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Abu Dhabi tower set for Guinness Book of Records

Developers Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company and CC, the architects behind the Capital Gate, have submitted a joint application to the Guinness Book of Records to recognise the tower.

Capital Gate leans westwards by 18 degrees compared with the leaning Tower of Pisa which leans less than four degrees.

It is an unique construction. It is being built on top of a dense mesh of reinforced steel, which in turn will sit above 490 piles, drilled 30 metres underground to accommodate the gravitational, wind and seismic pressures caused by the lean of the building.

'Capital Gate will be a building that the world will talk about, not because it has surpassed another building as the world's tallest, but because of its aesthetic splendour and technical achievement,' said Simon Horgan, chief executive officer of ADNEC Group.

It also has other unique qualities. Capital Gate will feature 728 custom-made diamond-shaped glazing panels, each fitted at a slightly different angle due to the structure's curving shape.

The tower forms part of the Capital Centre development – a $2.2bn business and residential micro city.

Meanwhile a troubled tower is back on track. Contractors working on the Infinity tower, Dubai's famous twisting tower, are on a fast track after a collapsed wall halted work.

The reason for the collapse of the marina facing wall on the 80-storey Infinity Tower is still not known. An investigation is still on going. 'It has had a big impact on our schedule,' said Kareem Derbas, partner and chief executive officer of developer, Cayan. Completion is now being given as December 2011 but it could be finished earlier, he added.

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