Press

Standing 828 meters (2,717 feet) tall and boasting more than 160 stories, Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest structure: a single tower that will eventually house 12,000 people. The significance of designing and building the tallest building on Earth, costing over AED5.5 billion (US$1.5 billion), has become a matter of national pride making the protection of this national asset a priority to the government of the UAE, investors, and the tourism industry.

Airlines are trying to attract more families from the Gulf and the subcontinent to the UAE during the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) with special offers and promotions. Thousands of tourists are keen to visit Dubai to pick up some DSF bargains and see the newly opened Burj Khalifa. The twin attractions are expected to boost visitor numbers by 10 per cent.

The three towers perched at this easternmost end of the New Silk Road form the new HQ of Samsung, the conglomerate that drives more than one eighth of South Korea’s economy and whose flagship electronics division is poised to leapfrog Hewlett-Packard as the world’s biggest technology company. Thousands of miles west along the New Silk Road, soaring from the dunes of Dubai, is the world’s tallest building: the 828-metre-high Burj Khalifa, also brought to you by Samsung.

On a global scale, the United Kingdom simply doesn’t compete with having any significantly tall buildings. In fact, the UK’s tallest building is not even a third as high as the world’s tallest man made structure (Burj Khalifa – Dubai). However, The City of London is planning to expand vertically into the skyline with a collection of brand new buildings with some very interesting architecture.

The Right Honourable Lord Peter Mandelson, UK’s First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Lord President of the Council, toured At the Top, Burj Khalifa the world’s highest observatory deck with an outdoor terrace on Level 124 of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. The Rt Hon Lord Mandelson was accompanied on the tour by Mr Abdulla Lahej, Executive Director, Dubai Project Management, Emaar Properties, the developer of Burj Khalifa.

Visitors should again be able to scale the world’s tallest tower from tomorrow when it is due to reopen after a ten-day closure. Burj Khalifa’s 124th floor observation deck has been undergoing mainten-ance after passengers were left trapped when lifts jammed last week. The ticket office of the ‘At the Top’ experience said it was expected to reopen but advised visitors to call ahead to confirm.

The rich heritage and colourful legacy of classic cars is once again on display in Downtown Dubai. The second Downtown Dubai Classic Car Show will be celebrated over four days this year following overwhelming participation from the public and classic car enthusiasts last year.

Andrew Flintoff and his family have set up home in Dubai. Here, he offers a guide to the city and reveals why it's the ideal location for a cricketer. And you should definitely visit the new Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. As it happens I'm scared of heights – when I went up the Empire State Building I nearly passed out – but here I survived a trip up to the observation deck.

Emirates NBD, the largest banking group in the Middle East in terms of assets, announced today the opening of its newest branch at The Residences, a cluster of nine high-rise towers in Downtown Dubai, adjacent to The Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, the recently inaugurated world’s tallest tower. The second Emirates NBD branch to open this year complements the bank’s existing network of 110 branches and 650 ATMs, the largest such network in the UAE.

Burj Khalifia, the world’s tallest tower, will reopen on Feb. 14 following the closure of its 124th- floor observation deck, according to ticket sellers for the Dubai attraction. Ambulances were sent to the tower on Feb. 6 to treat 12 people who had been stranded in a stalled elevator and “dozens” of others who had been trapped on the observation platform, according to Fahad Al Zarouni, deputy director of operations at Dubai’s Center for Ambulance Services. None were hospitalized.