Emaar's Burj Dubai continues its ascent

Cladding work of the tower is now ongoing at an accelerated pace with 58 storeys already wearing the shimmering sheen of the high-performance cladding system. The primary materials used - reflective glazing, aluminium and textured stainless steel spandrels and vertical stainless tubular fins - accentuate the tower's height and slenderness to the eye.

Burj Dubai is now taller than Taipei 101 (508 metres; 1667 ft) in Taiwan and CN Tower (553.33 metres; 1815.5 ft) in Toronto, Canada. When completed, the tower will have used 330,000 cubic meters of concrete, 39,000 metric tons of steel rebar and 142,000 sq m of glass - and 22 million man hours. More than 5,000 consultants and skilled professionals workers are employed on-site at the tower.

Emaar Properties partners with South Korean construction major Samsung Corporation and New York-based Project Manager Turner Construction in constructing Burj Dubai, which is designed by Adrian Smith and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of Chicago.

Burj Dubai is the centrepiece of Emaar's flagship project, the Dhs73bn ($20bn) Downtown Burj Dubai, a new downtown with residential, commercial, leisure, retail and hospitality components, set on 500 acres of land in the heart of Dubai. Burj Dubai will feature residences, commercial space and retail space and hospitality elements including the world's first Armani Hotel and Armani Residences.