Almas Tower

Almas Tower
برج الماس
The Almas Tower
General information
Status	Complete
Type	Commercial
Location	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Coordinates	25°04′08.25″N 55°08′28.34″E / 25.0689583°N 55.1412056°E / 25.0689583; 55.1412056Coordinates: 25°04′08.25″N 55°08′28.34″E / 25.0689583°N 55.1412056°E / 25.0689583; 55.1412056
Construction started	2005
Completed	2008
Opening	2009
Height
Architectural	360 m (1,181 ft)[1]
Top floor	279.30 m (916 ft)[1]
Technical details
Floor count	74 (68 above ground, 5 basement floors)[1]
Floor area	160,000 m2 (1,700,000 sq ft)[1]
Elevators	35[1]
Design and construction
Owner	Dubai Multi Commodities Centre
Main contractor	Taisei Corporation[1]
Architect	Atkins Middle East[1]
Developer	Nakheel Properties[1]

Almas Tower (Arabic: برج الماس‎ Diamond Tower) is a supertall skyscraper in JLT Free Zone Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Construction of the office building began in early 2005 and was completed in 2009 with the installation of some remaining cladding panels at the top of the tower. The building topped out at 360 m (1,180 ft) in 2008, becoming the third-tallest building in Dubai, after Emirates Park Towers and Burj Khalifa. Almas Tower has 74 floors, 70 of which are commercial alongside four service floors.

The tower is located on its own artificial island in the centre of the Jumeirah Lakes Towers Free Zone scheme, the tallest of all the buildings on the development when completed. It was designed by Atkins Middle East, who designed most of the JLT Free Zone complex. The tower is being constructed by the Taisei Corporation of Japan in a joint venture with ACC (Arabian Construction Co.) who were awarded the contract by Nakheel Properties on 16 July 2005.^[2]

Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), the owner of the tower, was the first to move in. The DMCC moved its corporate offices along with the Dubai Diamond Exchange to the unfinished tower on 15 November 2008.^[3] Almas Tower now houses facilities that provide a wide range of services for the region’s diamond, coloured gemstones and pearls industry. Along with the Dubai Diamond Exchange, these include the Dubai Gems Club, the Dubai Pearl Exchange, the Kimberley Process Certification offices and access to secure transportation agencies such as Brinks and Transguard, in addition to networking and meeting rooms.^[4] Diamond cutting and exchange take place at the tower. Due to the type of transactions taking place at the tower, high security is installed. Almas tower ranked 8th in the Emporis Skyscraper Award 2010^[5]

References

External links

• Almas Tower on CTBUH Skyscraper Center
• Emporis.com
• Skyscraperpage.com
• DMCC entry
• Almas Tower - Development Profile
• Faithful+Gould Middle East & India