The GCC should keep high-rise designs simple(r)

The Middle East’s penchant for scraping the sky is well known. The UAE is currently home to the world’s tallest man-made structure in the form of Burj Khalifa. Not content with this accolade, the developer recently announced plans to break its own record with a $1bn tower for Dubai Creek Harbour – a structure that will be a “notch taller” than its counterpart.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is looking to one-up its neighbor with the construction of Jeddah Tower. The height of the structure, which was known until recently as Kingdom Tower, is set to top 1km.

Even when it comes to Gulf-located developments that aren’t likely to grace the pages of Guinness World Records anytime soon, loftiness is still prevalent. To provide context, according to data released by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), 106 structures with heights of 200m or above were completed globally in 2015. The Middle East region accounted for almost a tenth of this number with nine completions, and 2015 wasn’t even a busy year. On the contrary, it was the first time since 2009 that the region had fewer than 10 200m-plus towers in CTBUH’s annual list.

With this in mind, one would expect the Middle East’s high-rise design community to be second to none; and in most respects, it is. However, some engineers feel there is a tendency within the region to over-design skyscrapers – a trend that can result in the wastage of both time and money.

A selection of professionals who have worked on some of the region’s most famous tower projects outline the trials and tribulations of building upwards in the Middle East. Whilst several experts concede that over-design usually stems from the laudable prioritisation of safety, they point out that the level of expertise within the region’s engineering community is sufficient to accommodate both a healthy level of caution and increased efficiency.

It’s not uncommon, for example, to encounter over-design at the foundations stage. In the pursuit of safety, designs sometimes stipulate reinforcements deemed excessive by engineers. And don’t forget, this isn’t a matter of opinion; innovators within the market are constantly devising new, evidence-based methods of boosting efficiency without compromising on safety. Whether you’re talking about new variants of concrete or novel methods of ground improvement, high-rise designers have an ever-expanding toolbox that – over time – is rendering some historic safeguards obsolete.

What’s more, this is the perfect time to embrace these tools. In the current economic climate, the Middle East’s construction sector can ill afford to tolerate inefficiency.

In truth, the region’s high-rise community is never going to settle for ‘simple’. This concept doesn’t necessarily sit well with the level of vertical ambition that exists in the Middle East. Even so, trusting in innovation and keeping things a little simpler could significantly benefit our industry.

GPMC International, founded with solid experience on high-rise towers, is supporting to make the high rise designs simpler to have the most cost effective design and reduce the time of construction which will allow early cash income upon completion. GPMC International General Manager added that "Especially the complicated foundation designs and the iconic top level roof structures are creating huge time loses which is affecting the overall project delivery schedule in most cases. We can't avoid building high rise structures in Middle East or in any part of the world, but can at least try to make more efficient designs having similar visual effects."