Scraping the Dubai Marina sky

The contract for the 90-storey 23 marina is estimated at US $135 million.

Watch a video about 23 Marina plus see photographs from the site

When completed in June next year, it will be the world’s tallest exclusively residential tower and the only one on the Planet that can boast a total of 57 swimming pools and 62 elevators. Construction Week gets on site.

Although tall buildings are broadly accepted as an invention of the modern world, the inherent human desire to build skywards is as old as civilisation. From building huts with mere mud and water to computer aided, 3D designed pre-fabricated towers, skyscrapers have come a long way.

And agreeing vehemently was RP Ranganatha, technical director of Hircon International and developer of the 90-storey 23 Marina.

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Hircon International is a joint venture between Hiranandani Developers and ETA STAR Property Developers. Dubai Civil Engineering was awarded the main construction contract, which is estimated to be around US $135 million (AED500 million).

Jumping straight into the nuances of the project, he says, “It is about 383.5m tall and we have finished the 48th slab and the formwork is two levels above that. In terms of the finishing works we’re at different levels so it’s difficult to come up with a detailed schedule. MEP works are underway on the 37th level with flooring works having reached the ninth and tenth level. The aluminium works have reached the 17th level.”

The project seems to be going at a steady pace with the tower climbing one level every 5 days. June 10, 2010 is the set target date for completion and Ranganatha seems confident that this will be met. “I think we may even finish a little earlier,” he says.

The 23 Marina which is located in District 10 of Dubai Marina, will be the tallest exclusively residential tower in the world, but only until Tameer’s neighbouring 103-storey Princess Tower overtakes it.

But one would think that finishing “a little early” would have to be taken with a pinch of salt especially in the current tight-pursed climate. More worryingly, it could also mean a compromise on quality. But Ranganatha insists that’s not the case.

“The quality of construction is good and we’ve got a very good team managing the project,” he says. “We are very quality conscious and you can see this for yourself. We’re so confident about the build quality and timelines that we have a fortnightly construction update on our website. We believe in updating our customers at every given chance and so our defaulting rate in non existent. Of course we have people sometimes asking us if they can defer payment by a month or so and we’re fine with that.”

He also says that deliverance is good and that in the case of a delay, which is a very common occurrence, if one is sincere and transparent about the facts, and they are presented in an honest fashion, people will appreciate it and accept it.

“For example,” he continues, “when we started work on this project we had to wait for a very long time for the piling permit. The reason for this was that the Dubai government said they needed the traffic impact studies and Emaar had to provide that before we could go ahead. That set us back and we didn’t put any frills on it; we presented the truth as it was, and our customers appreciated it. Everyone appreciates and accepts the truth.”

But building a monster of a building such as the 23 Marina must be a mammoth task. To get a better idea of the work involved lets take a closer look: The tower is divided into three zones. After every 24 floors there is a leisure deck floor that includes a swimming pool, gym, sauna and a spa. There are three such decks.