Construction of the Kingdom Tower - Essay Example

The Kingdom Tower So far, the tallest building in the world is Burj Khalifa, a 173-meter building. Despite, this, construction is underway for what will be considered the tallest building in the world, with new technology, facing vast challenges in design and construction materials, as well as quality control. The Kingdom Tower of Saudi Arabia stands to hit the 1000-meter height, a dream too, and has never been in the world (ConstructionWeekOnline web). Think of designing a structure that will face vast loads in terms of seismology, wind loads, and dead loads among other loads.

At the same time, concrete technology is to be applied, and the designs for the structure have much to be admired. Construction of the Kingdom Tower has both social and political implications in the region as well as the world. Saudi Gazette (web) states that the enormous structure is to consume 80,000 tons of steel, and 500,000m³ concrete, covering a construction area of 530,000m², incurring a total cost of US $ 1.23 billion. This implies that the project will have a great impact on the social, environmental and political spheres.

Socially, the project will create employment in the region, for example; Advanced Construction Technology Services (ACTS) is the consulting organization responsible for quality control for the project and offers job employment to 100 experts (Gizmodo web). This will be accompanied by cross-cutting issues in construction such as labor-related issues, tourism attraction sites, as well as environmental impact assessment. One of the political factors driving the construction is that the Saudis want to be the best in the West and Asian continents.

The project is undertaken near the coast, a harsh environment for concrete structures. However, there are new innovations in concrete technology. These areas of innovation are worth implementing for the building. There is a need to prolong the service life for reinforcement used for the structure since vast resources have been invested. The use of corrosion-inhibiting admixtures, epoxy-coated steel reinforcement, cathodic protection, and application of the protective coating on the surface of the concrete are some of the new innovations in concrete technology that can be applied (Mehta pp. 1-3).