Elevator installation has begun at The Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudia Arabia, which will stand 3,280 feet when completed in 2018. Image: Thornton Tomasetti
Elevator installations at the new Kingdom Tower construction site in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia have recently commenced. The Kingdom Tower project, which is owned and developed by Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), will be the world’s tallest building once completed in 2018 and is expected to rise to a height of more than one kilometer.
KONE Areeco, KONE’s Saudi Arabian joint venture, has been involved in the planning and design of all vertical transportation systems for the Kingdom Tower over the past two years. The project team arrived on site last January and is currently working on pre-installation activities concerning the fitting of the elevator system’s guiderails, which is expected to begin towards the end of this year. The installation of the guiderails, as well as the eventual installation of the elevator cars, will then progress as the Kingdom Tower’s central structure rises over the coming years.
The elevator engineering and project management teams are meticulously preparing for the next phases of the project which will cover the manufacturing and delivery of the vertical transportation components. For a building with such unprecedented height, KONE will need to deliver uniquely advanced technology: the world’s fastest and highest DoubleDeck elevators, supported by KONE’s new UltraRope technology, along with destination dispatch.
Mr. Mounib Hammoud, CEO of Jeddah Economic Company, in a statement: “Building the tallest tower in the world is about human ingenuity and the strength of the materials used. Based on this premise, KONE is the only vertical transportation service provider in the world capable of delivering what we need at the Kingdom Tower - specifically the capability of travelling at a speed of over 10 meters per second with DoubleDeck elevators to reach the highest liveable floor in the world in 52 seconds. In addition, the high-speed elevators will rise 660 meters to the observation deck, making it the world’s highest elevator rise.”
“Furthermore, with the use of KONE UltraRope, which is one-third of the weight of traditional ropes, we will be able to fit the DoubleDeck elevators with normal machines, a huge advantage that will enhance the sustainability of the Kingdom Tower by consuming much less power,” added Hammoud. “We are immensely proud to be associated with KONE in a relationship that will add two new world firsts to the many other industry records we are setting in building this mega landmark that will be the pride of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Sascha Brozek, Senior Vice President, Major Projects, KONE said: “Without a doubt, the Kingdom Tower project will push the industry’s limits to new heights and we are very proud to be an integral part of that journey.”
In total, there will be 57 elevators and eight escalators installed for the Kingdom Tower project.
Rendering: Adrian Smith+Gordon Gill Architecture