The National

Emaar Properties, the country’s largest developer, has started to send letters to owners of units in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, warning that they will lose their apartments and 40 per cent of the property’s value if they fail to pay their overdue instalments within two weeks.

With the Dubai Fountain and Burj Khalifa pulling in hundreds of tourists each day, Downtown has come into its own in the past year.

The company also operates Armani Hotels and Resorts, which launched its first property last week, in the Burj Khalifa. It aims to have 10 hotels. “It is the perfect time to open because it adds one more attraction to the Downtown area,” Mr Dardenne said. “We have bookings from guests who have really chosen to come to stay at the Armani hotel and it happens to be in Dubai, so they had no plans previously to come to Dubai.”

At the base of the tallest structure ever made, across from the largest fountain in the world and the biggest mall ever built, Omran al Owais shares his philosophy on buildings. “It’s pretty simple,” the Emirati architect says, glancing up the 808-metre Burj Khalifa.

The tower, which if built would eclipse Dubai’s 818-metre Burj Khalifa, is being planned by Kingdom Holding, the business conglomerate owned by the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The Armani Hotel Dubai in the Burj Khalifa will occupy the levels between the concourse and the eighth floor and levels 38 and 39 of the tower. Its opening was delayed because the Burj Khalifa’s opening was pushed back and more recently as the property received the finishing touches.

Nevertheless, the folk at Emaar Properties in Dubai are doing their best to improve the Burj Khalifa's energy diet. Today, they announced that the building's hot-water system had gone solar.

The world’s tallest tower plunged into partial darkness for an hour yesterday to commemorate Earth Hour, the world’s biggest awareness event dedicated to fighting climate change. The Burj Khalifa joined landmarks such as the London Eye, the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids and the Forbidden City in Beijing in the campaign, which aimed at attracting a billion people this year.

As Playmrn Balgoev lined up the world’s tallest tower in his camera’s viewfinder, he wondered what Dubai looked like from the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa. Unfortunately, the 27-year-old tourist from Bulgaria will leave the emirate without finding out.

Burj Khalifa’s observation deck has been closed to the public until further notice, little more than one month after it opened, due to problems with the power supply.