Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa June 2015 | Page 64

INVESTOR INSIGHTS

Constructing Skyscrapers
Buildings Director, Dr Andy Davids, discusses the opportunities involved in cutting down
the construction time of skyscrapers, sustainability issues, as well as staying true to their
original design intent.
BY JODY BOSHOFF
Q: “What are the timelines involved in new projects
and what has been achieved so far?”

was all possible because modular, prefabricated
solutions were used.”

A: “It took around seven years to build the Burj
Khalifa, an 830m skyscraper in Dubai, United
Arab Emirates. I was the chief engineer on this
project. One of the general challenges that we
encountered was the need to find quicker ways to
build tall buildings.

Developers and clients cannot always
wait years for a project to be completed. The
design team has since come up with a holistic
construction system for building a similar building
in half the time. Being able to cut the construction
time of a building as tall as the Burj Khalifa in half
(or by a third) is a significant achievement. Since
then, I have been involved in the design of many
megastructures, constructed within mere months.”

Q: “How are modular skyscrapers being used at
present?”

Q: “Modular systems are helping us to construct
skyscrapers more quickly, but does this not
remove the individuality and beauty of the
buildings?”
A: “If you look at existing 400m and 500m skyscrapers,
you will see that each one is individually handcrafted and unique. A good observation is that
this can be the reason why they take so long to
build, however, this is not necessarily true.

There is a beautiful hotel in China called the
T30 Hotel. It was prefabricated and the 30-storey
tower was erected by 200 Chinese workers in
just 15 days. This hotel broke the Broad Group
construction company’s own past record of
building a 15-storey building in one week. This
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JUNE 2015 SA Real Estate Investor

A: “The way that we are currently using modular
systems in skyscrapers is primarily through
modular floor systems and columns. The floor
system is pre-engineered and pre-built, so the
floor decking and beams are already in place
when we start erecting a building. The columns
are also pre-engineered and are brought to site in
a cleverly orchestrated way so the cranes can lift
them into place in a relatively short space of time.

With the Shanghai Tower project, the
developer wanted us to create a clever product (to
build the tower) as opposed to simply designing
the building as a one-off project. This led to a
focus on creating a modular solution that can
be replicated to build additional skyscrapers at a
quicker speed. This does not mean every building
is going to look the same or even perform in the
same way, but it gives us the ability to offer mass
customisation to countries, cities and developers
who need skyscrapers within a shorter time
frame than what we were able to deliver in the
past. The mass production of modules that can
be customised according to the needs of each
individual client is now a popular means of
construction.”

RESOURCES
Aurecon Group, Middle East and North Africa
www.reimag.co.za