HE Hussain Nasser Lootah confirms as opening plenary speaker

His Excellency Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of the Dubai Municipality, is confirmed as the opening Plenary Speaker of the Congress, presenting a paper on the ‘Sustainable Vision of Dubai’. His Excellency Mr Lootah will represent Dubai, alongside Mayor Daley of Chicago and Peter Wynne Rees of London, who will present the sustainable visions of Chicago and London

Number of Delegates now surpasses 500

With a month still to go, more than 500 people are now registered for the congress, representing 37 countries. The top five countries registering delegates so far are the USA (157 delegates), UAE (71), UK (54), Australia (47) and Japan (26). The top 5 companies sending delegates to the event are Atkins (20 delegates), Arup (14), Davis Langdon (11), Turner (9) and AECOM (8). For a full delegate list, see the link off the homepage. In addition the social-networking events – The Welcome Reception and the Congress Dinner – are now sold out. Delegates not registering for the congress can only register at the ‘Congress Only’ package.

HE Mohamed Ali Alabbar confirms as plenary speaker

His Excellency Mohamed Ali Alabbar has confirmed as a Plenary Speaker on Day 2 of the Congress, representing both Dubai and Emaar with a presentation on the Burj Dubai entitled 'A Vision for the World's Tallest'. His Excellency will share the plenary platform with Adrian Smith of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architects (formerly of Skidmore Owings and Merrill) and Bill Baker of Skidmore Owings and Merrill, thus convening main Client, Architect and Structural Engineer for this seminal session.

Congress Golf confirmed for Sunday 2nd March 

The famed Montgomerie Dubai will be the setting for the CTBUH 8th World Congress Golf Day, to be held the day before the Congress on Sunday 2nd March. Held in conjunction with Emaar, there are a total of 80 places available. A nominal fee of US$80 per player is being charged to cover costs. This figure includes green fees, lunch and drinks (but not club and shoe hire etc). If you are interested in registering for this valuable social and networking event, contact Antony Wood at awood@ctbuh.org

Congress receives wide publicity in Dubai Press

Following congress co-chair and CTBUH Executive Director Antony Wood's December visit to Dubai, the congress was widely covered in the UAE media during December / January, including a December 13th radio interview on '103.8 FM Dubai Eye' and the front cover of the January 5th edition of 'Construction Week' (see Media section of website for more downloads).

De Simone confirmed as Gold Sponsors

The esteemed engineering practice, De Simone Consulting, confirm as a Gold sponsor for the congress, sponsoring the Gold + Monday breakfast and coffee breaks. President of the company, Stephen De Simone will chair session T4 of the Congress on the theme of "Sustainability: The Bottom Line".

Promotional and Media Partners confirmed

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) have been confirmed as a promotional partner for the Congress. The technical sessions of the congress will entitle delegates for up to 17 hours of AIA Continuing Education Credits and 12 hours of AIA Health, Safety and Welfare credits. Similarly ‘The Big Project’ and ‘Gulf Construction’ have been confirmed as local and regional media partners respectively. The Big Project will be producing a special supplement of their publication for the Congress.

Autodesk Educational Session confirmed

Gold Sponsors Autodesk confirm an education session on their innovative software packages for delegates to be held on the afternoon of Tuesday 4th March. This educational session will be optional for those delegates who are not enrolled for one of the technical building visits at this time. Autocad representative Erin Rae Hoffer also confirmed as the chair of session T7 of the congress on "Sustainable Themes".

Exhibition Layout now published

Ten of the fifteen exhibition stands available at the Congress have now been registered, with the exhibition layout now published (downloadable from website homepage). The ten confirmed exhibitors so far are: Emaar, AECOM, Autodesk, Gale International, Alan Davenport Wind Engineering, Arup, CPP, the Olive Group, Schirmer Engineering and Turner.

Session Chairs now in place

Session Chairs for all technical tracks of the congress are now in place (see programme). The Session Chairs have been drawn from the CTBUH Steering Group, the Congress Organizing Committee and representatives of the major Congress sponsors. All are experts in their field.

Further Silver sponsors confirmed

Hill International and YWS Architects have confirmed as Silver sponsors, bringing the number of Silver sponsors to six.

Executive Director hails visit to Dubai a 'massive success'

CTBUH Executive Director and congress co-chair Antony Wood hails his week's visit to Dubai to put in place final logistics for the congress and promote the event a 'massive success'. "I came here with a list of high objectives to achieve yet they have been surpassed," says Wood. "The level of interest we have had in the event is phenomenal, witness the many press articles and media interviews given and published in Dubai. The meeting of the organizing / host committee could also hardly have been more supportive, with Emaar, the Dubai Municipality and others confirming their strong support for the event. With the spectacular speaker programme now confirmed, and record early bird registration attendance (see below), this is shaping up to be the best congress we have organized in 40 years of existence for the Council".

