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RELATED ARTICLES: Tiger Steel awarded Elite Residence contract | Elite Residence Tower on track for 2011 completion | ACC to build Elite
“Post-tension concrete slabs are leaner so your building gets lighter and you need less traditional reinforcement,” explains Zwets.
“This reduces the mass of the building, and means you can construct faster because the slabs require less steel and less steel fixing, therefore less action by the workforce, so there is a reduction in time as well as costs.
“It is also means the floors are lower and around 5cm thinner than traditional concrete, which makes quite a difference when you’re building a 91-storey tower, with 5m less to build to achieve the same number of floors.”
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Time and efficiency certainly seem to be of the essence with the completion date little more than 12 months away. “The structure is reinforced steel because this is more efficient for the vertical structure, but the floor slabs will rely on post-tension reinforcement as it carries the load better,” adds Parker.
Efficiency seems to be important for Tameer both in terms of the construction of the building and its long-term operation. Though they maintain that “Tameer’s objective is to be a developer and not an asset manager,” executives at the firm are keen to emphasise their consideration for the building’s long-term maintenance.
According to Zwets, an example of this was when they employed an internal facilities management team to carry out a comprehensive service review at the beginning of the project, which meant that managers were able to rule out any concerns over how the building would be managed and operated efficiently in the long term.
IN PICTURES: Elite Residence site visit
To encourage environmentally-friendly living, Tameer has also installed a central chilled water system on site for the air conditioning of the building (with a view to reducing energy costs).
This system will be in addition to relying on a high-tech cladding system that will maximise insulation.
“The cladding system consists of unitised panels which are manufactured in the quality-controlled factory situation and then installed on site as complete panels,” says Ingram. “This provides excellent thermal insulation and acoustic properties, as well as minimising the amount of work on site.”
As it stands there is a significant amount of work currently taking place at Elite, all the major contracts having been awarded to subcontractors and as many as 1,400 workers on site at any one time. As the tower grows in height, Tameer expects an increase in man power, with a peak of around 2,400 workers as the project draws closer to completion.
Thus, the only outstanding concern is how a 697-capacity residential building will manage to fill its units in the context of Dubai’s housing surplus. Zwets is quick to answer.
“The easiest thing to say is that this building was designed and started a few years ago before the recession. To date we are 95% sold out.” he says.
Perhaps then, there is room for more residential projects after all? Maybe another Elite-themed tower – continuing the brand name? “It’s an idea,” he says, “but not something we’ll be doing right now. I don’t know if the market is ready for new buildings at the moment. Like all developers in the region, and probably across the world, Tameer is focusing on delivering its existing projects, rather than starting new ones.”
Elite Residences key contractors
Main contractor: Arabian Construction Company
Design, architect and lead consultant: Adnan Saffarini Design
MEP works: Reliance Electro-Mechanical Contracting (REMCO)
Foundations and piling: Zemin Teknolojisi A.S. Foundation Technology
Elevators: Kone
HVAC systems: UTS Carrier
Cladding and aluminium: Cladtech
Concrete: Universal Concrete Products
Safety products: Combisafe
Formwork: Grocon Lubeca Systems
Formwork: Doka Gulf
Steel: Cicon
Post-tensioning steel: Freyssinet
Fabricated steel: Tiger Steel
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