A Project Stakeholder Analysis: Burj Khalifa - Case Study Example

Burj Khalifa Table of Contents Brief introduction to the project 3 A project stakeholder analysis 4 A brief of how the project was managed 4 A critical analysis of the project outcome 6 Reference 8 Brief introduction to the project The Middle East countries are highly enriched in the natural oil and gas and due to this strength the Middle East countries have emerged as highly developed countries in terms of economic stability. The countries have also realized the importance of diversifying their economic strengths rather than depending on natural oil and gas. Hence, most of countries like United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Oman etc are trying to develop their tourism sectors by bringing a number of developments. The infrastructural developments in these countries especially in UAE and Saudi Arabia have been commendable. This paper aims to critically analyze one of the projects that has been successfully executed and completed, and in this process, the world famous project, Burj Khalifa of Dubai has been selected. Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the word (828m/2716.5ft) architected by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The world’s tallest building was inaugurated on January 4, 2010. The primary aim of UAE behind construct9ing such giant building was to position itself as major tourist and business hub center in the world (Smith and Architects, n.d.). The project for building the tallest tower of the world was constructed by the largest Dubai based real estate company, Emaar Properties. However, during the development if this giant towers, there were a number of challenges including technical was faced and the management efficiently coped up with all the constraints for the successful competition of this project (Tata Steel UK Limited, 2011). A project stakeholder analysis Burj Khalifa is one the best mega projects in the world and the government of UAE has offered its full support as this tower was about to become one of the most popular landmark for the country’s tourism and business center. Therefore, it can be claimed that the government itself was the major stakeholders of this project. It is quite notable that the name of this tower was named after the President of UEA, Khalifa Bin Zayed and was inaugurated by Mohammed Bin Rashid, the ruler of Dubai indicating the instrumental role played by UAE government. However, the major stakeholder of this project was its constructor group, Emaar Properties who spent more than US$1.5 billion. This project was one of major part of flagship project in Dubai by Emaar Properties, called Downtown Dubai. The project Downtown Dubai is meant to reposition the tourism of UEA in a new avatar and Burj Khalifa is the most vital attraction (Emaar PJSC, 2009). Emaar Properties PJSC is the largest and multinational property developer was found in 1997. This property developer has better technical expertise and financial strength and also has been awarded for its high quality services. The Downtown Dubai is one the best work done by Emaar Properties (Emaar PJSC-a, 2009). A brief description of how the project was managed The imagination of building the tallest tower in the world is itself a big challenge and Emaar Properties has been able to execute their plan successfully. As it has been already discussed that primary aim of UEA was to reposition itself as major tourist destination, the Burj Khalifa have fulfilled this aim to a large extent. Basically, the building with 208 floors includes commercial and residential spaces where hotels, restaurants, offices, residents and a mosque are present. Therefore, this building is for multi-purpose usages. On the other hand, beautification, and safety were major factors and in all these respect, Burj Khalifa has scored efficiently (Merritt, n.d.). The planning of constructing the tallest building in the world started prior to 2004 and by the January 2004, the excavation started. Developing such skyscraper building was a challenging task and for the Emaar Properties, it became more challenging as it was supposed to be completed within a short span of time. However, the real estate developer has shown a perfect efficiency in time management as the entire task of this project was completed within 5 years. By January 2009, the building was completed excluding the exterior cladding. The external projection was also one of the major tasks and it took nearly one year to complete this task. Since the start of excavation work, within 1,325 days, the Burj Khalifa was entirely prepared for inauguration and this indicated a perfect and optimal use of time. The management has devoted the necessary and sufficient time for completing each of the tasks (Emaar PJSC-b, 2009). In order to develop this building, Emaar Properties has to manage a number of construction teams and it was also challenging g to keep pace of the construction works by managing all these teams. Emaar Properties collaborated with these construction teams from the different part of the world and each of these teams was highly skilled in their field. Moreover, for higher efficiency in terms of technical expertise, highly skilled engineers and contractors were employed. During the peak construction period, nearly 30 contracting companies of international standard along with 12000 skilled workers and contractors were employed (The Constructor, 2011). However, the most of the challenges faced by its developer was due to technological aspects. This skyscraper building has portrayed high use of modern technological expertise. The architectural design is also highly impressive and unique comparing to other giant towers like Taipei 101, Sears Towers. The base structural floor design is more like ‘Y’ shaped that is meant to offer better performance. In term of technical viability, a number of factors were taken in into consideration with minute