Construction works on the proposed world’s tallest building is scheduled to begin this week in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom Tower skyscraper is being developed by Kingdom Holding, who appointed Saudi Bin Ladin Group for the building and Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture for the design of the tower.
Kingdom Tower will measure 3,280ft high, which is about 568ft taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the current world’s tallest building.
Advanced Construction Technology Services (ACTS) will carry out the quality control of all construction materials for use in the project.
ACTS chairman Khaled Awad said that the appointment of ACTS as an independent testing agency is a vote of trust in its capabilities and experience in materials testing and engineering.
“We will be investing our experience and knowledge to provide accurate, traceable and reliable test information in the largest megatall building in the world,” Awad said.
The $1.23bn building will spread across an area of 530,000m² and will require around 5.7 million ft² of concrete and 80,000t of steel for its 200 floors.
The tower will house a five-star hotel, apartments, office space and an observatory. It will have 59 elevators, including five double deckers.
The subsidiary of Kingdom Holding, Jeddah Economic CEO Waleed Abdul Jaleel Batterjee said the project itself will set the world’s sights on Saudi Arabia and particularly on Jeddah.
“Furthermore, the project will help create hundreds of jobs for our Saudi countrymen,” Batterjee said.
Construction on the Kingdom Tower is expected to be completed by 2017.