A high-rise tower in Doha’s West Bay has been adjudged the best tall building in the Middle East and Africa region by an international design agency. The Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), the world’s leading authority on the design; construction; and development of tall buildings, selected the 52-storey Tornado Tower as one of the finest buildings in the region. Manitoba Hydro Place in the city of Winnipeg, Canada; Broadgate Tower in London and Linked Hybrid Building in Beijing are the other three buildings that won the Council’s “Best Tall Building Award”. The award for the Doha tower is being described as a global testimony to the quality of architecture and urban development in Qatar. The principal criteria used by CTBUH in conferring these awards are based on the projects making an extraordinary contribution to the advancement of tall buildings, and use of fresh ideas and innovative processes that not only help advance the profession of design but also improve the ambience of the cities where the buildings have been constructed and the well-being of the inhabitants. Launched by Qatar Investment Projects and Development Holding Company, one of the leading private shareholding companies in Qatar, the Tornado Tower was designed by Munich-based architects SIAT Robinson Pourroy. The tower has been designed to the highest specifications and constructed to international safety and security standards. The outer steel structure of the tower can be accentuated by a special lighting system designed especially for the tower by renowned light artist Thomas Emde. The system can be programmed to produce over 35,000 dazzling light displays. The tower offers 58,029 square metres of leasable office accommodation incorporating quality finish throughout the building, as well as raised floors and flexible, column-free floor plates. Sixteen high-speed passenger lifts will shuttle people up and down the tower at speeds of up to two floors a second. A media belt in the lobby will continuously display business and financial news from around the world. In addition, an emergency escape helipad is located on the roof. The awards ceremony will be held on October 22, 2009 in Chicago. On the occasion, the Awards Committee will announce the ‘Overall Winner for the Best Tall Building in the world’ from the four regional awards. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=July2009&file=Local_News20090712342.xml

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