|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES: The 10 greatest engineering feats of the decade | Six of the best: projects to keep an eye on | In Pictures: The Seven Wonders of the Modern World
World’s largest manmade island
Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE
While it may be the smallest of the three Palm islands planned for Dubai’s coastline, it remains the only one developed so retains the title it snatched in 2007 when the final breakwater stone was laid.
It’s not that small either. The island stretches 5km in to the sea, it’s 5km wide and the crescent that surrounds the 16 fronds is 11km long, from tip to tip. It covers 560 hectares, making it the biggest man-made island in the world.
It remains one of the most exclusive tracts of land in Dubai and is home to one of the most ambitious hotel resorts ever constructed, the Atlantis, The Palm.
Making the island was no small construction feat and the sheer volume of material required to establish the ornate landmark is enough to cause any quantity surveyor’s calculator to haemorrhage zeros.
 |
More than 1 billion cubic metres of sand and 7 million tons of rock were used to create the Palm, and 10 dredging rigs worked around the clock for two years to create the trunk, fronds and 11km crescent surrounding the development. Developer Nakheel says the material used to create the Palm is enough to build a two metre high, half metre wide wall that could wrap around the world three times.
Main land reclaimation contractor Van Oord built the breakwater and the fronds simultaneously, a complex operation because the fronds were subject to erosion while the breakwater was unfinished. The beaches on the fronds were constructed so that they followed an exact, predetermined slope.
Creating the island was just the first step, and even now, work continues on building and developing the Palm. There was no shortage of initial interest in the first phase properties: each of the 4,000 properties announced sold within 72 hours of the initial sales release.
Nakheel envisages it will take another five years for Palm Jumeirah to be brought to full fruition, with more hotels, luxury villas and exclusive developments under construction on the crescent.
Nakheel’s two other larger Palm projects, the Palm Jebel Ali (land reclamation works completed) and Palm Deira are considered longer term developments that the company will focus on at a later date.
Statistics
Development: The Palm Jumeirah
Location: Dubai
Work started: August 2001*
Completed: October 2003*
Developer: Nakheel
Main contractor: Van Oord
Designer: Nakheel
Cost: $12b
Size: 560 hectares
Nearest rival: Palm Jebel Ali, under construction.
Fast facts
1 billion -- Amount, in cubic metres, of sand used to construct the Palm Jumeirah
11km -- Length, from tip to tip, of the crescent
72 hours -- Time in which initial 4000 properties sold on the development
| Articles | |
| Companies | |
 |
Site Map
 |
 |
 |
 |
|  |
\
FEATURED COMMENT
2 World Record Projects completed by my company Al Habtoor Engineering. Congratulations!