Kone, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, has been selected to provide the world’s fastest and highest double-decker elevators to the Kingdom Tower, set to be the world’s tallest building when complete.

Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), a company chaired by Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Al Saud, is the owner and developer of the Kingdom Tower and Kingdom City in Jeddah.

Kingdom Tower, which is being built by Saudi Bin Laden Group, is expected to rise to the height of more than one kilometre upon completion in 2018.

Featuring Kone’s people flow solutions, the building will have the world’s fastest double deck elevators with travel speed of over 10 m/s as well as the world’s highest elevator rise at 660 m.

Kingdom Tower will house offices, a Four Seasons hotel and serviced apartments, residential apartments as well as the world’s tallest observation spot.

The building will be equipped with altogether 65 Kone elevators and escalators. The order includes Kone Double Deck MiniSpace elevators with revolutionary Kone UltraRope hoisting technology.

Kone UltraRope is a new high-rise elevator technology that is set to break industry limits and enable future elevator travel heights of one kilometre – twice the distance currently feasible.  The technology eliminates the disadvantages of conventional steel rope and opens up a world of possibilities in high-rise building design.

The Kone equipment in Kingdom Tower will include 21 Kone MonoSpace elevators, 29 MiniSpace elevators, seven DoubleDeck MiniSpace elevators and eight TravelMaster 110 escalators.

To complement the building’s exclusive look, Kone will provide the customer with tailor-designed car interiors and landing doors as well as latest People Flow Intelligence solutions including Kone Destination Control Systems and premium Infoscreen displays.

Other special solutions include Kone E-Link remote monitoring systems, as well as an occupant evacuation operation system for emergency situations. The order includes a ten-year equipment maintenance contract.

”We have been highly impressed with Kone’s innovative solutions to high-rise buildings. This is another corner stone for a development of this magnitude and we look forward to creating this landmark building in all standards”, said Mounib Hammoud, CEO of JEC.
 
"Close cooperation between all project partners, and with Kone Areeco team locally, our technical professionalism and people flow planning expertise was a winning combination in helping us land the order,” said Noud Veeger, executive vice president for Kone in Asia Pacific and Middle East. “We hail this project with great excitement,” he added.

Kingdom Tower is the centerpiece and first construction phase of the Kingdom City development, located along the Red Sea on the north side of Jeddah.

Kone Areeco is Kone’s Saudi Arabian joint venture company with Kone holding 50 per cent of the shares. - TradeArabia News Service