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As the Atlantis embarks on a project to refurbish 300 hotel suites and introduce more green initiatives, the person responsible for tracking all energy costs is Tim Bushell, director of engineering.

Bushell joined the hotel group in February 2008, seven months before its official opening as the first resort on The Palm Jumeirah, which very nearly did not happen after a fire broke out on the premises.

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“The only significant fire we have had in the duration of the life of this building was on September 2, 2008, when the outside skin of the roof caught fire, damaging the green dome on the roof over the Grand Lobby,” he said.

“Because the incident occurred prior to the hotel opening there were 400 senior staff working in-house at the time, including security and facilities management and Dubai Civil Defence, the police and fire services were quick to get to the scene.

“Together with Palm Jumeirah and Nakheel Security we closed The Palm and the tunnel allowing only key staff to move in and out from the mainland.

Eventually, the fire and its consequent smoke and water damage were put under control. The building was jointly checked, the fire alarm reset and with the exception of three spaces in the bakery, room service kitchen and grand lobby we were fully operational the next day. The grand lobby was then repaired and operational as a check in space for guests a few days after we opened.”

Bushell added as a result of the fire, he agreed with the designers to change the hotel’s fire cause and effect plans and over the next year created a staged evacuation different to the original cause and effect it had which is the one it currently uses today.

“The other lesson we learnt from the fire was improving the accessibility of some of the spaces in the hotel as they were difficult to get in and out of and these have been improved. As such, there are more access points to get out of certain confined spaces and access to the roof has been simplified.”

Bushell was in charge of all technical systems at the hotel including the ventilation, cooling, fire alarms and BMS but with recent re-organisation it has focused on BMS and utility bills.

His job is to account for those costs, which can amount to several million dirhams a month.