Ferris: the brains behind the very first big wheel

As news emerged that Dubai will become the home of the world's largest Ferris Wheel, the 154th birthday of its original creator was being marked yesterday.

George Washington Gale Ferris, born in 1859, was behind the engineering marvel that has been getting people in a spin for more than a century.

His dream was to create something to eclipse the Eiffel Tower, but he surely could never have imagined his brainchild would one day capture the imagination of the Middle East.

The announcement of the 210-metre high Dubai Eye, earmarked for a site near Jumeirah Beach Residence, will set a watermark in the wheel world. It will outstrip the current record-holder – the five-year-old 165-metre Singapore Flyer – by 45 metres.

It is all a far cry, both height and technology-wise, from Ferris's original "Eureka" moment in 1893. While the World's Columbian Exhibition was being planned in Chicago, the American engineer, then 33, arrived with the vision of building a giant structure that would "out-Eiffel Eiffel".

Ferris hit on the idea of a huge,?revolving observation wheel, which was mapped out on scraps of paper.

His plans were at first dismissed by a committee, which said it would not be safe.

But he convinced a team of fellow engineers to vouch for the safety of his design and, more importantly, provide the cash to fund it.

When Ferris' sketches were transformed into steel reality, the world gasped.

Two 42.6-metre towers supporting the wheel were connected by a 13.7-metre axle, the largest single piece of forged steel to be made at that time. The wheel section had a diameter of 76 metres and was 251 metres in circumference. Two 1,000-horsepower reversible engines powered the revolutionary ride, with 36 wooden cars each holding up to 60 riders.

A spin on the original Ferris wheel cost 50 US cents – a large sum in those days – and the total take during the World Fair was US$726,805.50 (Dh2.7m).

Since its unveiling in Chicago, eight more wheels have set world records for height, and Dubai will be the ninth.

The Dubai Eye, a dominating presence on the Emirates coastline, will not come cheap. It is estimated it will cost Dh1 billion.

In context, Ferris's original wheel cost US$400,000.

The Dubai wheel will be the first phase of a Dh6bn entertainment project which will start this?summer.

jbell@thenational.ae

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”