Burj Al-Arab Project Management
Dubais economy has been built off the oil industry; the majority
of the countrys wealth has come from oil since it was first
discovered in the country from the 1960s. Although the oil industry
has been booming, the oil supplies will eventually run out and
countries like Dubai are forced to find other means of making money
to keep their economy strong and to sustain life for the people of
Dubai. It has been predicted that the oil boom will be over by the
year 2016. In 1994, the crown prince of Dubai at the time Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum knew that to keep Dubais economy
going action had to be taken. His response to the economic problem
the country was facing was to turn Dubai into one of the worlds
most exclusive holiday destinations, investing the petrodollars
into tourist attractions and so the planning of the worlds most
luxurious and at the time the tallest hotel began, the Burj
Al-Arab.
Project Management
A project is a task or scheme that requires a large amount of
time, effort and planning to complete. And for every project there
has to be someone that manages it or holds everything together. The
Burj Al-Arab is not like any ordinary high rise building. Its built
300m off the coast on its own artificial island and this alone adds
complications, significant costs and time to the project. As for
any project the key factors come down to the time available for the
project, the scope of work and the cost. The outcome of these 3
factors is the quality of the project and any risks that may be
present. For the Burj Al-Arab the subject was to create something
iconic, which would be recognisable all over the world and not just
in its own country. The scope of work included construction of the
56-storey seven star hotel, interior finishes of the suites,
fit-out for the non-public areas of the hotel and the buildings
sail feature. Several features of the hotel required complex
engineering feats to achieve the final result, due to the cutting
edge design of the project. The cost was not much of an issue as
the client for the project was Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, the prince of Dubai and had access to plenty of money.
Time on the other hand was a luxury the projects team did not have.
The eyes of the world were watching this innovative buildings
construction. Something like this has not been done before. There
was a great amount of pressure to finish within a few years as the
first guests were due before the new millennium. The quality of
this of kind hotel had to be impeccable, as it is built to set the
bar for luxury at a new level. Minimal room for error means an
increase in risk. With project management in place, the correct
tools are present to keep risk at a minimum and quality at a
maximum. The Burj Al-Arab was something that had not been done
before and was something new to engineers, pushing everything they
knew about engineering to the limits. To successfully execute a
project as great as this, from start to finish requires an
extensive amount of planning before anything has been given the
go-ahead. The project management aspect of this project is the key
to success. Over-planning will lead to a waste in resources and if
under-planned the project will be under poor control leading to the
arise of major problems such as unco-ordinated construction. There
is no room for problems like this as there is little time to play
with. If one trade of the project falls out of place, this could
have a domino effect, affecting many other trades in the process
bringing the entire project to a halt. Project management has been
put in place to hold the project together, to break up the project
into smaller and much more manageable tasks which are then assigned
to the correct contractor.
The Burj Al-Arab was ventured between 3 construction companies,
Habtoor Lieghton Group, South African company Murray & Roberts
and Fletcher Construction. More companies were used to reduce the
amount of time it takes to construct the building, although it will
increase the cost. But for this project, time was much more
important than money. Each company was used for a different task of
the Burj Al-Arab. It was project managements job to assign each
company to the relevant duty. As each partner had their own
specialisation, the risks were restructured into the different
firms that were suitable for the requirements of the task. Risks
that the project manager had to take into consideration when
consulting with different firms are: Labour supply Concreting
Structural steel resources Assembly High rise building management
experience Acquiring materials Cost control Staff managementThe
following tasks were set to the companies below as they were best
suited to the requirements of the task: Habtoor Leighton Group: To
provide the project with the labour required for the quality of the
concrete and block work. Murray and Roberts: To provide expertise
for the detailing, production, freight and assembly of the
structural steel. This was also subcontracted to a firm owned by
Murray and Roberts to reduce any financial risks; Genrec Steel
Fabricators based in South Africa.Fletcher: Fletcher was well known
for experience in the high-rise management and planning profession.
This firm was to supply all the planning and management need to
complete the complete from beginning to end. Project management
consulted with the following companies/professions/roles during the
period of the project: DSE Engineering Group - Mechanical,
Electrical and Plumbing Designs Speirs and Major Associates -
Exterior Electrical Designs Habtoor Leighton Group - Construction
Murray and Roberts Construction Head Architect Tom Wright Head
Aerodynamicist Volker Buttgeret Head Structural Engineer Anthony
McCarter Head Interior Designer Khuan Chew from KCA
InternationalThe plan of forming a joint venture was undeniably the
companies greatest idea for the success of the project. Throughout
the creativity of innovative thinking, companies used their own
specialties in conjunction with the use of value engineering,
constructability, planning and preplanning that included all
members of the group helped to keep cost down as well as keep up
with the schedule that was set by the owner to finally complete an
astounding iconic figure, recognized by the entire world.
Project Management: The Burj Al-Arab References1. Author
unknown, 2000, Arab Tower sports internal FRP cladding, Reinforced
plastics, vol.44, no.6, pp.7-7, retrieved 2 April 2012, 2. Taranath
S., B 2010, Reinforced concrete design of tall buildings, Boca
Raton, retrieved 4 April 2012, 3. Brebbia C. A., Hernandez, S 2007,
The Art of Resisting Extreme Natural Forces, SOUTHAMPTON : WIT
Press, 28 March 2012,
4. Author unknown, year unknown, 5. Author unknown, year
unknown, 6. Tenos, 2004. Burj Al Arab (Arabian Tower Hotel) Dubai.
Retrieved 5 April 2012,
