March 22, the international press was reporting labour disturbances, on a few construction sites in Dubai. Contrary to what the media said, the disturbances have not taken place on the construction site of the Burj Dubai.

The Samsung-BESIX-Arabtec Joint Venture, main contractor of the Burj Dubai Tower, would like hereby to declare that the labour disturbances recently reported in the international press have
not taken place on the Burj Dubai Tower project and where under no circumstances linked or related to the performances / actions of the Samsung-BESIX-Arabtec Joint Venture.

This statement is meant to dispel all possible misunderstandings in relation to the reports recently published in the international press.

For and on behalf of
The Samsung-BESIX-Arabtec Joint Venture

The Management

[SD_Phil]

^No building, no matter how tall or how beautiful, should be built on the backs of "workers" whose basic human rights are not respected. Certainly at least some of the demands that the workers are making are rational and should be respected. Being paid on time? Having a salary that is tied to experience or seniority? Being paid what you were promised? It isn't like they are necessarily asking for flex time or paid leave.

***Note: I love the Burj Dubai's design. I think it's beautiful and I in no way intend the statement above to be construed as a knock against the citizens of Dubai, only the corporations in charge of construction and the government that would allow these conditions to exist. Normally it would seem like this discussion should be relegated to another thread but given the flurry of posts on this labor issue I felt that it was okay to post. Delete this if inappropriate.

[Slugbelch]

If the article is accurate in the amount of pay they were promissed, we can start to calculate the cost of (structure) labor to build it.

So far, approx 3500 bucks/person to get it to 43 levels in 13 months.


^ By the way in your sig., Homer really says: "Marge, we don't get raises, we work half-ass. That's the American way."

[austin356]

No wonder American developers are having trouble getting contruction cranes.......... there is more than I could count just surrounding Burj Dubai's complex.

[Spooky873]

I realized after looking at those computer models, that more cities are building smaller high rises. NYC is, but NYC also has those old brown high rises that are always connected, with the water towers on top.

just my 2cents.

[SD_Phil]

^ By the way in your sig., Homer really says: "Marge, we don't get raises, we work half-ass. That's the American way."

That's odd. I could swear I was right about that. Could they have changed the words regionally? If you google my phrase you'll get several hits:

Homer Quote (http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/44)

But I didn't get any when I searched for your modification...?

[STR]

SD Phil is right. That's the original quote. They might have made a smiliar quote in a new episode, but that show has been dead to me for years.

[Slugbelch]

^whatever.

Back to topic:

Striking Indians in Dubai may face deportation
United News of India (http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5967_1701409,001600060001.htm)
Dubai, May 19, 2006

Thousands of striking Indian workers, involved in construction of prestigious projects in Dubai, have been told to get back to work by Saturday or face deportation.

More than 8,000 workers, demanding an increase in their salary, have remained in their camps for the last three days.

"The workers have been told to return to work of face deportation," an official said.

The Permanent Committee for Labour and Social Affairs communicated the decision to workers yesterday after they refused to accept the management's latest offer.

Workers are demanding a minimum salary of 1000 Dhs per month (Rupees 13,375) and an additional 300 Dhs (Rupees 3700) for food.

The company is willing to meet some demands, including payment for food allowance and compensation in case of accidents and increase salaries for those employed for more than five years.

By the way, Besix put the stats as follows:

Order: 875 million
Height: 728.6m (will be pumping concrete up to 550m)
Floors: 160
Concrete: 275,500m2 (It took 3 months to get the composition right)
Steel: 35,200 tons reinforcing / 5,500 tons structural
Floor surface: 500,000m2. Tower itself will have 314,000m2
Podium: 186,000m2

Major challenge: The vertical transport of men and materials past the 400m mark. The final lifts (45 in all) need to travel at 10m/sec. three times the speed of a normal panoramc lift and nearly the speed of freefall.

Besix: "April 16 (last year of course), the first 5.25 meters of tower wall were poured"

[SD_Phil]

Apologies for the digression. I'm surprised how few responses there have been to this issue which I would suppose would be important to those of us that believe in things like basic rights for workers.

How can we, the skyscraper aficionados of the world, possibly condone the construction of this building? I'm feeling serious conflict between moral and aesthetic desires. I don't think I want this built anymore.

"The company is willing to meet some demands, including payment for food allowance and compensation in case of accidents and increase salaries for those employed for more than five years."

This is a start but I'm extremely skeptical of any promises made by this corporation (haven't they already gone back on their promise to pay the workers timely salaries?)

[malec]

^^ Well, I still want this built. But maybe I'm a heartless human being?
There's definitely a bad situation there but it's not THAT bad, it's not like they have to carry bricks while getting whipped or something.

^No building, no matter how tall or how beautiful, should be built on the backs of "workers" whose basic human rights are not respected. Certainly at least some of the demands that the workers are making are rational and should be respected. Being paid on time? Having a salary that is tied to experience or seniority? Being paid what you were promised? It isn't like they are necessarily asking for flex time or paid leave.

Yup that's exactly the problem and I don't think they're being hard enough on the companies who abuse the workers. There's stuff being done alright but it's never something like, throwing the owners into prison for a while. Something to scare the other companies. BTW, abuse also goes on over on the subcontinent side too where various people from poor areas are lured with a false impression.

[SD_Phil]

^Needless to say American corporations use similar tactics on illegal immigrants here but that is another (similar) can of worms. I'm still not feeling good about seeing this tower rise anymore, given what it symbolizes in particular. Does this issue even surface on the radar in the press in Dubai? What is the public opinion there about worker's issues?

