Technologies for 1,000 Meter-tall High-rises

Samsung Construction surprises the world with its construction of 800 meter-tall Burj Dubai and sets it sights on even higher buildings

Samsung Construction is now engaged in the development of technologies to build a 1,000 meter-tall building now that it has successfully completed building Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building at 800 meters.
The company said it has upgraded the technologies acquired from building Burj Dubai and is developing new technologies to build super-tall buildings higher than 1,000 meters including structural designs, construction equipment and installations.
During a recent test, the company successfully lifted super strong cements of 100 mpa, 150 mpa, and 200 mpa more than 1,000 meters. The company was able to confirm that the tests were a success judging from the data collected from its Burj Dubai work.
Samsung Construction Co. will show off its construction technology prowess around the world by continuously employing the new construction technologies it has developed in its overseas construction projects, especially in the Burj Dubai project, the world’s tallest building when it is completed in the fall. Its technologies are so new and complicated that rival construction firms have had a hard time copying them and they have kept the company continuously in the lead in overseas projects, becoming a great force to the growth of the national economy.
Samsung Construction, a construction arm of the Samsung Group, made its name in the world construction industry in the areas of super-tall buildings, bridges, high-class civil work and high-tech power generation plants. As a result, the company has reached the highest points in the areas of super high-rises and bridges.
The gem of the company’s technologies for super high-rises is seen in the Burj Dubai, which required a technology to lift a blue tower weighing 450 tons and 143 meters in length and put it on top of the building.
The blue tower is comprised of spires and pinnacles made with steel pipes to sustain the spires. Samsung used the blue tower lift method to lift the blue tower successfully. The company had a hard time as it had trouble finding space to install the tower cranes on the building and, furthermore, there was not enough room on top of the building for men to work.
They lifted the tower in bits and pieces and assembled them at the 600-meter level of the building and lifted up the assembled tower 200 meters further to the top of the building.
Vice President Kim Kei-ho said the company won many projects overseas because of its reputation as a builder in the Middle East because of its construction technology prowess.
Samsung Construction won overseas construction projects worth $3.7 billion in 2008 including the Palm Jumeirah Village Center project, the power and water treatment facility project, the Abu Dhabi Slam Underground Motorway project and the Marina Coastal Highway project in Singapore.
The company plans to win similar overseas projects this year, too, based on the reservoir of competitive high-level construction technologies secured through its overseas construction work in past years.
The company also announced recently that it signed a contract to undertake the Parc 1 project for the Skylan Group to build a high-rise multi-purpose commercial building in Yeouido, Seoul, at a total cost of 1.331 trillion won.
The project involves the construction of two high-rises in Yeouido, one 69-storeys high and the other 52-storeys high, at the old Unification Church parking lot with a total space of 46,465 square meters. Other facilities include an 8-storey shopping mall, and a 30-storey high hotel with 400 rooms. The entire space of office and commercial facilities will be 630,361 square meters when completed in 2011, the company said.
The entire investment in the project is expected to run some 2.2 trillion won and the first phase of the project broke ground in December 2008.
Samsung signed an MOU in May 2006 and followed it with a contract for the construction of civil work and basic underground work and was able to secure 1.3 trillion won worth of the project based on the results of diversified technical tests and negotiations, the company said.
Samsung won high marks from the project owner for its provision of intensive pre-construction services including design, technical analysis, calculation of construction period and budgeting, along with its expertise of having built the Burj Dubai and the Samsung headquarters building in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, both super-sized structures without an inch of mistake. nw

A view of Burj Dubai on the verge of completion being built by Samsung Construction in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and the tallest building in the world reaching 800 meters above the ground.