Construction on rotating tower to begin in weeks

Dubai Property Ring plans to start construction on its ambitious Dh700 million revolving tower, which rotates through 360 degrees, in a matter of weeks.

ABU DHABI // As other major projects across Dubai are scaled back or delayed, Dubai Property Ring says it is planning to start construction on its ambitious Dh700 million (US$190m) revolving tower, which rotates through 360 degrees, in a matter of weeks. "We've spent enough time accommodating the market and now it's about action," said Tav Singh, the company's director. "We have appointed a contractor and are about to start construction."

The tower, called 55 Time Dubai, will be located in the City of Arabia development in Dubailand. Dubai Property Ring said the tower would be the first of 24 rotating buildings in each of the world's time zones. The structure will rotate in small increments each day, so that every owner would have a 360-degree view of the surroundings each week. Mr Singh said in October that construction would begin by the end of last year, but the schedule was delayed to give about 120 investors who had bought units in the building time to find a way to pay the next instalment of their purchases. Units in the building start at Dh7,000 a square foot.

"We had to listen to our customers and rather than push them to pay, we gave them some time to readjust their finances," he said. Mr Singh said the project was able to move forward because it was partially financed by a group of investors and the company itself, shielding it from the worst impacts of the global credit crisis. Dubai Property Ring has enough funding to keep the project going for more than six months, he said.

"We are not in a debt position," Mr Singh said. "We are not using any bank finance." Nicholas Cooper, the engineer who devised the system for 55 Time Dubai, previously said the building would rotate very slowly like a "dignified timepiece, not a merry-go-round". The 80,000-tonne building will sit on a circle of bearings that will activate each hour to lift the building up and rotate it by about 50cm. A central core will run up the height of the building and hold the water and plumbing system.

Mr Cooper, who is the technical director of Atkins Bennett in the UK, said electricity would be transferred into the building using a similar set-up to an electric train, with a curved metal rail to conduct the power.. Mr Singh said that his company was altering its payment plans so that more of the money would come due later in the construction. Most buyers have paid between 15 and 30 per cent. Another payment of 10 per cent is due when construction starts, but the next 10 per cent is not due until the building rises above the lobby.

Mr Singh said the slowdown of the property market had helped reduce some costs of construction, with lower prices now available on steel, concrete and contractor work. "Now that there is a slowdown and a correction in the market, it is turning out to be a good thing," Mr Singh said. "It is stabilising the market." @Email:[e-mail]