An eye on Dubai – world’s largest observation wheel

Breath-taking. Awe-inspiring. Majestic.

There is no shortage of superlatives to describe the magnificent Ain Dubai. Located at the heart of Bluewaters Island, the world’s largest observation wheel offers a stunning view of Dubai’s skyline during both the day and night. 

Our team in the United Arab Emirates provided project management, construction management and cost consultancy services to Dubai Holding and North25 on the complex project, which opened its doors to the public on 21 October 2021.

Standing at over 250 metres tall, Ain Dubai is set to become a world-class, landmark entertainment venue within Bluewaters, Dubai’s must-visit island destination.  

Nearly twice the size of the London Eye, the project’s scale and complexity required exceptional engineering and teamwork, breaking several construction records along the way.   

Surrounded by 48 passenger cabins designed to carry a total of 1,750 passengers at once, through an approximately 38-minute rotation, the observation wheel is supported by four legs which are each 126 metres long. 
 
The hub and spindle assembly weighs 1,805 tonnes - equivalent to the weight of four A380 aircrafts - and was lifted 130m into position using two of the world’s largest cranes. The 48 cabins which surround the wheel are larger than two double-decker buses side by side, and the structure includes 11,200 tonnes of steel, which is around 33 per cent more than the amount of iron used on the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  
 
As part of our strategy to mobilise the project team, the company brought in key experts with best practice experience from previous major engineering projects, such as the London Eye and The Shard. This approach enabled Mace to gain valuable insight into the contractor’s planning methodology and to find practical solutions to the engineering challenges that the project team encountered along the way.  
 
With more than nine million on-site workforce hours and an estimated five million off-site workforce hours, without serious incidents or injury, Ain Dubai builds on Mace’s track record of delivering iconic projects to the highest safety standards.