Further sponsors confirmed at all levels

Autodesk and Hyder Consulting now confirm the final two Gold sponsorship packages, sponsoring the Gold + Monday lunch and Gold + Wednesday lunch sponsorship packages respectively. With Skidmore Owings & Merrill and FX Fowle confirmed at Silver, and the NFPA confirmed at Bronze, there are now only a few sponsorship packages remaining. Schirmer Engineering, the Olive Group and CPP are now all confirmed exhibitors.

Early bird registration 'record'.

CTBUH Chairman and congress co-chair David Scott declares the close-to 300 delegates registered by the 30th November early bird registration deadline a 'CTBUH record'. "To be completely honest", says Scott, "We are stunned. We are used to our delegates signing up at the last minute so to have 300 people registered is incredible. The geographical split of registrants is also amazing, with already 32 countries represented. This includes 107 people from the USA and Canada, 32 from the United Kingdom, 24 registrants from Australia and 16 from South Korea. It is especially pleasing to see companies such as Atkins and Davis Langdon recognizing the value of the event by registering a dozen colleagues each. We are now revising our attendance estimates and preparing the Grand Hyatt to receive close to the 1300 maximum delegates permissible".

Samsung Corporation confirmed as Gold sponsor

International corporation and construction lead on the Burj Dubai, Samsung Engineering & Construction, confirm as Gold Sponsors for the Gold + Congress Bags sponsorship package. Executive Director of Samsung's High Rise Building Team, Ahmad Abdelrazaq, confirms his involvement in the Congress with a paper entitled: Brief on the Construction Planning of the Burj Dubai". Samsung also register 6 delegates for the Congress.

Paper on Bahrain World Trade Center confirmed

Richard Smith and Shaun Killa of Atkins architects confirm their involvement in the congress with a paper entitled: "Harnessing Energy in Tall Buildings: Bahrain World Trade Center and Beyond". The Bahrain World Trade Center - about to go operational with the largest application of building-supported vertical axis wind turbines internationally - is also the subject of a pre- / post- congress regional tour to Bahrain (see technical tours section of the website).

Woods Bagot confirmed as Silver sponsor

Global architectural practice, Woods Bagot, confirm as a Silver Sponsor of the Congress with Managing Director of Woods Bagot Europe, Stephan Reinke, delivering a paper on "Tall Building Design Intelligence: an International Perspective". With a large Middle East office in Dubai, Woods Bagot are also represented on the Congress organizing committee, with director Alf Seeling helping organize aspects such as the Index Tower construction visit.

Number and quality of papers submitted 'extremely high'.

The deadline for submission of papers for the Congress has now passed (30th September) with a massive over-subscription of papers. The paper peer review process is now underway. Chair of the Scientific Committee / Peer Review panel Antony Wood notes: "The quality of papers and caliber of speakers at this Congress looks set to exceed even the very high standard set at recent CTBUH conferences".

Gale International confirmed as Gold sponsor

The developer of the New Songdo City project in South Korea, Gale International, confirm as Gold Sponsors for the Gold + Tuesday lunch sponsorship package. Charles Reid of Gale International will moderate a session of the Congress on the New Songdo City project, with contributions from Christine Whitman of Whitman Strategy Group, Jamie von Klemperer of Kohn Pederson Fox, and Robert Fox of Cook + Fox.

Congress Exhibitors now confirmed

Several companies are now confirmed for the Congress exhibition, including Arup, the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory, CPP, Gale International, Turner International and Value Engineering Associates, as well as the major sponsors of the Congress event Emaar and the AECOM Group. There are now only 6 exhibition stands currently left for booking.

Scientific Committee list confirmed

Chair of the Scientific Committee Antony Wood confirms his team for the paper peer review process. This committee includes Professor Mir Ali of the University of Illinois; Steven M. Baldridge of Baldridge & Associates Structural Engineers; Natalie Brush of Halvorson and Partners Structural Engineers; Richard  Bukowski of NIST; Professor Mahjoub Elnimeiri of IIT; Kerry Galbraith of KEO International Consultants; Joana Carla Soares Gonçalves of the University of Sao Paulo; Professor Emeritus Gary Hart of the University of California; Peter Irwin of RWDI; Richard John of AECOM Faber Maunsell; Jan Klerks of the Dutch Council on Tall Buildings; Robert Lau; Simon Lay of WSP Fire Engineering; Paul Monaghan of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; Philip Oldfield of the University of Nottingham; Matthias Olt of Callison; Lester Partridge of AECOM Bassett Applied Research; David Scott of Ove Arup Ltd; Steve Watts of Davis Langdon;  Peter Weismantle of SOM and Michael Willford of Arup.

Emaar confirmed as main Platinum sponsor

Respected international owner-developer and the driving force behind the Burj Dubai, Emaar, are confirmed as the main platinum sponsors of the Congress.

