Every change-of-shift involved as many as 3000 incoming workers, who had to be lifted to their working locations in a half-hour, not more. Obviously, pandemonium would ensue if they were to report all at once. Instead, they followed a tight schedule of staggered reporting times, and boarded their pre-assigned elevators – which, in turn, followed a planned sequence of stops. That kind of micro-management was the norm for every person and every item of material, with designated points of on-site arrival, and even route maps for their movements.

Large items (chillers, heat exchangers, transformers, air handling units, cable drums, fans and so on) posed their own weighty problems, and created their own complications in the limited maneuvering space. Each required its own unique fix, improvised on the spot and added to the repertoire when it worked. For example, the five diesel generator sets, each weighing around 24 tons, had to be moved to a location not directly accessible by crane. Consequently, they had to be hauled over 300m of very uneven and bumpy terrain. The Logistics team came up with a railway-track-cum-special-carriage arrangement, which the mammoth machines rode with ease and safety to their assigned spots.

An especially memorable event was the laying of a particular vertical chilled water pipe, of 750mm diameter. It was hoisted by tower cranes, and made ready to be lowered into the shaft opening. So far, so good. Then came the intimidating task of mounting it in an utterly vertical position. Even a slight deviation from the straight-and-true would lead, over time, to dangerous stresses along its 300m height. A qualified surveyor had to be called in with sophisticated surveying equipment to ensure plumb-line accuracy, followed by detailed modelling of loads and seismic tolerances for lasting safety.

Another formidable task was the laying of high-voltage cables, extending from the switchgear in the basement all the way to the 156th level. It turned out that this was best done in reverse: first hoist the cable drum to the highest point, and then pay out the cables downwards with the aid of precision electrical winches.

The summit climb
Beyond the 630m mark, at the spire and pinnacle, it was no longer possible to hoist whole machinery into place. Each item of equipment had to be prepared and positioned at a lower level, as a set of pre-assemblies. As soon as the entire structure reached completion, these were manually lifted up that last ascent for final service assembly and integration, a ceaseless round-the-clock activity. It was tedious, time-consuming and exhausting too, often requiring workers to ascend as many as 400 steps on a monkey ladder, lugging material: a climb that could take more than two hours.

These were conditions that called for full safety harness at all times, as well as additional safety training – literally over and above that imparted to all site personnel.

Every working level had its own food, water and amenities in place, sparing workers the need to come down just to, say, grab a bite or a shower. They could stay in place until the job was done.

At those lofty elevations, the activity wasn't just indoors. There were also work-teams swarming over the exterior, dangling from ropes like so many Spider-Men. These were the special teams of 'Upscalers' brought in to instal the upper levels of the festive lighting that covers the entire facade.

A blaze of glory
That was the lighting that burst into resplendence on 4th January 2010, when the Burj Khalifa was ceremonially inaugurated. It was the coming to fruition of a vision held dear by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE. It was also the physical realization of a design that had been completed and approved in 2003. Voltas and its JV partners, as well as six other MEP giants, bid for the contract in 2004, the year when structural piling works commenced. When superstructure erection began in early 2005, so did MEP site-work in parallel.

The rest is history – and, in its own way, geography.

SCOPE OF WORK

Mechanical