An IMGlobalwealth.com News Report
Saudi Arabia’s long-delayed JEC Tower has passed another major milestone, strengthening its claim to become the world’s tallest building once completed.
The megatall skyscraper, rising in Jeddah near the Red Sea, has reportedly reached 102 floors, according to New Atlas. That follows an April construction update from engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti, which said the tower had surpassed 100 floors and 400 metres in height.Formerly known as Kingdom Tower and also referred to as Jeddah Tower, the project is designed to exceed 1,000 metres, or 3,281 feet.
If completed as planned, it would overtake Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, currently the world’s tallest building at 828 metres.
“… one of the world’s most ambitious architectural projects is no longer a stalled dream, but once again moving upwards”
The tower is being developed by Jeddah Economic Company and designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the Chicago-based firm whose work is closely associated with supertall buildings.
Adrian Smith also designed the Burj Khalifa while at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
AS+GG describes the tower as a mixed-use building, with a luxury hotel, office space, serviced apartments, condominiums and what is intended to become the world’s highest observatory.
The tower’s total built area is listed at 530,000 square metres, with a projected construction cost of around $1.2 billion.
It will also form the centrepiece of Kingdom City, a broader development valued at around $20 billion.
The design is more than symbolic. Its three-petal footprint and tapering profile are intended to improve wind performance, while the building’s concrete structural system has been developed to suit regional construction methods.
Thornton Tomasetti says the tower sits on a five-metre-thick raft foundation supported by 270 bored piles, each 1.8 metres in diameter and extending as deep as 105 metres.
The project has endured years of disruption. Work began in the early 2010s but was later slowed by contractor and financing issues, followed by the wider disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Construction has since resumed, with the Skyscraper Center listing the tower as under construction.Its eventual completion date remains a point of caution.
Some reports refer to a 2028 target, while the Skyscraper Center currently lists 2030 as the expected completion year. Either way, the latest progress suggests that one of the world’s most ambitious architectural projects is no longer a stalled dream, but once again moving upwards.
