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Construction on world's tallest tower moves forward

You Jeddah Believe It

Construction on world's tallest tower moves forward

Construction on the Jeddah Tower—the world's tallest—moves forward. (Courtesy Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture)

Construction on the world’s tallest building is finally moving forward. Officials from Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), the firm behind the Jeddah Tower, an almost 3,300-foot-tall cloudbuster, told area media that after some roadblocks, the $1.5 billion project is moving ahead.

“We have faced delays. In projects of this magnitude you always have delays—I hope we’ll recover the delays we’ve had,” Mounib Hammoud, chief executive of JEC, told Times of Oman. “We will be open for business by 2020, hopefully.”

The tower, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will feature apartments, a hotel, and retail. When it tops out, the Jeddah Tower will reach 3,281 feet, a full 559 feet taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Both structures were designed by Chicago’s Adrian Smith. Every week, structural engineers at Thornton Tomasetti have to check the concrete mixture to ensure changing temperatures and wind conditions don’t affect the integrity of the building.

So far, crews have ascended to the 63rd floor, and the concrete shell and cladding will be completed next year.


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