It’s been 14 years since the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, first opened its doors to the public.
The skyscraper in Dubai, UAE, stands at an astonishing 828 m (2,716 ft 6 in) and holds multiple Guinness World Records titles.
Construction of it began on 6 December 2004 and it officially opened on 4 December 2010.
Its status as the tallest building in the world even saw it inducted into our Hall of Fame, but could it be about to lose the title?
A building currently under construction in Saudi Arabia is expected to be even taller than the Burj Khalifa once it’s complete.
Jeddah Tower, also called Kingdom Tower, is reportedly going to be over 1,000 m (1 km; 3,281 ft) tall.
The Jeddah Economic Company building will be a mixture of luxury housing, office space, serviced apartments and luxury condominiums.
And it’s said it’ll also be home to the “world’s highest observatory”, although the only record like this that we monitor at the moment is highest astronomical observatory – the University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory, which is located at an altitude of 5,640 m (18,503 ft).
The Burj Khalifa houses a hotel, luxury residencies, office space, observation decks, restaurants, and health facilities.
So, given that there are some similarities, if the Jeddah Tower does indeed end up being taller, will it take other records from the Burj Khalifa?
Here’s a full rundown of the records held by the building:
• Tallest building – 828 m (2,716 ft 6 in)
• Most floors in a building – 163
• Highest outdoor observation deck – 555.7 m (1,823 ft 1.9 in)
• Highest fireworks on a building – set on New Year’s Eve 2015 when fireworks erupted from every side of the top of the building
• Tallest freestanding structure – 828 m (2,716 ft 6 in)
• Largest LED-illuminated façade - 44,956.77 m² (483,910 sq ft)
• Highest residential apartments - 385 m (1,263 ft)
• Tallest man-made structure on land - 828 m (2,716 ft 6 in)
• Tallest man-made structure on land ever - 828 m (2,716 ft 6 in)
The construction of Jeddah Tower is reportedly expected to cost around $1.23 billion.
Located on the north side of Jeddah, it will be the centrepiece of the Jeddah Economic City project, previously known as Kingdom City, a 5,202,570 m² (56,000,000 sq ft) site of commercial and residential properties estimated to be costing $20 billion.
Construction of the Jeddah Tower only resumed in 2023 following five years of inactivity, and no firm timeline for completion has been announced.
But if its reported size and facilities do all eventually come to fruition, it looks likely that the Burj Khalifa could lose some of its record titles.
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