Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Tower has climbed to about 474 metres, reaching a height that puts the unfinished structure alongside some of the world’s tallest completed skyscrapers.
The tower has now reached Level 118 following the latest concrete pour, according to Ian Norman Miller, senior executive project director at Saudi Binladin Group, which is leading construction of the landmark project.
Miller shared the update on LinkedIn, celebrating the construction team for reaching the latest milestone.
At its current height, Jeddah Tower is already roughly level with New York’s Central Park Tower and Wuhan Greenland Center in China.
Central Park Tower rises 472.4 metres and is recognised as the world’s tallest residential building, while Wuhan Greenland Center stands at 475.6 metres, according to data from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
Unlike the two completed skyscrapers, however, Jeddah Tower still has a long way to go.
The Saudi project is designed to rise beyond the one-kilometre mark, setting its sights on taking the title of the world’s tallest building from Dubai’s 828-metre Burj Khalifa.
“For Jeddah Tower and the Saudi Binladin Group team, it’s just another Tuesday on our way to 1km+,” Miller wrote.
The three buildings have another connection besides their similar heights. They were all designed by Chicago-based architectural firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and wind-engineered by Canadian specialist RWDI.
Their distinctive designs are partly a response to the extreme wind conditions faced by supertall structures.
Jeddah Tower has a narrow, tapering profile and a three-winged base.
Its shape gradually changes as it rises, helping reduce the forces generated by strong winds and preventing pressure from being concentrated consistently at one point of the structure.
Wuhan Greenland Center also features a triangular design that becomes narrower towards the top, with its engineering intended to help it withstand strong winds and seismic forces.
Central Park Tower, meanwhile, uses a slender structural design to rise above Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row.
Miller also praised the workers responsible for the latest milestone, thanking the night-shift team led by Prakash Panda and Kabilan Gopalakrishna under the leadership of Fahad Jamalaldeen for “safely achieving Level 118”.
The latest progress marks a significant step for a project that was hit by a lengthy construction stoppage before work resumed.
Saudi Binladin Group is undertaking the main construction of the tower, which will have approximately 530,000 square metres of built-up space.
Estimated completion is August 2028.
Once complete, the development is expected to include residential apartments, offices, hotel facilities, retail space and an observation deck.
The focal point of the development and Jeddah Tower's primary use will be to house a Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons short-rental apartments, Class A office space, and luxury condominiums.
The tower will also have the world's highest observation deck.
Jeddah Tower is the centrepiece of the wider Jeddah Economic City development and has become one of the most closely watched construction projects in Saudi Arabia.
The structure has been described as the world's first “skypiercer” because of its ambition to cross the one-kilometre threshold.
If it reaches its planned height of more than 1,000 metres, Jeddah Tower would stand at least 172 metres above the current record holder, Burj Khalifa.
At Level 118, the Saudi tower has already reached a height that would place it among the tallest buildings on Earth, yet construction crews have more than half of its planned climb ahead.
