Torch Tower sets record in face of permit delays

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Construction continues following the raft pour, which saw 1,375 mixers and 11 pumps used during the record attempt.

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Workers prepare for the next basement concrete pour.

If further evidence is needed of the pace of construction in Dubai, look no further than Torch Tower, which is currently being built in Dubai Marina. Within a period of 12 months, the high-rise, which was originally designed to be the tallest building in the Marina, has now been overtaken in height by 23 Marina, Princess Tower and Marina 101.

The US $118 million (AED432 million) project, which is 352m high, 86 storeys and located adjacent to the Princess Tower and Crown Tower, started piling in February 2006 with German contractor Züblin carrying out the works. Dubai Select is the developer, National Engineering Bureau (NEB) is the consultant and Dubai Civil Engineering (DCE) is the main contractor.

David Mullen, development manager, Dubai Select, explains that the project was subject to a lengthy delay as it waited for its building permit before it could proceed. "We applied for the building permit as soon as we received the piling permit, which was back in February 2006, but we did not receive it [the building permit] for almost a year." It was eventually received in December. Mullen believes this delay stems from Dubai Municipality being wary of the multitude of high-rise towers requiring permits and a keenness to avoid any high-profile structural failings.

But Mullen and Elias Fakhoury, project manager, DCE, agree that the system for building permits could do with greater transparency as it currently appears to be ‘hit and miss'.

"There are no key performance indicators involved, you just have to hope the plans are acceptable and passed, and that their [DM's] engineers verify the design," says Mullen.

"If you look at it realistically, Dubai is just like anywhere else in the world and it is learning. And DM has to establish that whatever gets built stands the test of time and adds value to the city. I imagine that once all these towers come on-stream, the process will speed up, but at the moment it is a learning curve. If it was England or Hong Kong, getting a building permit would certainly never take a year. A few months maybe," adds Mullen.

"If you look at it on a global scale, everyone is struggling for limited resources. It is the same with DM, there are only so many people who can look at the drawings, know what they are looking at and make the decisions. Training is required to get people up to speed."

This delay has not seen the site stand idle, however, as DCE was able to prepare the site for construction, up to a point, ensuring the piling was in order and mobilisation could begin. This entailed reducing the site down to the cut-off level for the piles.

"Essentially the top two metres of pile is considered no good. Once you have dropped the concrete in and it settles, the top section is not as compact, so it is cut off," says Mullen.

Excavation work on the site was complicated further by a change to the lift pit design. Originally, this was designed to be three metres deep, but it was decided that due to the height of the tower and the subsequent speed of the elevators (6m/s), the lift pit was doubled to six metres in depth.

When Construction Week visited the site, the raft was complete and casting of the basement slabs was taking place. "By this week we will have cast a portion of the second base slab," says Fakhoury.

The project's early construction phase was significant in a number of ways, most notably for achieving the quickest concrete pour in Dubai, for the raft slab. Eleven thousand cubic metres of concrete was poured in just over 28 hours, using 1,375 mixers to dump the concrete using 11 pumps. In comparison, an almost equivalent pour of 12,000m³, took 47 hours on another recent high-rise project in the city.

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