Reaching new heights

CW visits Dubai Marina's Ocean Heights to find out what tasks Damac and its contractors have to tick off their to-do list, before their Q4 deadline.
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CW visits Dubai Marina’s Ocean Heights to find out what tasks Damac and its contractors have to tick off their to-do list, before their Q4 deadline.

We all know that it takes more than just bricks and mortar to construct a building that will shelter its occupants, especially in the GCC market, where every contractor is striving to create a work of art. Construction is about planning, intricate design ideas, and complicated structural work.

But, what happens when all the columns have been poured and the slabs are in place? What’s going on when structural engineers have downed tools and the concrete has dried?

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For Damac Properties, its Ocean Heights project in Dubai Marina may have been topped off, but the work is not over yet. So, what process are the contractors currently going through, which will eventually lead them to announce the building’s completion?

THEN
In August 2007 – two months after the US $175.6 million (AED645 million) main contract was awarded to Arabtec – construction of the Ocean Heights tower began. And, using the design plans from Hong Kong-based architectural design firm Aedas, and expert advice from Meinhardt, a structural consultant from Singapore, the main contractor was able to create a distinctive silhouette.

“The design of Ocean Heights is achieved by twisting the floor plate at every level to create the curved elevation,” says Damac vice president for projects Mike Wickham.

As it rises, the tower’s floor plates reduce in size, allowing the rotation to become even more pronounced.

“The structure is supported with vertical core walls and shear walls, with post tension slabs twisting on each floor to follow the curved nature of the building. Free ends of slabs are supported with composite structural columns, which incline and twist along with the floor plate.”

The curved ocean-view tower contains 77 residential floors with 608 units, ranging from one bedroom apartments to whole-floor penthouses, and there are four podium and three basement floors for car parking.

At the peak of construction, there were 30 contractors and 2000 people on site working towards the completion of structural work, and on December 23, 2009 – 23 days ahead of schedule – the building was topped off at 310m and 84 floors.

The early finish was down to good teamwork, communication and working closely to coordinate with both the lead consultant (ECG) and Arabtec, according to Wickham.

But, the completion of structural works has been no easy task: “Ocean Heights is a ‘megastructure’ by any international definition – not just in Dubai. Every day presents new and varied design and construction challenges, including environmental problems, such as 50 degree heat in the summer and occasional strong coastal winds, or logistical issues associated with transporting men, materials and equipment up and down through a 310m structure,” he says.

Damac also faced the challenge of implementing seismic provisions – a must in high rise structures.

“A key issue was the study of solutions for the anticipated building movement of a super high-rise building. Mitigation methods [were introduced], including designing the facade against wind loads, weather and noise resistance for such a super tall structure.”

And, with so many people working on site, the client and its team had to be doubly committed to on site safety. So far, over 9 million man hours have been worked on the project and there have been six LTIs during that time, equating to a lost time frequency rate of 0.6.

“Damac takes safety seriously and holds weekly inspections at all of its sites. The HSE team from the company works with contractors to promote best practice and to ensure that safety is embedded into every day working practices. There have been no fatalities during the construction of Ocean Heights” insists Wickham.