I had a call from a property developer of some considerable note, who told me that a freind of his had purchased one of his penthouses, and he was seeking an architect to complete the design... Little did I know at that time that the penthouse was to be on top of the worlds tallest apartment building on the 95th and 96th floors....

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Princess Tower, Dubai.  ( Since it has be superseded by another slightly taller building, but still remains one of the tallest in the world.. )

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My first "trip" up to the top was on the outside of the building in a cage lift, 400meters up.. just a scaffold pole to prevent me from going over the edge and only a concrete central core, because the slab above was yet to be cast... so we were open to the elements, and wind...and it was a very long way down.

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However, fear of heights was nothing compared to the challenge set before me, because the original plans for the exterior of level 96 was ( forgive me ) a disaster.. where there should be glass to take in the views was mainly aluminium facades, and a powder room was proposed with 8 basins, crammed in tiny rooms, in an area of over 15000 sq ft... not good at all.. but fortunately, the client and I had clear visions of what "he" wanted... and "I" knew how to do it.. The first challenge was to get the developer to change practically all of the architectural designs for this floor, and that included the balustrades surrounding all four corner balconies, each with spectacular views. My designs were accepted by my client, now dearest friend, and onwards we went forward.. ( or is that upwards )

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Many meetings and negotiations followed with the developers, and safe to say we won... To agree to our demands was a big undertaking by a developer who already had full planning for the penthouse on the 96th floor, and now they would need to go back to the authorities, and start again.. they did, we were grateful, and the rest is history..

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Oh, and somehow I also won at the International bathroom Designer of the year Award for the Master suite bathroom, from the UK Kitchen and Bathroom Industry ...  Happy Days.