Four-month Burj delay due to interior design

INTERIOR DESIGN: Emaar said the delay to construction of the Burj Dubai was down to ensuring quality of the interior.
The four-month delay to construction of Emaar Properties' Burj Dubai is related to the interior design of the tower, the developer said late on Tuesday.

Emaar said in a statement it would rather see a "nominal" delay to the project than compromise the quality of building's interior.

"The company would rather opt for a nominal delay in total quality execution of the Burj Dubai interiors than compromise on any aspect of quality," the developer said.

"...several design considerations for the interiors were rejected at various stages of the project development."

The statement follows remarks by Emaar Chairman Mohamed Alabbar earlier on Tuesday that the Burj Dubai was four months behind schedule and might now not be finished by the end of this year as originally planned.

"We are about four months late," Alabbar said at a conference in Dubai, without going into further detail.

Emaar said last month construction on the tower had been stepped up to meet an "accelerated schedule", without giving further details.

An Emaar official said in July the Burj Dubai would open sometime before Christmas this year, which means the tower may not now be finished until spring 2009.

The Burj Dubai currently stands at just over 600 metres, over 90 metres higher than the world's tallest building, Taiwan's Taipei 101, and over 40 metres higher than the world's tallest free-standing structure, Toronto's CN Tower.

The only structure now left for the Burj to overtake is the KVLY/KTHI television mast in Blanchard, US, which measures 628.8 metres.

The Burj Dubai will not be officially recognised as the world's tallest structure until it is completed.

Emaar has remained tight lipped over the final height, but it is rumoured to be between 700 and 1,000 metres.

Local media reports last year said the final height would be 818 metres, citing architects drawings posted on the internet.

The Burj Dubai is to be the centrepiece of a city within a city, Downtown Burj Dubai. The $20 billion development as a whole will include 30,000 homes, nine hotels, 6.2 acres of parkland, 19 residential towers, the Dubai Mall, and a 30-acre manmade lake. The development will cost around $20 billion.