[malec]

Does this issue even surface on the radar in the press in Dubai? What is the public opinion there about worker's issues?
:haha:

It's in the press everyday actually.
What do you think the public opinion is?

http://gulfnews.com/home/index.html

[SD_Phil]

1. My questions weren't sarcastic and didn't deserve a sarcastic response.

2. They were genuine questions about the degree to which the public is aware of what are, to many in this country, fringe issues that don't generally excite public opinion.

3. That link doesn't really help me answer either question. We have media in the US that reports on every issue under the sun but that doesn't mean that the press in this country do a responsible job of raising public awareness of important issues *and* the appearance of a story in the press tells me nothing about how the public perceives the problem?


Now I'm certain this discussion is getting off topic. I apologize. I do want to talk about the burg dubai. I have a lot to say about how much I like its design.

[malec]

Well, the whole workers thing is in the press almost every day. I just said that because when you said "what is the public opinion" it implied that the public over there want the abuse of workers' rights to continue. Obviously this isn't the case. Aswell if a topic is in the press everyday how is that not creating public awareness. It's only since the strikes last year started that the whole thing has picked up in both the local and international media.

This isn't offtopic I think because it has specific relevance to the burj dubai now.

[asdf]

Update - 44 stories; 170 metres

http://www.burjdubaiskyscraper.com/2006/05/burj-dubai-2006-05-21-2.jpg

[Fabb]

170/44=3.86 m
The floor-to-floor height is not exceptional.

[Pandemonious]

^Thats roughly 12'-8", which is actually a pretty tall floor height for residential/hotel.

[Slugbelch]

^Don't forget to take into account the machine levels that are much larger than the norm.

Some tower news:
50 who returned to work are in hiding
By Diaa Hadid and Sunita Menon, Staff Reporters from Gulf News (http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/05/22/10041699.html)
05/22/2006 07:58 PM |

Dubai: Construction workers are in hiding after being attacked by colleagues who accused them of breaking a five-day protest to demand better wages.

About 50 labourers from Besix Construct returned to work on Saturday, breaking a protest that began on May 16, when 8,000 labourers in the UAE stopped work, asking for a Dh5 daily increase, a bigger food allowance, and several other demands.

About 200 colleagues beat up the men as they returned to their labour accommodation. Some of the men were lightly injured.

The protest halted work on about 17 projects, including a section of the Burj Dubai mega project, causing a direct loss of Dh5 million, and an indirect loss of between Dh10 million and Dh15 million, said the CEO of the Belgium-based company, Johan Beerlandt. Helpers at Besix are paid a Dh15 basic wage, and Dh8.5 for food daily. They are not given a wage or food allowance on Friday, their day off.
http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/8338/besix1zf.th.jpg (http://img325.imageshack.us/my.php?image=besix1zf.jpg)

[jmecklenborg]

I feel for those guys, I have done 12 hour days outdoors in Florida and it is absolutely brutal. The difference is that I was getting paid around $150/day + full benefits, 401(k), all that.

[FRED]

Cool, thanks for the update !!! 44 floors !!

[smussuw]

no they are beating each other

[Slugbelch]

Back to work........

Dubai deports Indian workers
Press Trust of India (http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5967_1704986,001600060001.htm)
Dubai, May 24, 2006

Eighty-six workers, mostly Indians, were deported from Dubai for allegedly attacking their colleagues, who had broken a five-day protest for better wages.

The construction workers of Besix, the Dubai-based Belgian company were deported on Monday.

As many as 8,000 Besix labourers had stopped work on May 16 across the UAE demanding better wages.

Some protestors beat up 50 colleagues on Saturday evening, lightly injuring the men, after they went to work, effectively breaking the strike, an official was quoted as saying by the Gulf News.

The protest halted work on about 17 projects, including on Burj Dubai, causing a direct loss of Dh 5 million (Rs 6,22,30258) and an indirect loss of between Dh10 million (Rs 12,45,70,770) to Dh15 million (Rs 18,68,97,400) to the company.

[Slugbelch]

http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/5461/pegahoist18lj.png
Czech lifts help build world's highest skyscraper in Dubai
Pardubice, East Bohemia, May 24
(CTK) - Czech hoists made by Pega Hoist help build the world's highest skyscraper in Dubai, Robert Vanecek, co-owner of the company, told CTK today.

Pega Hoist will export 14 hoists to Dubai in total, of them six are already in operation on the construction site. A hoist costs several million crowns, said Vanecek.
http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/3325/pegahoist26xj.png
He added the company had to succeed in fierce competition.

"We have offered a unique product that can carry a considerable burden at high speed without using a balance weight. The installation is simpler and faster and will save money," said Vanecek.
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/6692/pegahoist30jl.jpg
Pega Hoist, which has exported its products to Switzerland and Britain, is also eyeing countries such as Qatar and Bahrain.

[Bergenser]

The building are growing and growing...

[Slugbelch]

Atkins wins tallest tower in the world
Saturday, 27 May 2006

Atkins has been appointed structural engineer on what is set to become the tallest tower in the world — and at one kilometre tall would eclipse the Burj Dubai.

Full story:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=2085794&postcount=28

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/2051/businesscitycgicustom7lb.th.jpg (http://img56.imageshack.us/my.php?image=businesscitycgicustom7lb.jpg) http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/2343/fourcitiescgicustom5up.th.jpg (http://img119.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fourcitiescgicustom5up.jpg)

[Daquan13]

That's the one that looks similar to the Burj Dubai Tower.

Even THAT one was trounced before completion, just like the Freedom Tower was trounced by Dubai before it could even start being built.

Freedom will be the tallest in the country if Chicago doesn't eclipse it.

[Lecom]

Nice updated avatar, Daquan.

...so much for the 1000th post in the thread