MORE than 90 per cent of the curtain-walling and 60 per cent of the interior fit-out works have been completed on Ocean Heights, an iconic twisting tower, located at the entrance to Dubai Marina on Dubai’s Al Sufouh Road.

The Dh645 million ($175.75 million) project, one of Damac Properties’ flagship developments, is scheduled for completion in the last quarter of this year.
The tower offers 600 one, two and three-bedroom apartments in addition to some signature series luxury penthouse apartments with stunning views across the Dubai Marina and The Palm.

The 310-m tower, which offers a built-up area of 1.25 million sq ft, sits on a 37,410-sq-ft plot that is ideally situated for metro links and the shops and facilities of the marina. The building will have a communal outdoor leisure deck with a pool plus gymnasium and sauna/steam room. Parking will be provided on four podium floors and within three basement levels.
The project is being developed in two phases – the initial enabling, shoring and piling works, followed by the construction and fit-out of the superstructure. The tower was structurally complete almost a month ahead of schedule and was topped off at level 84 last December.

A total of 69,775 cu m of concrete, 16,859 tonnes of steel and 35,600 sq m of glazing and 73,080 sq m of block work is being utilised in the construction of the project, on which Arabtec is the main contractor and ECG is the lead consultant.
Commenting on the construction of the building, Damac Properties’ general manager Ziad El Chaar says: “The building is supported by piled foundations driven approximately 40 m below ground. It is a framed in-situ concrete structure with core walls and shear walls that form the backbone of the structure to withstand lateral forces induced by wind and earthquakes. Wind is the main governing factor in the structural design. Floor slabs are post-tensioned and together with coupling beams, provide lateral support to the core walls and shear walls. The floor plate at each level successively twists to form the twisted elevation of the building.

“The core wall is constructed with a sliding slipform system and shear walls and slabs are shaped with a conventional formwork system from Peri (Germany). C80 grade concrete is used for the core and shear walls and C40 for slabs, with very stringent durability requirements. The floors were completed in a five-day cycle and the structure was finished 23 days ahead of schedule.”
“The superstructure is clad with structural-grade glass and aluminium composite panels, comprising a combination of the stick and unitised systems, again designed to withstand the wind forces. The glass specified is heat resistant to optimise the air-conditioning system and thus save the load on the environment. All internal finishes are premium quality such as marble in select areas, porcelain tiles, branded sanitary ware and wiring accessories and spa baths in the master bedroom suite.”
Finishings for the project include premium-quality Italian marble flooring in the entrance, fully tiled/leather and wallpaper-clad lobbies and corridors, spas and treatment rooms for men and women with a lounge/banquet hall adjacent to the health club. There is a temperature-controlled swimming pool, Jacuzzi and barbecue with outdoor leisure areas on top of the podium.
Three chillers of 16 tons each were installed in the basement during construction. The building has five service floors for the mechanical and electrical services and 4,000 fire alarm points.
On some of the safety and security systems incorporated in the project, Chaar says: “The building will be provided with an analogue addressable fire detection and alarm system, which will work in parallel with a voice evacuation system to permit phased evacuation control of the building. It will be protected by a combination of wet sprinklers and standpipe (fire hose reel) systems. Fire extinguishers will be provided throughout, including in each apartment. A central battery emergency lighting system is provided in the building to guide occupants to the nearest exit in case of emergency.

“All systems will be linked to the BMS (building management system) to monitor and identify the location of any incident – this is, in turn, linked to the round-the-clock remote monitoring system of the Dubai Civil Defence. All fire alarm and fire-fighting systems will work on a standby generator in case of power failure. Colour CCTV system is provided in all public and staff entrances.”
The project is one among several developments that Damac Properties is currently spearheading in the region. Part of the Damac Holdings, the private residential, leisure and commercial developer was set up in 2002 and has since expanded rapidly into North Africa, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. It has a total of 11,313 units under construction across the region and plans to hand over more than 3,000 units this year. Other projects that it is currently developing in Dubai include the Park Towers and Emirates Gardens.

Park Towers
Structural work has been completed on the Dh600 million ($163.49 million) Park Towers, located on a 110,000-sq-ft site at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), says Damac Properties.
Envelope works are going on and fit-out is running in parallel with the project, which is scheduled for completion later this year, says El Chaar.
Park Towers – the concept of which was prepared by the US-based Gensler – comprises 46-storey twin towers with a curved glass façade, offering more than 500 exquisitely-designed apartments with views of the growing and maturing DIFC landscape.
Sharpoorji Pallonji is the main contractor on this mixed-use development, which comprises state-of-the-art offices and residential units with high-end designs.

The towers, with a built-up area of 1.7 million sq ft, will also feature three levels of distinctive retail and seven levels of offices.
In addition, the building will be linked at strategic points with the surrounding DIFC environment, including at the ground floor retail premises and also at the leisure deck top to create more open walkways and green areas for residents.
 “The towers sit on a piled raft foundation with a post-tensioned solution for the floors; the cladding is a bespoke system designed to meet the demands of the curve of the building in plan and the elevational taper of the towers.
“Public areas have been designed by Damac’s in-house interior design team and include a range of high-quality marble and granite finishes in the four reception areas.

