THE record for the world's tallest tower is set to be broken yet again... this time by the Bin Laden family.
The new skyscraper will measure one kilometre high and will be located in Saudi Arabia. The tower will outdo Gulf neighbour Dubai, which inaugurated its own record-breaking skyscraper the 828m Burj Khalifa less than two years ago.
The Saudis awarded a more than $1 billion contract for a spire, to be named the Kingdom Tower. It will have a Four Seasons hotel, serviced apartments, luxury condominiums and offices, encompassing, in all, about half a million square metres.
Kingdom Holding Co, the investment firm headed by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said it signed a $1 billion deal with the Saudi Binladen Group to build Kingdom Tower on the outskirts of the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
The Saudi construction giant is owned by the family of Osama bin Laden. The family disavowed the slain al-Qaeda terror group leader years ago.
"We intend Kingdom Tower to become both an economic engine and a proud symbol of the Kingdom's economic and cultural stature in the world community,'' Talal Al Maiman, a board member of KHC and the Jeddah Economic Co, a KHC-affiliate that signed the deal with the Binladen Group, said.
"We envision Kingdom Tower as a new iconic marker of Jeddah's historic importance as the traditional gateway to the holy city of Mecca.''
The tower, designed by Chicago-based Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture, is the first phase of the planned Kingdom City, a sprawling, $20 billion, two-square mile urban development project first announced in 2008 as the global financial crisis was squeezing world markets.
It is one of several ambitious mega-ventures in the kingdom.
In June 2009, KHC signed a deal with Dubai-based Emaar Properties to develop and oversee the construction of Kingdom City and Kingdom Tower. Emaar, which is partly owned by Dubai's government, is the developer of the tallest building in the world Burj Khalifa.
Alwaleed's proposed skyscraper would shatter the record for Burj Khalifa, which has 160 livable floors and includes a boutique Armani hotel.
At 828 metres, Burj Khalifa is not only the tallest building but also the tallest free-standing structure in the world. By comparison, the tallest building in the US, the Willis Tower in Chicago, stands at 442 metres, although counting its antenna towers it rises to 527 metres. The One World Trade Centre tower being built in New York will measure 541 metres with its antenna spire (417m without). It's due for completion in 2013.
The Binladen company is developing a seven-tower complex in the holy city of Mecca that includes what is billed as the world's largest clock, set on a four-faced tower.
- news.com.au
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