Abu Hulaifa on sea road. At the moment is 2 towers 20 floors with center tower 11 floors. Hoping to push it to 30 floors, but still waiting on Baladiya approval. Structural design is for 30 floors already.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/majdq8/abuhulaifasat1copy.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/majdq8/AbuHulaifaFront.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/majdq8/AbuHulaifaTop.jpg
another interesting proposed project posted by freediver with no update :?

It is on hold due to the new law allowing for up to 40 floors. Like many other projects, it seems like everything is on hold. So far the Municipal Council has not ratified the new laws and until they do, almost every project over 20 floors outside KC and 40 floors inside KC is on hold.

do you know when our mighty council will approve this new legislation ?

why are they so slow on processing !!

I'm sure that they will get their act together once Sheikh Sabah becomes in charge :)

to be honest, i dont think that will make any different

It seems like alot of people think that aallowing investors and builders to go higher is a good thing.. it is not, well not always.. this would create an economical and urban mess...the more floors a building has, the more rental space it would have, which means it will take from exsisting building and that would make everyone loose... on the medium run this is a not so healthy thing. also higher buildings are risky and dangerous. what happens if a fire catchs on??? and why do we need all those high rises?? look at dubai, they are building so much, the prices have went up so high, and now they are afraid if those buildings would be even used?? it seems people here and the gulf in general want to build for the sake of building not because the need to..

a 100 floor in the capital is fine.. but to allow 40 outside is just too much,, not to mention the repeated design schemes which are so boring and ugly most of the time.. they make our entire country look strange and out of place ..

this is what i think at least :P

It seems like alot of people think that aallowing investors and builders to go higher is a good thing.. it is not, well not always.. this would create an economical and urban mess...the more floors a building has, the more rental space it would have, which means it will take from exsisting building and that would make everyone loose... on the medium run this is a not so healthy thing. also higher buildings are risky and dangerous. what happens if a fire catchs on??? and why do we need all those high rises?? look at dubai, they are building so much, the prices have went up so high, and now they are afraid if those buildings would be even used?? it seems people here and the gulf in general want to build for the sake of building not because the need to..

a 100 floor in the capital is fine.. but to allow 40 outside is just too much,, not to mention the repeated design schemes which are so boring and ugly most of the time.. they make our entire country look strange and out of place ..

this is what i think at least :P


I think you are wrong. The added height has nothing to do with allowable built up area. The built up area (or as you called it "rentable space") will not change ... it will be exactly the same. But by allowing people to go higher you give much more levarage for the designers to design elegant buildings. Imagine you have a facade that is 100 meters long and 20 floors high. Imagine being the building exactly behind this huge building. You will basically see one huge block in front of you that blocks all light and will look disgusting. Now take that same building and make it 60 floors high and only using a footprint with a facade of 20 meters and you have a much better designed bulding that does not block light for others behind it. Also the smaller the footprint the more room you have for landscapping and parking around the building. Trust me ... it is better to go up than sideways. It is like a human being, if you stop growing upwards ... you end up growing sideways ... hardly a desirable end product ;)

With regards to being more dangerous for being higher. That is also incorrect. The laws required for buildings over 10 floors are tremendous. For Fire Fighting Dept. Approval you need an amazing array of items that probably make tall buildings safer from fires than for shorter buildings. I recentely finished a 20 floor high rise which was budgeted at 1.8 million KD, the fire fighting budget was 310,000 KD of that. You need special fans to extracxt air, special sprinkler systems, fire door, hose reels, fire alarm system plus fire alarm audio controllers. After all that, you are now also required to have an alternative power supply that runs all the fire systems and elevators even in case of loss of power. If this building had been less than 10 floors, the cost of the firefighting system would have only been around 30,000 or 40,000 KD. As an engineer I can tell you that you are safer living in 20+ floor building than from a 5 floor building.

freediver "As an engineer "; there is the fundemental difference i guess ;)
the only thing i would say is if the built-up area is the same, then why go higher? why spend all that cash on safety? you i don't think so.
however, it is pointless to just argue, let us wait and see, if those monsters would make a better city or not? :)

but that you for your input freediver, was a true eye opener ;)