Cleaning the windows of Burj Khalifa is a project in itself - By: gfoley

The job of cleaning windows is a tricky work and if it is the tallest building of the world, the job is even more difficult. Burj Khalifa in Dubai, rising 2717 ft into the sky and having about 1,292,500 sq ft of the glass creates a real challenge for the window cleaning companies. Mr Dale Harding, the general manager of Cox Gomyl, a window cleaning company informed that their company's hi tech machineries are worth £5million that includes window-cleaning carousels which his firm has designed to give the best look to Burj Khalifa.

There were twelve machines weighing 13 tons that were capable to carry about 36 window cleaners. Washing the 24,830 reflective windows of Burj Khalifa is an extensive process in which ordinary soapy water is used taking about three months to finish the job. There are machines specially designed to clean the windows of this building. The cleaners stand on these machines that emerge from a number of cavities in the building tracking along rails covering its curved towers.

Mr Harding informed that the firm that is based in Melbourne has been working very hard to make Burj shining for the extravagant opening ceremony that will take place on Monday. He told that the cleaning job of the iconic building was a great challenge and the architects expected a lot. Commenting about the tight targets the builders had to face a few months prior to the completion of skyscraper's construction, he said it was surely a superb construction standing too high, probably equivalent to 10 to 15 conventional buildings.

It was an exceptionally fine construction, but there was a spectacular blunder just a few months before its opening ceremony, which about 6000 people attended. Samsung Besix Arabtec Joint Venture, the builder of Burj Khalifa had to seek the help of brave Mick Flaherty, when they realized that they had completely forgotten to fit lights at the tip of the burj. It took the 35-year old Mick Flaherty and the company he worked in, Total Solutions Middle East about a month to work on the building's pre-fabricated spire before it was officially inaugurated. Mike's daily work involved reaching the 160th floor by first taking five lifts and then further going up seven tiers on straight ladders before finally squeezing into the spire that was barely 6 ft wide.

It was indeed a tough and exceptionally brave effort on the part of Mick, yet it was a breathtaking moment viewing the building from so high up in the sky. As he said later, it felt like he could see the whole world from there the moment he reached up the ladders and opened its door seeing only huge blue sly around him and even feeling closer to the sun. He rated this experience as the highest point of his career, trembling with fear even after doing similar jobs in his profession for over 9 years.

The correction of this massive mistake took about a month from beginning of last August. The task was so risky and tiring that the team of workers who were involved in it, nicknamed themselves as the 'Men of Steel'. The job was extremely exhausting because the workers had to climb up and down the ladders the entire day. There was a platform where they ate their lunch, but the nearest toilet or water supply was too far off from where they were working. It was an astonishing job that is set to get into the record books of Guinness as the highest ever rope access work finished.

About the Author

G. Foley is a journalist who writes for blogs on a lot of subjects. For more information on high rise window cleaning gold coast please go here

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/gfoley/78030

Additional Articles From - Home | Business | Business cleaning