The Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building, standing at an impressive 828 metres and houses the highest swimming pool, mosque and observation deck in the world.
The petal shaped footprint of the building was inspired by a desert flower native to the region, Hymenocallis, and traditional Islamic patterns were incorporated throughout the structure by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Architects.
Given the unique tri-petal footprint and lack of roof or terrace space, a conventional Building Maintenance Solution was not viable. CoxGomyl rose to the challenge and developed 18 bespoke machines to achieve full façade access to the 162 floor building.
A unique combination of mobile, wall-mounted machines was designed specifically for this application. The solution consists of three wall-mounted machines located at levels 40, 73 and 109 (nine in total). These complex machines launch from within their internal parking space through a retracting panel, and travel along a set of tubular stainless steel rails.
The wall-mounted machines typically have an outreach of 9m and a SWL of 250kg in addition to a material hoist capacity of 600kg.
The mid-levels of the building between level 109 and tier 21 (624.1m) are accessed from longer telescopic boom machines located at tier 19, 20 and 21 with a specially designed knuckle jib with an outreach of 21.5m. The tower space above tier 21 is maintained by a series of six smaller machines located from tier 22 through to tier 27 with small outreaches that begin at 1.8m and 4m.
CoxGomyl’s innovative façade access systems mean the world’s tallest building will continue looking immaculate for its lifetime.
