The Burj Dubai is now The Burj Khalifa

Last night's opening ceremony

As the world's tallest tower was unveiled last night to much pomp and circumstance, an even more stunning occurrence happened - the Burj Dubai announced it a name-change. It is now the Burj Khalifa.

Whilst Emaar Properties may have hoped that the building's height would be the main focus (confirmed on the night as 828m (2,716ft), it was the name-change that raised the most eyebrows.

The dramatic alteration occurred during the ceremony as Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum announced that the tower would be named after the president of the UAE and the ruler of the neighbouring emirate of Abu Dhabi - Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

It is clearly no coincidence that the name-change occurs a mere month after Abu Dhabi gave Dubai a handout of $10 billion (£6.13 billion) to help it pay off its debts.

Additional costs?

While the change to the name may have been a gracious nod to the UAE ruler, the skyscraper's developers now face a whole host of alterations to make - be it signs or items available for sale in the building's gift shop.

This, however, will not be a cheap endeavour; the district in which the 'Burj' is located is currently called "Downtown Burj Dubai." It is identified as such on road signs and maps as has been for the past several years. This will now presumably become "Downtown Burj Khalifa, meaning that literally hundreds of signs will have to be changed, along with maps, business cards, tourist information and stationery.

One blog has revealed that the skyscraper's owners have just spent more than $500,000 on Burj Dubai uniforms for security and hotel personnel. No doubt these will need to now be changed, though I'm sure a new patch can save costs.

Ironically, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktou's last minute decision to change the name might cost the emirate a large amount of cash to ratify, something that the UAE might be funding with their handout.

Relevant articles:

Burj Dubai's opening ceremony tonight | The Dubai debt crisis | How will the Dubai crisis affect UAE growth?

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