Three high flying property executives, including two Nakheel employees, are among 13 Australians that have been arrested as part of a major bribery probe in Dubai.

Among those jailed, detained or under house arrest is the former managing director of state-owned Nakheel's Dubai Waterfront development Matthew Joyce. He has not been charged.

Also under investigation is David Brown, architect and middle eastern head of the Sunland Group - a development company part-owned by wealthy Aussie James Packer. Brown has apparently been interrogated eight times and had his passport confiscated.

Sunland has denied Brown's arrest, saying he is there as a witness to the investigation.

Also in jail without charge is Marcus Lee - a senior executive with Nakheel. He has not been charged.

It is believed the bribery allegations involve millions of dollars in consultancy payments by Sunland to Nakheel and a third party over a waterfront property purchase.

Lawyers and Australian authorities are particularly concerned by the probe.

They say Lee and Joyce have been in solitary confinement since January 25, their mental health is suffering and that they have had only little access to family and lawyers.

Worse still, United Arab Emirates laws allow suspects to be held indefinitely without charge.

Top Aussie newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald has reported the men may be scapegoats.

It reports: "There is a lot of face-saving to be done," said one Melbourne property player well versed in business in Dubai. "The sheik can never be responsible, so somebody else has to be."

Nakheel's Dubai Waterfront is the world's largest coastal development and consists of canals and artificial islands that will shelter around Palm Jebel Ali.

While the rest of the world's cement mixers lay covered in dust, Shenzhen in China is going gangbusters.

The city that is presently building the 439m Kingkey Financial Centre has now jumped on the sustainability bandwagon and is about the show the world how it is done with Shenzhen 4 Tower 1.

Since the name is kind of nonsensical, let's just call it the tetris tower because it kind of looks like the architects at Coop Himmelb(l)au were involved in a particularly taxing round of the game while designing it.

And yeah, yeah tetris tower has been bandied around a bit but too bad.

Now to the important stuff: the wave-like outer skin of the 49m building will be lined with photovoltaic cells featuring mechanisms that will increase wind resistance, provide shade for the worker bees inside, provide natural ventilation and display advertising banners.

The outer skin will also be partially powered by solar and wind energy.

Also, the building will be sectioned. Not in a Britney Spears-on-a-stretcher kind of way but into uses. Inside, offices will be at the top, public areas on the bottom and conferences, meetings and gardens in the middle.

The Middle East better watch out - Shenzhen is fast becoming the new Dubai!

Someone once said Fridays are a good day to break bad news because people have the weekend to vent and do things to cheer themselves up.

In keeping with that (probably) misguided nugget of information, here are the top 15 skyscrapers on hold.

It seems to be a bit of a who's who of interesting projects including the Chicago Spire, Moscow Tower - which was to be the tallest tower in Europe - and the zany 56 Leonard Street in New York.

Dubai takes a particular hit with its' dancing towers (now named Signature Towers and pictured on this post) iced as well as Dubai Towers and more.

Check out the full list at Oobject and don't shoot the messenger.

Work on what would have been the world's tallest building, standing more than 1km high, has been put on ice for at least a year.

In a move that suggests the property bubble has finally popped in Dubai, government-owned developer Nakheel said it was halting "further work" on the building's foundations.

It is not known just how much work has already been completed.

"This is part of our readjustment of our immediate business plans to better reflect the current market trends and match supply with demand," Nakheel said in a statement.

It is a bitter blow for the firm, which has also downed tools on the Trump Tower and International Hotel in December and delayed work on projects including Frond N villas, Gateway Towers and schemes at the Waterfront and the Palm Jebel Ali.

The New York Times says the world's hottest property market - Dubai - has gone cold and that this could be the beginning of a big property slide in the emirate.

In reality though, the curse of the skyscraper index strikes again!

Sweltering under the summer sun will be sooo 2009 when Dubai's Palazzo Versace opens its own refrigerated beach in 2010.

The luxury hotel is planning a refrigerated swimming pool and a beach with artificially cool sand to protect its guests from 50°C temperatures.

A system of coolant-filled pipes buried under the sand will absorb the heat, while wind machines will provide a gentle breeze.

Soheil Abedian, founder and president of the luxury hotel brand, says the sand will be cool enough to lie on which "is the kind of luxury top people want".

While the refrigerated sand might cool high-end hoofs, environmentalists are seeing red.

Robin Oakley, head of climate and energy at Greenpeace UK has accused Dubai of being stuck in a time warp: "While Abu Dhabi, like Barack Obama, is betting on green technology as the engine for growth the century and even building a zero-emissions city, Dubai is apparently still stuck in the 1980s".

