The Burj Dubai - a tower too far?



For the last couple of years I have been following the progress of a new building being constructed in Dubai, a coastal city of the United Arab Emirates. The Burj Dubai (Burj means tower in Arabic) is intended to become the world's tallest building, and by a considerable margin. As you can see, by comparison with the world's other tallest buildings, the Burj Dubai stands head and shoulders above them. The proposed completed height of the building is a close-kept secret, but it has been rumoured to become even taller than the 800 metres quoted on the graph, perhaps up to 940 metres. Construction started in 2005, and was due to be completed at the end of 2008. Initially, the structure had risen by one floor a week, but as the project proceeds, and the building narrows, this rate of height increase will become three stories a week. Most conveniently you can read about the project in Wikipedia, but this site is the best one for following the progress of the project. This project is just one of an awesome construction boom, although frenzy comes to mind as a more appropriate word, in Dubai. As you can see from the other photos, large numbers of other high rise buildings are being constructed, and it is estimated that about 20% of all the world's tower cranes are presently working in Dubai. Considering that China is going through a massive building boom, and that China's population is about 400 times bigger than Dubai's, it means either China is missing out, or perhaps Dubai has more than it's fair share. I strongly suspect the latter. However, others are more sanguine. (Link 1) (Link 2)There is something bordering on the terminally desperate on the rate of construction in this dusty, searing desert town. In addition to the monstrous towers, are several completely artificial islands, visible from outer space, one looking like a palm tree and another like a map of the world. Many of the photos taken of the Burj Dubai construction show an immense construction site almost disappearing behind a dusty mist rising from the arid ground. There may indeed be blue skies above but on the ground the sun seems to have some difficulty getting through the haze. Average high temperatures in the summer months approach 40 deg C, even the sea touches 40 deg C. There doesn't seem to be much rain to wash away the dust.

The fuel for this massive investment in what until recently was a small Gulf fishing village, is of course oil. The recent large increases in the value of oil have increased the Emirates coffers substantially. But the fact is that the Emirates oil reserves are not infinite - which is of course one of the reasons for the UAE's rush to diversification, another economic base is needed before the oil runs out. The aim is to attract some 15 million yearly visitors by 2010, up from about 5 million in 2003. (Link)

But it is not all plain sailing. There has been much (justifiable) critcism of the use of foreign guest workers, some half-million of them, who suffer from extremely low wages, indebtedness to employment agencies, work very long hours and in dangerous conditions. This month there was a fire in one of the many other towers presently being constructed in Dubai and four workers died. Last year there was an on-site riot by workers at the Burj Dubai protesting on their conditions of employment. (Link)

The Burj Dubai has risen to over 100 stories. But when you look at the half-constructed building, it is surprising that no cladding has yet been installed. The concrete skeleton remains bare. Apparently the Swiss company that had been contracted to provide the cladding has gone defunct. New cladding has still to be formally tested. This is going to postpone the completion date, by an unspecified time. Also recently cracks (Link) have been found in part of the massive foundations of this tower; engineering consultants are examing this problem and, according to the article, they have painted the concrete with white paint to check on this, a rather low-tech solution to what I would have thought was a high-tech problem, an 800 metre high-tech problem in fact. Perhaps it's because Arabs have a long tradition of whitewashing their buildings.

The problem is that what is happening in Dubai has all the appearances of a classic economic bubble, and at some time, it will pop. And the cause of the popping? The same thing that caused the boom in the first place. The oil that fills the coffers of the UAE, and is becoming more valuable by the year, is the same oil that others, in getting into their airplanes, will having to be paying a great deal more for, for the privilege of getting to Dubai in the year 2010, and filling their cars, and getting to work, and heating their homes. Isn't it just possible that a trip to Dubai might be a bit lower on these fiteen million people's list of priorities than keeping warm in their homes, or continuing their gainful employment?

Peak oil, written about elsewhere, will affect many tourist areas badly, particularly those relying on people flying long distances. In addition, if global warming does get the attention from the international community that it truly demands, increasing taxes on aviation fuel and a break on airport development may further contribute to a slowing increase or actual reduction in the amount of flying. The world is likely to become a much bigger place again, it will, thank goodness, never be a few artificial islands moored off a dusty beach, and the first few cracks in the basement of Burj Dubai may become a metaphor for something rather larger in our global economy.


Addendum - 6th April 2009 - an article in the Toronto Star about the Burj Dubai and about the construction frenzy there. "How not to build a city" is the title, it seems apt. The city has been constucted on the economic and environmental assumption of the Twentieth Century, they will not be sufficient to ensure the survival of this city in the desert. The writer points to the slightly clichéed comparison with Percy Bysse Shelleys famous sonnet, Ozymandias. But again it is apt. Another large city to which this might apply is Las Vegas.