Construction of the next world’s tallest building is set to begin next week in Saudi Arabia, it was reported on Sunday.
Once finished, the $1bn Kingdom Tower in Jeddah will stand 1km high – four times taller than The Shard, in London, and over 500 feet taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the current record holder.
The tower will take five years to construct. It is expected to use half a million cubic meters of concrete and around 80,000 tons of steel, Construction Week Online reported.
The finished building will cover a total area of over 500,000m2 and have 200 floors. There will be 59 elevators, including five that are double deckers. Those that take visitors to the observatory will travel at 10 metres per second.
The Kingdom Tower will be the centerpiece of the £13bn Kingdom City development just north of Jeddah, overlooking the Red Sea.
The new city will consist of over 5.3mn m2 of urban development including housing, commercial property, hotels, offices, shops, educational and commercial centres.
Waleed Abdul Jaleel Batterjee, CEO of the Jeddah Economic Company, said: “The vision of constructing the tallest tower in the world in Jeddah belongs to HRH Prince Al Waleed bin Talal.
“His vision is also that the project itself will set the world’s sights on our beloved Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and particularly on Jeddah. Furthermore, the project will help create hundreds of jobs for our Saudi countrymen.”
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