Hyder Consulting, the British firm behind the cooling project, has apparently signed a confidentiality agreement not to reveal the energy required by the project.

This interesting article claims there is a lack of outspoken environmentalists in Dubai to keep a check on some of the emirates more audacious schemes.

In what is probably best described as blind optimism, Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard has signed a deal that will see a Dubai development named in his honour.

Azizi Investments will name its £150m luxury development the Steven Gerrard Tower and give the footballer a £1m penthouse apartment for letting them.

No word when the project will be completed. But Gerrard's Merseyside neighbours must be hoping he relocates permanently to Dubai after he built a massive £350,000 gym in his backyard.

Let's just hope the building isn't delayed five years during Dubai's downturn - the locals might end up asking "Steven who?"

It isn't turning out to be the best year for mega-rich, hair-challenged celebrity property tycoon Donald Trump.

When he isn't rubbing $100 bills into his hair or pondering the state of the world on his gold toilet, he's watching the property market plummet faster than his skyscrapers can go up.

His latest venture - the Trump Tower and International Hotel in Dubai - has been delayed as developer Nakheel reigns in its spending.

The tower was to be the centrepiece of Palm Jumeriah and ultra-posh. One buyer offered US$3,000 per square foot for a penthouse in the building.

But it seems Nakheel is feeling the impact of the economic downturn and will also delay work on projects including Frond N villas, Gateway Towers and schemes at the Waterfront and the Palm Jebel Ali.

It isn't the first Trump project hit by the downturn in recent times. Trump is also in trouble in Chicago where he is building another super-tall building.

Star Trek's Enterprise could be zooming its way to Dubai to save the troubled emirate from property implosion.

At least that is what a development vaguely resembling a Trekkie communicator badge planned for the troubled emirate suggests.

The Atrium is a 278m tower designed by American firm Pickard Chiltern that rises from a shared podium as two separate towers and halfway up moulds into a single arching tower.

Australian developer QMM will build the skyscraper with the Sunland Group on Dubai's coast and plans to have its 1,000 luxury apartments open by 2013.

Obviously the news that Dubai is on the brink of a bust travels slow down under.

Even the glitz and glam of a £13.5m party in Dubai over the weekend could not hide the news that the emirate is heading steadily towards bust.

The boom of fireworks to celebrate the launch of the £1bn Atlantis Resort could not quiet the shrieks of get-rich-quick investors watching as their credit evaporates.

An interesting article in the Times today looks at the pressures on Dubai's property market and how it is faring in the credit crunch.

And it isn't good news. The Guardian also features a dire article on Emaar Properties' announcement that Dubai will pull back on its building spree and reduce supply.

It seems the old skyscraper theory as reported on another CJ blog could be true - when people start talking about building the biggest skyscraper look out for a financial collapse heading your way.

Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has no intention of letting the economic downturn affect his slice of the world - he has just approved yet another landmark project.

The Dubai Smile, an eye-catching inverted metal bridge, has been approved as the seventh river crossing in the emirate and will be completed in 2012.

The 12 lane bridge, which is 61.6m wide and has a 100m high arch, will be capable of handing 24,000 vehicles an hour and cost about £110m to build.

The bridge will replace Dubai's Floating Bridge over Dubai Creek and aim to reduce appalling traffic congestion.

Hot and humid Dubai is planning the impossible - to stop its residents sweating.

As part of plans to get the Emirate's millionaires walking more, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) plans to build a network of air-conditioned road crossings.

The tube-like crossings will link buildings, roads and subways throughout the urban area - meaning a walk under the hot Middle Eastern sun will no longer require a change of clothes.

RTA chief executive of strategy Abdul Mohsen Ibrahim Younes said the scheme aimed to reduced the reliance on cars and help people avoid traffic jams.

It is not clear when the pilot project will commence or quite how the RTA aims to convince the super-rich to give up their cooled Bentleys and BMWs.

Theoretically it is a concept that just should not work: "Hey, let's put a restaurant in a propeller and stick it on top of a 655m skyscraper!"

But in the land of all things insane and miraculous, Dubai has plans to do it (video below).

The emirate's newest proposed skyscraper, the Anara Tower, will include a massive propeller-like structure at the top, which will house a restaurant in a glass pod in the middle of the spokes.

Designed by Atkins, the tower will also keep gardening types happy with a massive atrium and gardens on every 27 floors (more pics).

It is slated to begin construction in late 2009. Let's hope the money keeps rolling into Dubai and we see this one built!