Rem Koolhaas confirmed as plenary speaker

Prolific architect, thinker, writer and designer of several seminal tall buildings, Rem Koolhaas of OMA, confirms his attendance at the Congress with a plenary presentation entitled: "Tall Articulations: CCTV and other endeavours".

Peter Wynne Rees confirmed as plenary speaker

Respected Chief Planner of the City of London, Peter Wynne Rees, confirms his presentation in the opening plenary session of the Congress, representing London in the 'scene-setting' session on three global cities that are taking both tall buildings and sustainability seriously; Dubai-Chicago-London.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architects involvement confirmed

Adrian Smith, designer for the Burj Dubai whilst a partner at SOM and now founder of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architects, confirms his involvement in the Congress, as does his partner, Gordon Gill, with a paper on 'Zero Energy Tall Buildings'.

Box Fox paper confirmed

Bob Fox of Cook + Fox Architects New York confirms his involvement in the Congress with a paper entitled: "LEED Platinum: Tall Sustainability in the US", encompassing the seminal Bank of America eco-tower and other notable sustainable tall building designs.

AECOM confirmed as Gold-Plus sponsor

The global engineering practice AECOM have been confirmed as one of the two 'Gold-Plus' sponsors for the Congress, sponsoring specifically the Gold Plus 'Welcome Reception' package.

Index Tower technical tour confirmed

This seminal sustainable tower by Foster & Associates, which will be close to topping out by the time of the Congress, has been confirmed as a technical tour option for the afternoon of Tuesday 4th March.

Ken Shuttleworth Paper confirmed

The distinguished architect Ken Shuttleworth of MAKE, formerly of Foster & Partners, confirms his involvement in the Congress with a paper entitled "Form & Skin: Antidotes to Transparency in High Rise Buildings"

Jumeirah Beach confirmed venue for Welcome Reception

The garden / beach terrace of the acclaimed Jumeirah beach hotel will be the setting for the Welcome Reception on the first evening of the Congress, looking out on the Burj Al Arab and the Arabian Gulf.

WSP confirmed as Gold sponsor

The global engineering practice WSP have been confirmed as one of the five 'Gold' sponsors for the Congress, sponsoring specifically the Gold 'Name Badges & Lanyards' package.

'Vertical Farm' Paper confirmed

Acclaimed Columbia University professor, Dickson Despommier, confirms dissemination of his research into the possibilities of using tall structures for urban agriculture with a paper "The Vertical Farm: The skyscraper as a vehicle for a sustainable urban agriculture".

Dubai Rotating Tower Proposal.

David Fisher, Chairman of Dynamic Architecture Group, confirms his involvement in the Congress with a paper on his radical ‘Rotating Tower Dubai’ proposal.

Yeang confirmed for Plenary Presentation.

Renowned Bioclimatic Skyscraper architect Dr. Ken Yeang confirmed as a plenary speaker on the topic of “Designing the Eco-Skyscraper".

Hani Rashid / Asymptote confirm involvement.

Principal of exciting Architectural practice Asymptote, Hani Rashid, confirms his involvement in the Congress with a paper entitled: "Unique Developments in Tall Building Form".

Werner Sobek paper confirmed.

The distinguished high rise engineer, Professor Werner Sobek, has confirmed his involvement in the congress, with a paper entitled: "Advances in Sustainable Tall Building structural systems".

MCI Dubai confirmed as local Congress logistics organiser.

Following negotiations, MCI Dubai - part of the international MCI network - have been confirmed as the local conference organiser for the event. MCI will handle all local logistics, including liason with suppliers, co-ordinating technical visits and local promotion.

CTBUH Chair declares Dubai visit a success.

CTBUH Chairman David Scott declares the 4-day visit of himself and CTBUH Executive Director, Antony Wood, to Dubai to be 'a huge success' - "Not only were we able to secure one of the best venues for the event, we held the first meeting of the conference organizing committee and garnered big support for the initiative. Everyone we spoke to were extremely positive about holding such a high-profile event as a CTBUH World Congress in Dubai', said Scott.

Draft Congress Organising Committee confirmed.

Following invitations, 14 people have been confirmed to the Congress Organising Committee. These people are: Ahmad Abdelrazaq (Samsung Corporation, S. Korea / Dubai); Sabah Al-Rayes (PACE Construction,  Kuwait); Ibrahim Al-Saudi (Omrani & Associates, Saudi Arabia); Alastair Collins (Davis Langdon, UK); Dr. Andy Davids (Hyder, Dubai); Cris Johansen (Nakheel, Dubai); Geri Kery (CTBUH Manager of Operations); Lee Morris (Atkins, Dubai); Alf Seeling (Woods Bagot, Dubai); David Scott (CTBUH Chairman); Richard Vaughan (Davis Langdon, Dubai); Fiona Waldron (Woods Bagot, Dubai); Bruce Wienand (Schirmer Engineering, Dubai); Antony Wood (CTBUH Executive Director).  "There will probably be a need for further people and organizations to be involved", commented CTBUH Chairman David Scott.