1,000-m-high Kingdom Tower will be built in Jeddah

THE world’s tallest tower to be built in Jeddah, the Kingdom Tower, will be completed by the middle of 2017, said Kingdom Holding Company (KHC).

The skyscraper, which will stand tall at 1,000 metres, is the centerpiece and the first construction phase of Kingdom City Jeddah, the new urban project of Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) to be developed on more than 5.3 million sq m of land overlooking the Red Sea and Obhur Creek.

A team led by Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) created the design. The team also comprised building services engineering consultants, environmental systems design and structural engineering consultants, Thornton Tomasetti, engineer of three of the world’s top 10 tallest buildings.

“The final license to construct the world’s tallest tower was formally received from the Jeddah municipality in February and it will be completed in 63 months,” according to KHC chairman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

In another developement, the project developer Saudi Bin Laden Group has bought a strategic 16.63 per cent stake in the tower project for SR1.5 billion ($399.9 million) as part of its growth strategy.

With this investment, the total capital in JEC, the owner of the Jeddah mega project that includes Kingdom Tower, has risen from SR7.3 billion to SR8.8 billion, said Prince Alwaleed, who has been the driving force behind the tower.

To be built over a total construction area of over 500,000 sq m, the soaring Kingdom Tower will be a mixed-use project featuring a Four Seasons hotel and serviced apartments, first class office space, luxury condominiums and an observatory that will be higher than the world’s current highest observation deck.

The contract for construction of the tower was signed with Saudi Bin Laden group for SR4.6 billion ($1.2 billion) and the overall estimated cost of the entire Kingdom City Jeddah project is anticipated to be SR75 billion ($20 billion).