Six Construct, BESIX entity in the Middle East, completed the work on a very important segment of the Dubai Creek Tower: the concrete placement of the pile cap. According to a statement by Emaar Properties, the project’s developer, this milestone was achieved in a record time, two months ahead (!) of schedule.
The Dubai Creek Tower is envisioned to become Dubai’s latest landmark. Designed by Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava Valls, the tower is to become the centrepiece of the Dubai Creek Harbour, a waterfront development located on the banks of Dubai Creek featuring mixed-use towers.
The super-tall masterpiece will consist of several enthralling observation decks, such as the Pinnacle Room and VIP Observation Garden Decks, which offer 360° views of Dubai Creek Harbour and the city beyond. It overlooks the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary and is directly linked to one of the world’s most vibrant retail districts.
In May 2018, the mega-structure hit a milestone, as Six Construct teams finished the concrete pouring of the pile cap. A tremendous feat, considering more than 450 skilled professionals from across the world poured 50,000 cubic metres of concrete in less than 9 months. It is so massive that the amount of concrete used to put it in place is equivalent to the weight of the CN Tower in Canada. The workers also placed approximately 18,000 tonnes of steel reinforcement, or over twice the weight of the structural steel of the Eiffel Tower.
This completion marked a major step forward in the project, as the nearly 20 m thick multi-layered, tiered reinforced concrete top is there to cover and transfer the load from the Tower to the foundation barrettes. Those 145 barrette piles also boast staggering figures. They were tested to 36,000 tons – said to be a world record – and laid 72 m deep in an effort to secure the super-structure firmly.
The Tower is worth more than 3.65 billion dirhams (1 billion dollars) and is estimated to rise up to a staggering height of more than 1,000 metres, surpassing the height of the current tallest tower in the world, the Burj Khalifa (828 m high). The contract for building the foundations has been awarded to Six Construct; the contract for building the Tower itself has not yet been awarded.