Capital Plaza 

Regenerating savings

“The biggest impact of our solutions came from our compact, eco-effi cient machinery,” says John Mearns of KONE  Netherlands, who was project manager for KONE Middle East at the time.

Eco-efficiency was a strong element of the Capital Plaza design. With KONE EcoDisc® technology, the machine rooms are considerably smaller and generate signifi cantly less heat than conventional hoisting mechanisms.

Regenerative drives were also implemented for the high-rise elevators. The regenerated electricity is fed back into the building, making the elevators a source of energy for the building.

The office tower is also home to the fi rst doubledeck elevators in the United Arab Emirates. KONE created a customised solution comprising four KONE DoubleDeck elevators and the KONE Polaris™ Destination Control System (DCS).

“These were not in the original requirements,” notes Mearns, “but with double-deck elevators and DCS, we were able to keep the number of elevator shafts at four, even with the addition of four fl oors to the original specifications. This kept the amount of floor space needed for elevators to a minimum.”

Overcoming the odds

“This was a big project,” adds Mearns. “All the towers and the podium started to go up at the same time. This required careful planning on our part. The amount of materials arriving at the site at the same time was a challenge.”

Halfway through the project, there was a major design change: four floors were added to the top of all the towers. The operator of the hotel also changed during the project, with the new operator bringing in new requirements. Much of the finishing for the hotel had already been done, but it all required changes with the new operator. Despite this, KONE maintained its  commitment and flexibility, responding to the new challenges as they came.