Dubai, World's tallest tower opens in debt-hit Dubai

http://www.timesofearth.com/Worldnews/?NT=0&nid=15501 DUBAI - Dubai has opened the world's tallest building as the emirate tries to re-establish some of the optimism it experienced prior to its financial crisis. As he inaugurated the 828-metre high tower on Monday, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, renamed it Burj Khalifa in honour of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, the president of the United Arab Emirates. Burj Khalifa, which took about 12,000 labourers to build, overtook its nearest rival - the Taipei 101 in Taiwan which rises to only 508 metres. Dubai, one of seven members of the United Arab Emirates, has gained a reputation for excesses with the creation of man-made islands shaped like palms and an indoor ski slope in the desert. But the emirate suffered a real estate crash at the end of 2008 when the global financial crisis hit. Investor confidence was badly dented again in November when the emirate's largest conglomerate announced it planned to delay debt repayments. The Burj Khalifa's opening is seen as a positive start to the year and analysts believe Dubai's financial troubles have not hurt sales of the approximately 1,100 residential units in the "super-scraper". The Burj has been developed by Emaar Properties and is believed to have cost $1.5bn. "The message is very simple ... we build for tens of years to come," Mohamed Alabbar, the chairman of Dubai's Emaar properties, said. "Crises come and go and the world has gone through two years of difficult times," he said. "I hope that this is the beginning of a gradual move forward." Bill Baker, the building's structural engineer, said Emaar kept pushing the design of the the tapering metal-and-glass spire higher. "We weren't sure how high we could go," Baker, who works for Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, said. "It was kind of an exploration ... a learning experience." However, the building has come in for criticism over the treatment of labourers during its construction, its environmental impact and the signals it sends in a time of financial crisis. "Nobody knows where the planning hubris of the sheikhs will lead," Christian Baumgart, the president of Germany's architect's association, said. "One thing is sure though: what has become a glass and ferroconcrete desert hardly represents a sustainable contribution to building practices around the world." At their peak, some apartments in the Burj were selling for more than $1,900 per square foot, though they now can go for less than half that, according to Heather Wipperman Amiji, chief executive of Dubai real estate consultancy Investment Boutique. "Obviously most of those people were speculators who were never planning to move in." Besides luxury apartments and offices, the Burj will be home to a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani. The Burj is the centrepiece of a more than two kilometres squared development that officials hope will become a new central residential and commercial district. It is flanked by dozens of smaller but brand-new skyscrapers and the Middle East's largest shopping mall. ---------------- Copyright 2010 THE TIMES OF EARTH (TOE). All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.