쌍용건설

[2021 Overseas Construction Awards: Grand Prize]

 

Royal Atlantis Resort and Residences: Ssangyong E'C's Landmark Construction Project in Dubai

 

Ssangyong E'C has deep ties with several Middle East countries and cities, and with Dubai in particular. Since its entry into the Dubai construction market in 1997, the company has secured 13 projects totaling USD 2.2 billion over the past 24 years. The Grand Hyatt Dubai Hotel and Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel, both well-known landmark hotels in Dubai, are among the more famous creations of Ssangyong E'C.

 

In December 2015, the company won the contract to build the Royal Atlantis Resort and Residences. This large-scale project involves the construction of one 44-story luxury hotel building and one 38-story upscale residence building on the Palm Jumeirah, an artificial archipelago off the coast of Dubai. Worth USD 1.2 billion, the project is at its final phase and scheduled to be completed within the current year.

 

The project was commissioned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), the largest shareholder of Ssangyong E'C. For this mega contract, Ssangyong E'C formed a partnership with Belgium-based BESIX Group, the company that built the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower.

 

Resembling the shape of an S when seen from the sky and stacked Lego pieces when seen from the front, the Royal Atlantis Resort and Residences will feature 795 hotel rooms and 231 residence units. The hotel and residences are actually two independent buildings connected by a skybridge suspended 80 meters in the air.

 

For installation, this 1,300-ton skybridge had to be lifted to the height of 80 meters using the "strand jack-up" method, a technique also utilized in the construction of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore.

 

Each block of the complex will be connected via 14 "sky courts" (open spaces in the middle of the buildings). Furthermore, there will be a total of 190 swimming pools and numerous gardens. At the same time, large aquariums will be installed in the hotel lobby and in two other locations.

 

The complex's unprecedented structure has required the involvement of 54 consultants from 14 countries, including Canada, the U.K., and France, just for the design work. Indeed, the project is known for its full utilization of high-end construction design and execution technologies. Even the joint venture partner BESIX commented that this project was proving to be much more difficult than the Burj Khalifa.

"There are almost no examples anywhere in the world where a building resembling stacked Lego blocks also curved in the shape of an S has been built," Ssangyong E'C's Site Manager Seung Pyo Han said. "The structure of the complex is so complicated that its 33,000 wall finishing panels are all curved. When completed, it will undoubtedly become a global landmark hotel."