Get the Facts of the Burj Khalifa

At 828 meters in length (2,717 feet) and 164 floors, Burj Dubai/Burj Khalifa was the tallest building in the world as of January 2010. Taipei 101, the Taipei Financial Center in the Taiwanese capital, was from 2004 to 2010 the worlds tallest skyscraper, at 509.2 meters, or 1,671 ft. The Burj easily exceeds that height. Before their destruction in 2001, the World Trade Centers Twin Towers in Manhattan were 417 meters (1,368 ft) and 415 meters (1,362 ft) tall. Burj Dubai/Burj Khalifa was dedicated on Jan. 4, 2010.Cost of the Burj: $1.5 billion, part of downtown Dubais $20 billion redevelopment program.The name of the tower was changed from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa at the last minute in honor of Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi, and in recognition of Abu Dhabi providing Dubai $10 billion in December 2009 to bail out Dubais bankrupt sovereign wealth fund.Construction began on Sept. 21, 2004.More than 12,000 people will occupy the buildings 6 million square feet. Residential apartments number 1,044.Special amenities include a 15,000 square foot fitness facility, a cigar club, the highest mosque in the world (on the 158th floor), the highest observation deck in the world (on the 124th floor) and the highest swimming pool in the world (on the 76th floor), as well as the first Armani Hotel in the world.The Burj is expected to consume 946,000 liters (or 250,000 gallons) of water a day.Electricity consumption is expected to peak at 50 MVA or the equivalent of 500,000 100-watt bulbs burning simultaneously.The Burj has 54 elevators. They can speed up to 65km an hour (40 mph)The equivalent of 100,000 elephants worth of concrete was used during construction.31,400 metric tons of steel rebar used in the structure.28,261 glass cladding panels cover the exterior of the tower, each panel cut by hand and installed by Chinese cladding specialists.12,000 workers were employed at the site at peak construction. Three workers died while working on the site.The number of underground parking spaces at the Burj: 3,000.The lead contractor was South Korea-based Samsung, along with Belgiums Besix and the UAEs Arabtec.The building was designed by Chicagos Skidmore, Owings Merrill and developed by Dubais Emaar Properties.The buildings structural engineer is William F. Baker, who on July 11, 2009, became the first American to win the Fritz Leonhardt Prize For Achievement In Structural Engineering.