“Residents will enjoy access to two separate landscaped decks, one with a tennis court and the other in a lower area with a temperature-controlled swimming pool, barbecue areas, children’s pool and play areas, all set amongst exclusively-designed landscape.
“Our retail offering will be high end with porcelain, fused glass, timber and water features creating an exclusive environment,” he says.
Commenting on project challenges, Chaar says: “The project presented challenges in the completion of the structure due to the geometry of the building but Sharpoorji Pallonji managed to achieve a five-day floor cycle once they got into their stride. The cladding system is particularly challenging due to the fact that each panel is different on the entire façade. Arabian Aluminium, which worked on the Burj Khalifa, rose to this challenge and the work is progressing well.”
Safety and security systems incorporated in the project includes fire alarms, full sprinklers, wide escape stairs, safety lighting, emergency back-up to key systems, links with the civil defence for fire alarms, CCTV cameras and a control centre manned round the clock.
Some 80,000 cu m of concrete, 15,000 tonnes of steel, 350,000 sq ft of curtain-walling, 1.2 million sq ft of block work and 1 million sq ft tiling has gone into the construction of this DIFC landmark. 
Emirates Gardens
Meanwhile, construction work on the Dh194 million ($52.86 million) Emirates Gardens One project has been completed with handover due to commence shortly, according to Damac Properties. Located in Jumeirah Village South, the project comprises a low-rise Mediterranean-style complex with an Arab influence consisting of three buildings – Rose, Lavender and Gardenia.
Work on each of the buildings was planned in parallel so as to achieve one final completion date and the development of each phase has been undertaken separately in terms of manpower resources, material management and construction plant and equipment to meet the final timeline.
The project has a basement, a ground and four typical floors with landscaping, a kids’ play area and a fountain at roof level. Each floor of the buildings encompasses 25 to 30 residential units, making up a total of 539 residential and 31 retails spaces.
Rose, located on a 6,036-sq-m plot, comprises 60 studios, 93 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom apartments and space for nine retail outlets on the ground floor.
Lavender sits on a 5,436-sq-m plot and offers 73 studios, 98 one-bedroom and eight two-bedroom apartments as well as 11 retail outlets while Gardenia – built on a plot covering 6,059 sq m – has 85 studios, 98 one-bedroom and 14 two-bedroom apartments and 12 retail outlets.
 “The foundation of the building was designed with a raft slab and columns/retaining wall to support the framed structure, with post-tensioned slab in typical floors. The concrete specified was 40N/sq mm,” says Chaar.
Externally, the project features a Mediterranean style with a combination of texture paint and natural limestone cladding. Other finishes include premium-quality porcelain tile in the entrance lobby with emulsion paint on the walls of the reception areas.
Commenting on the safety and security features, he says: “All construction is closely monitored to ensure that designs meet the safety standards set by the master developer (Nakheel) and the Civil Defence. Consequently, the risk of a major fire or other disasters is minimal. The main staircases and doors are all fire rated. In a case of a fire alarm, the electronic system will indicate the zone, or point of sensor activation.”
Intermass was the main contractor and Conin the consultant on the project.

Market
Commenting on the market, Damac Holding senior vice-president Niall McLoughlin tells Gulf Construction: “As the global economy is reviving itself, a gradual corresponding change is noted in the UAE real estate sector. Nothing will happen overnight, it is a slow recovery on the back of the evolving regulations and practices, leading to a new era of real estate in the UAE.”
“Property today is a mid to long-term market. The consumer is cautious and making thought-through intelligent decisions. Location, developer credibility and stage of development are extremely critical in their purchase decision,” he points out.
The market slowdown has had its detrimental effects across many sectors in the economy and Damac has not escaped its impact, he says. McLoughlin believes that delivery is key to drive today’s market towards recovery and in line with this, the firm has re-aligned its business plan and its focus is delivery and construction.
He elaborates: “Our recovery programme has been our strength during these tough times. It has given both the consumer and us a new opportunity. Giving the investors a chance to swap their off-plan property for a ready or semi-finished one (mostly 40 to 60 per cent complete) allows them to start renting out the unit or to live in the unit earlier and allows them to trade the unit in the market as the off-plan market is slow these days. In return, it has also given us the opportunity to focus on building projects that we have already started and bring them to market as early as possible.
“As a successful company, we are always adjusting our business plans and monitoring our performance in relation to changing market conditions and circumstances. In line with the recent developments, we have aligned our objectives and have remained focused on construction and delivery of our projects. We are continuing to build projects that we have already started and have reviewed our timetable accordingly. We have not cancelled any projects. We are also continually monitoring market conditions in various countries within which we operate and are planning and reacting accordingly. In addition, we are ensuring that our commitment to our customers is not in question and are communicating our plans with them at every stage.
“We have already delivered more than 3,000 units into the market and during this year we aim to handover six projects to our customers.”
Damac Properties has already delivered units at IMPZ (The Crescent), Tecom (Executive Heights), JLT (Lake View and Lake Terrace) and the Marina (The Waves and Marina Terrace).
Among those to be handed over are two phases of the company’s Emirates Gardens development and Tuscan Residences at Jumeirah Village South, Lago Vista at IMPZ, XL Tower and Business Tower at Business Bay and Smart Heights at Tecom. By the end of this year, Damac will have delivered 7,100 units into the market, he adds.