Twice as high as Burj Dubai

A Middle Eastern real estate company have asked British firm Hyder Consulting to design a structure that will be twice as tall as the Burj Dubai - making it the world's tallest tower.

Speaking at a construction forum in Abu Dhabi last week, Andy Davids, Hyder Consulting's director of structures, told weekly magazine MEED that the tower would be located in the Middle East region.

Contacted by ArabianBusiness.com on Thursday, Hyder Consulting's design and structures team did not provide any further details on the project.

Hyder has been working on Emaar Properties' Burj Dubai, currently the world's tallest structure being built in Dubai and scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008.

Burj Dubai, which is the world's tallest structure, has now reached a height of 604.9 metres (1985 feet) with 159 floors completed, with a final rumoured height to be 818 metres.

Burj Dubai is currently taller than the world's tallest completed building, Taiwan's Taipei 101 and more than 40 metres higher than the world's tallest free-standing structure, Toronto's CN Tower.

Three proposed sky-scraper projects in the Gulf are taking am at Burj Dubai's crown as the world's tallest.

In Saudi Arabia, Kingdom Holding has proposed the Mile High Tower in Jeddah, which would rise to 1,600 metres if completed.

Burj Mubarak Al-Kabir in Kuwait's City of Silk is proposed to be 1,001 metres and Nakheel's Al Burj in Dubai is planned to reach 1,200 metres.

ArabianBusiness.com on February 14 published the first aerial films and photos of Burj Dubai's breakthrough the 600-metre mark.

The aerial footage of the landmark building was taken via a helicopter ride over Dubai on February 2, a day after developer Emaar confirmed the 600 metre-mark had been breached.

The newswire is presenting the spectacular films and photographs as part of a landmark special report, The World Exclusive, commemorating the completion of The World islands in Dubai after nearly five years in development.

The latest aerial film of Burj Dubai can be seen after 3 minutes of the official video, The VIP Experience: Dubai and The World Islands from the Sky, and in the first four minutes of the mobile-camera video.

Full and high-resolution photos of Burj Dubai past the 600-metre mark can be found on photos section of The World Exclusive.