people go into the building each day
Schindler 7000 double-deck elevators
meters of shaft
The pandemic has changed our world since it started in early 2020. This coincided with the busiest construction phases of Uptown Tower, a 340-meter tower in the south of the city. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, the construction of the Uptown Tower was in full swing.
The installation team at Uptown was resilient and quick to react. They moved from
public accommodation into designated private housing, set out to limit possible contagion and allow quarantine. As many activities as possible went online.
Constant communication and coordination within the Schindler team and with all the other project partners allowed work to continue. Despite the challenges, Uptown Tower was still completed on time.
Uptown Tower sits at the heart of a new development in the south of the city. Developer DMCC is positioning Uptown Tower as a new node for Dubai – and as a gateway to Abu Dhabi, the bordering emirate. The entire complex was constructed sustainably; even the construction site was powered by solar panels on the parking lot roof. The tower is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification, to bring more sustainable construction to the fast-growing desert city.
Offices, residences, and a five-star hotel, along with retail, restaurants, and services will bring up to 3500 people into the building each day.
To handle this complex range of human traffic, Uptown Tower has Schindler 7000 double-deck elevators, a first in the Middle East. The client wanted a solution that could serve peak periods as efficiently as possible. Our solution was to use nine Schindler 7000 double-deck elevators as the spine of the building circulation. The two heavy-duty Schindler 7000 machines sit in the 78th floor machine room, each one weighing over two tons.
Uptown Tower has over two kilometers of elevator shaft in total. Most people think of land-based horizontal transportation distances, but we know that vertical transport can also take you far.
We believe in the potential of technology and innovation to help build cities of the future. We invented the Robotic Installation System for Elevators (Schindler R.I.S.E) for smart cities – and smarter construction. We named the one we used in Uptown ‘Sarah‘. Sarah and our other Schindler R.I.S.E robots make up the first and only mobile robotic system for elevator installation in existence today.
Unmatched efficiency, safety, & accuracy
"Teamwork between talented engineers, project staff, and robots is the future," commented S. Haydar Icli, Product Manager of Schindler R.I.S.E.
Schindler R.I.S.E helped us to drill holes and set anchors with unmatched efficiency, safety, and accuracy at Uptown Tower. The use of Schindler R.I.S.E at Uptown Tower resulted in such a smooth ride, our customer did not realize their elevator was actually moving the first time they rode in it. The ride quality is an amazing 4 milli(g) – a new precedent. Ride quality is measured in milligal, or milli(g). Anything under 10 milli(g) is considered superior. Ride quality for our double-decks comes in at an impressive 4 milli(g) – elevator movement is hardly perceptible.
Sarah is designed for speed, precision, and safety. It can operate in difficult conditions – whether in confined spaces or in extreme temperatures – taking over repetitive tasks, while advancing the safety of our workers on-site.
Dubai has a harsh climate, regularly reaching 40°C with 90% humidity in the summer. Consequently, working hours are restricted for human safety. It is a simple but brutal challenge to construct buildings in the desert. Uptown Tower was a perfect deployment for the Schindler R.I.S.E Robot, which can operate in nearly any climate. We integrated it into our team and our planning. "Project logistics is the most important factor for success in large projects," Uptown Tower Project Manager Sultan Hazeem commented.
Tall buildings and large projects always require careful on-site collaboration, but the pandemic made meeting in person more complex. Yet at Uptown Tower, these challenges brought out the best in everyone. We worked even more closely – but still socially distanced for safety (of course!) – with the entire site management group. "We had one option to get the project done: going ‘all hands on deck’ and doing it together," said Project Director Rami Youssef with a smile.
We take teamwork seriously. Rami and Sultan, with nearly three decades of Schindler experience between them, had teamed up on many projects throughout the Gulf region before joining forces on Uptown Tower.
Remi is one of a handful of globally certified Project Directors, an exclusive team of leaders around the world. He was trained by some of our veterans.
Many Schindler employees stay with the company for a long time, some for their entire working lives.
This means we have a huge collective knowledge base. "The best part about Schindler is that someone, somewhere in the organization always has an answer if you have a question or challenge," Sultan commented. At Uptown, this was useful for everything from mundane ‘nuts and bolts’ questions to ongoing guidance for the Schindler R.I.S.E Robot!
Dubai is a glittering global hub, famously glamorous and full of tall towers. We’re working with people from around the world to help build the Dubai skyline. It’s also one of the most internationally diverse places to live and work in the world. "It’s a challenge – we have 70 or 80 different nationalities working in Dubai," explained Sultan. "It’s also a benefit. Projects like Uptown prepare people to work internationally, with different working styles and cultures," he added.
Collaboration and empathy mean productive teamwork is possible, regardless of our individual differences. Building and sharing knowledge and skills makes our operations socially sustainable, across cultures and geographies. This supports our global operations from the ground up, one building site at a time.