Façade work is progressing apace on the striking diamond facet-inspired Uptown Tower at the heart of Uptown Dubai District, which is being developed by Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC),  the Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise, and master developer of Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) in the emirate.

The 340-m Uptown Tower, set in the DMCC free zone, is an integrated mixed-use development that offers world-class amenities, dining options, retail outlets, multi-purpose conference spaces, event facilities, and a broad range of other innovative business and lifestyle offerings, a spokesman of DMCC tells Gulf Construction’s Bina Goveas.

The first super-tall tower in Uptown Dubai district, the building will feature premium Grade A offices complemented by the elegant five-star SO/Uptown Dubai Hotel and exquisite branded residences. The office component will be across 22 floors with a highly efficient floor plate ranging from 14,096 sq ft to 22,113 sq ft.

Uptown Tower ... supertall tower from concept to completion.

Elaborating on the progress of work on Uptown Tower, he says:  “In terms of the overall superstructure, the last concrete pour to level 79 was completed in January 2022, concluding the supply of over 23,000 trucks of concrete to the site.

“The glass façade of the building is now completed to level 75 and a total of 7,800 of the 8,500 façade panels have been installed on the building.

“Mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works to the 22 office floors are largely completed and are now progressing throughout the hotel and branded residence sections of the building. The energisation of the building and the provision of chilled water to cool the building will also be completed over the coming weeks. Fit-out activities are proceeding at pace to the 188 hotel rooms and the 229 branded residence apartments.”

Also, the building will be served by 27 lifts, installation of which is nearing completion, he adds.

The spokesman points out human resources dedicated to the project exceeds 3,000 people over a 24-hour period, which equates to a total of 15-million-man hours worked on the project so far.  One of DMCC’s highest priorities was ensuring the health and wellbeing of the teams working on Uptown Tower.

“Thanks to our broad range of health, safety and wellbeing initiatives, no loss time due to injury has occurred during the 15-million-man hours worked – which is major achievement on the project,” he remarks.

The superstructure is a conventionally reinforced concrete structure with an inner core, peripheral concrete columns, and a post-tensioned concrete slab.

Design

Building on the success and growth of JLT, and with the aim of creating a unique commercial, residential and tourist destination, DMCC partnered with WATG – the world’s leading destination creation consultancy – in appointing Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG), which is  well-known for the supertall skyscrapers it has designed, as architect for Uptown Dubai and Uptown Tower.

AS+GG is renowned for designing high-performance, energy-efficient architectural marvels, especially supertall skyscrapers that encompass sustainable development philosophies, the spokesman adds.

“AS+GG has designed Uptown Tower to embody the best of 21st century Dubai and its landmark district Uptown Dubai.

The design of Uptown Tower is inspired by the facets of a diamond, which represents the core role that the commodities sector has played in the development of Dubai. The design reaffirms DMCC’s commitment to establishing Dubai as the global gateway for trade,” he states.

The Dubai branch of Belgian infrastructure group Besix is responsible for the detailed engineering and construction of the skyscraper, and works are being carried out under the supervisory management of Turner International Middle East, with WSP and Woods Bagot as structural/technical and architectural consultants, respectively.

Uptown Tower will feature premium Grade A offices complemented by the elegant five-star SO/Uptown Dubai Hotel and exquisite branded residences.

Work on schedule

According to the spokesman, the project is planned for completion later this year. Construction activities proceeded in a safe manner during the Covid pandemic, reaching floor cycles of three to four days per floor during the midst of construction, which was also a significant achievement that enabled work to stay on schedule.

The building is supported by more than 280 concrete foundation piles up to 1.5 m in diameter and some reaching depths of over 50 m. The foundation also comprises a 4-m-thick concrete raft, which was constructed with 12,000 cu m of concrete poured by more than 2,000 trucks over a 36-hour period.

The superstructure is a conventionally reinforced concrete structure with an inner core, peripheral concrete columns, and a post-tensioned concrete slab.  It was constructed predominantly by using self-climbing formwork systems. The cranage, concrete pumps, external safety screens, and the central core wall were all lifted automatically and hydraulically during the construction sequencing. This led to efficiency throughout floor slab sequencing times and removed valuable demand time on the cranes.

“Floor-to-floor cycle times of four days were consistently achieved throughout the higher levels of the structure and the team managed to reduce the floor cycle time to three-day floor cycles on a number of occasions,” the official points out.

The façade comprises a unitised curtain-wall system with more than 8,500 panels, all of which have been designed to meet stringent specification requirements in relation to air- and water-tightness, acoustic performance, thermal insulation, light transmittance, and solar heat gain factors.

MEP works to the 22 office floors are largely completed and are now progressing throughout the hotel and branded residence sections of the building.

According to him, a major success in the project delivery process was the installation of one floor of glass in two days. “To put this into context, a single floor has in excess of 130 panels of glass to be installed and glass installation followed the completion of the structure four floors below the active construction slab,” the spokesman elaborates.

This apart, Uptown Tower is the first supertall building in the world to use robotics for the installation of the lift systems.

“This is something we are incredibly proud of as utilising the latest technology to increase efficiencies is a core philosophy of DMCC,” he stresses.

Technology played a major part in the project delivery: 3D BIM modelling allowed the project team to work collaboratively and efficiently throughout the design process. Booking systems for deliveries and the management of supply chain deliveries were all completed through online applications. A system of monitoring the exact location of the large workforce on the 79-storey building was also rolled out in the form of Wake-cap. In the unlikely situation of an emergency, the project team would be able to see exactly where each and every individual worker was located on a floor and deploy rescue teams to that location if required, he explains.

Challenges

Elaborating on the challenges of the project, the spokesman says: “Building a supertall tower of this height throws up many challenges in terms of ensuring the health and safety of personnel, managing site logistics with over 3,000 people on site, the constant supply of materials, which were sourced both locally and internationally, the schedule management on a day-to-day basis ensuring thousands of construction activities are completed, as well as the challenge of the climate conditions whilst building during the summer months.

“Despite these challenges, the project team also successfully managed the delivery of Uptown Tower during a pandemic, which in itself shows the team’s initiative to adopt and overcome obstacles and ensure works proceeded without delay. This approach was rewarded when the project received an International Safety Award for the exceptional standard that the teams upheld for the wellbeing of the workforce,” he concludes.