KONE Corporation, press release, May 11, 2015
KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, has initiated the very first phases of its elevator installations at the impressive Kingdom Tower construction site in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom Tower project, which is owned and developed by Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), will be the world's tallest building once completed in 2018 and is expected to rise to a height of more than one kilometer.
KONE Areeco, KONE's Saudi Arabian joint venture, has been involved in the planning and design of all vertical transportation systems for the Kingdom Tower over the past two years in conjunction with KONE's global experts. The project team arrived on site last January and is currently working on pre-installation activities concerning the fitting of the elevator system's guiderails, which is expected to begin towards the end of this year. The installation of the guiderails, as well as the eventual installation of the KONE elevator cars, will then progress as the Kingdom Tower's central structure rises over the coming years.
KONE's engineering and project management teams are meticulously preparing for the next phases of the project which will cover the manufacturing and delivery of KONE's vertical transportation solutions. For a building with such unprecedented height, KONE will deliver uniquely advanced technology: the world's fastest and highest DoubleDeck elevators, supported by the revolutionary KONE UltraRope® technology, as well as the latest People Flow Intelligence solutions.
"I am delighted we are now at the stage of taking the next leap with KONE in the construction of the Kingdom Tower," said Mr. Mounib Hammoud, CEO of Jeddah Economic Company, owner and developer of the Kingdom Tower and Kingdom City, which is chaired by HRH Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Al Saud, Chairman of Kingdom Holding Company. "Building the tallest tower in the world is about human ingenuity and the strength of the materials used. Based on this premise, KONE is the only vertical transportation service provider in the world capable of delivering what we need at the Kingdom Tower - specifically the capability of travelling at a speed of over 10 meters per second with DoubleDeck elevators to reach the highest liveable floor in the world in 52 seconds. In addition, the high-speed elevators will rise 660 meters to the observation deck, making it the world's highest elevator rise."
"Furthermore, with the use of KONE UltraRope, which is one-third of the weight of traditional ropes, we will be able to fit the DoubleDeck elevators with normal machines, a huge advantage that will enhance the sustainability of the Kingdom Tower by consuming much less power," adds Hammoud. "We are immensely proud to be associated with KONE in a relationship that will add two new world firsts to the many other industry records we are setting in building this mega landmark that will be the pride of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
"We are absolutely thrilled at having our operations up and running at the Kingdom Tower construction site and to start our installation activities alongside the construction of the tower's core structure," says Sascha Brozek, Senior Vice President, Major Projects, KONE. "Without a doubt, the Kingdom Tower project will push the industry's limits to new heights and we are very proud to be an integral part of that journey. We also look forward to continuing our close collaboration with JEC, the Saudi Binladin Group and all the other parties involved in the construction of this epic landmark."
Last year, KONE and JEC jointly announced their partnership which will see KONE provide all elevators and escalators inside the Kingdom Tower building. In total, KONE will manufacture and install 57 elevators and eight escalators for the Kingdom Tower project.
Previous KONE press releases related to the Kingdom Tower project are available at www.kone.com/press including:
June 5, 2014: KONE wins order for Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Tower, the world's tallest building
June 10, 2013: New KONE UltraRope elevator hoisting technology enables the next big leap in high-rise building design
For further information, please contact:
Liisa Kivelä, Director, External Communications, KONE Corporation, tel. +358 204 75 4330, media@kone.com
Karim Itani, Head of Sales and Marketing, Jeddah Economic Company, tel. +966 12 654 9535, Ext. 2003, kitani@jec.sa +966 503609808
About KONE
KONE is one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry. KONE's objective is to offer the best People Flow® experience by developing and delivering solutions that enable people to move smoothly, safely, comfortably and without waiting in buildings in an increasingly urbanizing environment. KONE provides industry-leading elevators, escalators, automatic building doors and integrated solutions to enhance the People Flow in and between buildings. KONE's services cover the entire lifetime of a building, from the design phase to maintenance, repairs and modernization solutions. In 2014, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 7.3 billion, and at the end of the year over 47,000 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd. in Finland.
www.kone.com
About Jeddah Economic Company
Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) Ltd was founded in 2009 for the purpose of developing The Kingdom City with the iconic Kingdom Tower as the project centerpiece. Located on an area of more than 5 million sqm in the Obhor neighborhood north of Jeddah, The Kingdom City will provide a contemporary urban lifestyle environment supported by an integrated advanced infrastructure and the latest technologies of smart city management. The City will be the ideal choice for investors and developers to build environment-friendly projects according to international standards adopted in architectural and construction applications.
As the new heart of Jeddah, The Kingdom City will include several landmarks, the masterpiece of which is the 170-storey Kingdom Tower, which will be the highest in the world at more than 1000 meters and is being built on an area of 85,000 sqm.
JEC founders are Kingdom Holding Company chaired by HRH Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal; Abrar Holding Company represented by Samaul Bakhsh; Kela'a Jeddah Company represented by businessman Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly; and The Kingdom Tower's primary contractor, Saudi Bin Ladin Group represented by Mr. Saleh Bin Ladin. JEC's capital has a book value of nearly SR 9 billion.