attentions. Apart from the shape and structural aspects, cladding technology, wide engineering design, use of high performance concrete were major concern. Along with these, elevator systems, plumbing, electrical, and other mechanical were also quite vital as these were needed to be perfectly aligned with the shape and structure of the building. For higher durability, performance and strengths SCC concrete was used and for building higher floors three Favco tower cranes capable of self-climbing were used. For external protections, “textured stainless steel spandrel panels” and “reflective aluminium” were applied that safeguard it against strong solar rays and heat wave of desert (Subramanian, 2010, p.1-10). A critical analysis of the project outcome From the above discussions, it has been clarified that during the development of the skyscraper, Burj Khalifa, the chief project management group, Emaar Properties had to face a number of technical and management related challenges. When the Emaar Properties thought of building the world’s largest tower, it was determined to develop tower that would be bit higher than Taipei 100. However, finally, the Emaar Properties along with other builders and constructors created a history by successfully completing a project of ‘first-of-its-kind’. The engineers and architectures of Burj Khalifa were themselves not confident enough to build such a giant building. However, finally they achieved what they used to perceive as impossible and that is too within very short period of time. The Burj Khalifa is an optimal outcome of innovation, quality, cost efficiency, and material economy which has been blended together to meet each of the required tasks. Chief structural engineer of Burj Dubai, Bill Baker commented that it was difficult to identify the biggest challenge face during building Burj Khalifa but there were a chain of challenges. Among these challenges two major concerns for the entire involved builders were the cost efficiency and better performance. For better operational and maintenance purposes, the building is well equipped with necessary technologies backed by fully programming systems. The building is capable to hold nearly 35000 people and for serving this huge number of people, other necessary facilities like water supply system, elevator system etc properly maintained (Belleza, 2010). The project managers of Burj Khalifa were also aware of the prime aim to such massive development i.e. to reposition UAE as major tourist attraction, and hence, the architecture concept for interior has taken the core cultural and historical elements of UEA into account to attract the tourists. UEA is an Islamic country and it has incorporated the Islamic architecture. Moreover, the group of architectures was also aware of the fact that the people who would be using the floors of this building will be from different countries, cultures and tastes. Having understood this fact, the interior have been designed that could appeal a wide ranges of cross culture people. The management group has also understood the importance of very high quality and luxury services and it has successfully incorporated all the necessary arrangement for premier quality services (Belleza, 2010). The Burj Khalifa is also criticized for some of the major issues. Firstly, many have claimed that there was dissatisfaction among the construction workers of Burj Khalifa as they used to work with very low remunerations and in unhealthy working conditions. As a result, there was also riot among labourer during March 2006 and November 2007. Secondly, the Burj Khalifa is also criticized for its negative impact on environment; for example, “the Burj Khalifas air-conditioning system is said to be the equivalent of melting 12,500 tons of ice a day, in a city that has the worlds highest per capita carbon footprint” (Bedell, 2010). Reference Bedell, G. (January 10, 2010). Burj Khalifa – a bleak symbol of Dubais era of bling. [Online]. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jan/10/burj-khalifa-dubai-skyscraper-architecture. [Accessed on October 11, 2011]. Belleza, E. (January 4, 2010). Gulfnews : Burj Khalifa: Towering challenge for builders. [Online]. Available at: http://gulfnews.com/business/property/burj-khalifa-towering-challenge-for-builders-1.561802. [Accessed on October 11, 2011]. Emaar PJSC. (2009). Downtown Dubai. [Online]. Available at: http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/language/en-us/downtown-dubai.aspx. [Accessed on October 10, 2011]. Emaar PJSC-a. (2009). About Burj Khalifa Developer | Emaar Properties. [Online]. Available at: http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/language/en-us/about-emaar.aspx. [Accessed on October 10, 2011]. Emaar PJSC-b. (2009). Burj Khalifa | The Tower | Construction History & Photos. [Online]. Available at: http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/language/en-us/the-tower/construction.aspx. [Accessed on October 11, 2011]. Merritt, R. (No date). The Creeping of the Burj Khalifa. [Online]. Available at: http://prattpress.pratt.duke.edu/duke_burj_khalifa. [Accessed on October 11, 2011]. Smith, A. and Architects, G. G. (No date). Facts about Burj Khalifa: [Online]. Available at: http://archone.tamu.edu/college/news/newsletters/spring2010/stories/Burj_facts.html. [Accessed on October 10, 2011]. Subramanian, N. (2010). BURJ KHALIFA, WORLD’S TALLEST STRUCTURE . [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.sefindia.org/?q=system/files/BURJ+KHALIFA-World%27s+Tallest+Building.pdf. [Accessed on October 11, 2011]. Tata Steel UK Limited. (2011). ComFlor® Case Study -  Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.comflor-uk.com/wp-content/uploads/burj_case.pdf. [Accessed on October 10, 2011]. The Constructor. (2011). BURJ KHALIFA (DUBAI)- OPENING CEREMONY. [Online]. Available at: http://theconstructor.org/structures/burj-khalifa-dubai-opening-ceremony/1003/. [Accessed on October 11, 2011]. Read More