For hundreds of years Britain has had to contend with every colonial outpost or rival nation laying claim to something intrinsically English.

Just look at those bloody Kiwis who act like they invented fish and chips or the Aussies who reckon they're the kings of cricket.

Now the Middle East has got in on the game. Check out these two projects. Where do you think they got their inspiration?

The Abraj Al Bait Towers in Mecca, Saudi Arabia will hit 595m when completed in 2009. If you group all seven towers together, the development would have the biggest floor area ever with 1,450,000 sq m. Mostly a residential building, its' distinctive feature will be four clock faces on each side of the tower, including two 80m high by 65m wide.

Not content to just look like Big Ben, the 300m high Al Yaqoub tower will also aim to kick Britain's iconic landmark's butt. The 72-storey building will be the tallest clock tower in the world when it's finished shortly, putting our mini-version to shame.

These are the (kind of boring) towers that will form the approach to Dubai's jaw-dropping Palm Jumeirah.

Now for such a cool development (it's the one in the shape of a palm tree), I was expecting something a little...more exciting or something. This is architecturally-insane Dubai after all! The plan is for a 14-storey podium to house a terminus station for the monorail that goes out to the island, as well as food and shopping areas and towers with apartments and offices.

Mott MacDonald will provide technical and site assurance services on the towers and car park podium being built by Taisei.

Mott project manager Rod Williams says: "There is a very challenging timescale, the station is due to be open in April 2009 to meet contractual requirements of Atlantis (a hotel). A futher challenge is that the design of the podium, which houses the stadium as an isolated box - the interior of which is being completed by the monorail contractor - is being developed as the project proceeds."

In these credit crunch times, you can just about bet that if anything is still going up, it is going up in Dubai. So here's a quick guide to some of the more obscene and audacious projects under construction right now.

5. O-14, Business Bay

Architects Reiser + Umemoto originally dreamed this building up as a curtain-wall tower, but decided that would be "ridiculous in Dubai". A much more sane idea obviously was to build a tower with no interior columns, held up by an exoskeleton that has 1,300 holes in it. The 22 storey building will be made of concrete with steel reinforcement. Its exoskeleton acts as a chimney that cools the building and is connected to the slab via "tongues".

4. Falconcity of Wonders

Always dreamed of seeing the seven wonders of the world, but don't like travelling? Why not try Falconcity of Wonders - home to all your favourite ancient wonders plus a few modern ones like the Eiffel Tower and Leaning Tower of Pisa to keep even the fussiest sightseer happy. Yep, Dubai really will be the centre of the world when it finishes construction of its own Taj Mahal, pyramid, hanging gardens of Babylon and Great Wall - not to mention a few others. Oh, and when viewed from space, the city will resemble a falcon. Of course.

3. Burj Dubai

It may not be finished but that hasn't stopped this massive tower taking out the title of the world's tallest man-made structure ever built. Standing at around 707m, it is expected to get as high as 818m. It's also setting construction records left and right, with concrete being pumped 601m high and workers to put in 22 million man hours by its' completion in September 2009. Interestingly, ice is added to make sure the concrete can withstand hot Gulf weather and the weight bearing down on it.

2. Hydropolis

It gets pretty hot in Dubai, so you can kind of see where designers got the inspiration to build an entire hotel the size of Hyde Park under water. The £300m Hydropolis project will be reinforced by concrete and steel with Plexiglas walls and bubble-shaped dome ceilings that let visitors see the marine life around them. But construction hasn't gone swimmingly, with contracts cancelled or delayed. It should be open late 2009.

1. The World

Could there be a more audacious name for a building project? Thumbing its' nose at rising sea levels, Dubai is building 300 islands in the shape of the world 4km offshore. Initial development is completed and 232km of shoreline has been created. Rumoured to have bought their own piece of the world are Posh and Becks, drummer Tommy Lee and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Anything you can do I can do better - that's the message from Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal to Dubai's tall building developers.

In a competition of one-upmanship, the prince has announced he will build the world's tallest building in Jeddah - taller than even the Burj Dubai.

The prince's firm Kingdom Holding Company says the building will be more than 1km high and cost £15.5m. But they're keeping the exact height of Kingdom City under wraps so rival developers do not have a specific height to surpass.

It sounds like he could win, with the Burj Dubai expected to top out at 818m (currently it's at 707m).

But that is only if another Dubai developer Nakheel underestimates the size of its' 1km high building. Yep, Nakheel is also planning to build "the world's tallest building". And yes, it's final height is also a secret.