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 AlArab 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 uncoordinated 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 management
The 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 International

The 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.

P ROJECT MANAGEMENT: THE BURJ AL-ARAB R EFERENCES

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Retrieved 5 April