Best of the year: Top site visits from 2011

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From Saudi Arabia to Syria and Abu Dhabi, CW visited a range of construction sites and projects on 2011. Here is a selection of some of the most striking

Burjside Boulevard, Dubai
Damac’s first serviced-apartment development continues the luxury trend in Downtown, Dubai’s iconic neighbourhood. Just when we all thought the construction of luxury residential towers in Dubai was temporarily off the cards, well-known developer Damac goes and launches yet another high-end development in one of the most expensive areas of the city.

“One thing that is really important is that Dubai is still, and has been for a long time, a centre of this region, the place where multinational firms want to be. And it will remain so. The infrastructure is prepared for the future, and Dubai is a great place. The fact that prices are coming down and it is becoming cheaper to live here just makes it an ever greater place.”

Upon completion, the project itself will offer 39 residential floors (or typical floors), three mechanical floors, a lobby or ground floor, a leisure floor (at the top of the podiums), five floors of car parks and a basement. Thus, with as many as 49 floors above ground level and 351 apartments, the building will reach a height of 168.4m and have a total built-up area of 63,754m².

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With the entire development (which includes interior design and furnishing) due for completion at the end of 2012, main contractor Sun Engineering, which was previously awarded a contract worth $54.46m, has been working day and night to finish the structural works quickly. “We commenced with the project in March 2010.

“It is being built like a normal high-rise, the core first, then the structural works, then the MEP and other trades will follow. We are trying to go as fast as we can on the structure because we want to gain time for the interiors and finishes. At the moment they are targeting a five-day cycle on the residential floors.”