NDY works on Dubai's Nakheel Tower, eyes Abu Dhabi and Qatar

Norman Disney and Young (NDY) is expanding its presence in Dubai, according to its director.

"We are expanding our presence in Dubai," said Dennis O'Brien, Director and Deputy CEO, NDY. "We also think Abu Dhabi offers great opportunities and Doha looks promising."

NDY will provide mechanical, electrical, fire and hydraulic services for the kilometre-high Nakheel Tower, a vertical city, which will have more than 200 floors, 150 lifts and lead the way in sustainable design. "This building will be a challenge for any firm," he said in an exclusive interview with Emirates Business.

The tower is part of the Nakheel Harbour and Tower development in Dubai, which will cover an area of 2.7km and be built alongside the proposed Arabian Canal.

"The project is still in the preliminary design stage and detailed design is on the way," he said. "It is interesting to get involved in a job that has challenges. We negotiated the contract in an agreement with Nakheel. We are right now in the designing phase and have 14 people here on board with seven in Australia."

There are varied challenges to working with tall buildings, he said. "While it is still early days, there are serious issues to be addressed to make people safe in a kilometre high tower, which involves strategies involving centres in the building to manage critical situations should those occur and to provide areas where people are safe."

When it will be finally built, the Nakheel Tower will feature more than 50 lifts. "We plan to use lifts to evacuate people should a fire occur since it is impractical for people to walk down that far," he said. "There are tall buildings that use lifts in case of fire. Here it is a matter of designing lifts and support systems to make that a safe procedure." Two to three people from NDY will be doing the peer review for the lifts that will be used in the Nakheel Tall Tower. The lifts are being designed by another consultant, he added.

There are other challenges like the UAE climatic conditions. "We are dealing with a severe climate in UAE. That challenges include the air-conditioning system capacities and transformers and switchboards, which we would like to operate in an energy-efficient way," he said.

Other issues will include pumping water up the building. "We have to pump up water a long way. You cannot have all that pressure sitting down through the building since there is no equipment at the bottom of the building that can withstand all that pressure," he said. "Hence you need to have a break in the stages and pump in various stages up the building. But each time we go from one stage to another, the water will get a bit warmer. Yet from the chilled water angle, we need it cold. So on the one hand, to reduce the pressure, we have need to have as many stages as possible. And on the other hand, to keep the water cold, we need to have as few stages as possible," he explained.

The solution is to find a compromise between the two. "And it is doable. It will be possible to provide chillers halfway up the building but that is one of the options that we have on hand," O'Brien said.

The building is also environmentally sensitive and planning for a number of systems that reduce energy and water. "It is still early but there is a serious commitment from Nakheel on the environmental side," he said. "We will store and re-use water as much as possible. It will be treated within or outside the building."

As for the electrical issues, every detail is being looked into, he said. "It is almost a vertical district. So it needs to be done in high voltage power and will feature major sub-stations located through the tower of the building. This is not unique but is very unusual in this part of the world. We are also looking at how it can be done with back-up supplies in case a section falls over. The entire strategy is being worked through so supply will remain continuous."

O'Brien sees opportunity in the region, despite the global slowdown. "There is a slowdown and we cannot be isolated from it in the Middle East. But this will remain a stronger market than anywhere else in the world and there are still opportunities for us," he said.

Currently, Al-Habtoor Leighton, Murray and Roberts and Al Naboodah Laing O'Rourke are among the contractors, which have bid for the pre-construction phase of work on the project, according to reports.

When contacted for more details, Nakheel had no further updates. Recently, Nakheel CEO Chris O'Donnell had said funding for the $38.12bn project will be secured by the sale of land around the tower.

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