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Saudi Arabia shortlists architects for megatall tower

17 March 2023

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has shortlisted architects for the design of its proposed 2-kilometre (km) megatall tower in Riyadh.

The proposed tower will be more than double the height of the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which is 828 metres tall.

Contractors that have priced megatall towers in the region say that depending on the final design, a 2km-tall structure could cost about $5bn to construct.

MEED reported in December that a design competition with a participation fee of $1m was under way for the record-breaking tower.

About eight firms have been invited to participate in the competition. The participants include US-based firms Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture; Kohn Pedersen Fox; and Gensler. Also taking part are 10Design, which is part of France’s Egis, and Dubai-based Killa Design.

The tower is part of an 18-square-kilometre (sq km) masterplanned development to the north of Riyadh. It is not clear whether this is the recently launched New Murabba development or a separate project.

Riyadh projects

A masterplan for an expansion to the airport, which is also to the north of Riyadh, was announced in November. It will be known as King Salman International airport and, if completed on time in 2030, it will become the largest airport in the world in terms of passenger capacity. It will cover an area of about 57 sq km, allowing for six parallel runways, and will include the existing terminals at King Khalid International airport.

Other tall buildings are planned elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, and the scale of the structures reflects Riyadh’s confidence as it moves to deliver the objectives set out by Vision 2030 with a series of self-styled gigaprojects. 

Saudi Arabia has planned tall buildings before. The PIF was considering plans for a tower of up to 1.2km in height at King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) on a plot known as KAFD X. Consultants were preparing designs for the project in 2019.

Another tall tower planned for Saudi Arabia is the 1,008-metre Jeddah Tower Scheme. Construction work on that tower began about 10 years ago and subsequently stalled after the structure reached about 70 storeys.

According to the Council on Tall Buildings & Urban Habitat (CTBUH), a supertall building is over 300 metres tall, while one that measures over 600 metres is considered megatall. Currently, there are 173 supertalls and only three megatalls completed globally, says the CTBUH.

According to tall building database Emporis, only two completed structures in the Middle East are megatall: the Burj Khalifa and the 601-metre-tall Mecca clock tower.

MEED's April 2023 special report on Saudi Arabia includes:

> CONSTRUCTION: Saudi construction project ramp-up accelerates

> UPSTREAM: Aramco slated to escalate upstream spending

> DOWNSTREAM: Petchems ambitions define Saudi downstream

> POWER: Saudi Arabia reinvigorates power sector

> WATER: Saudi water begins next growth phase

> BANKING: Saudi banks bid to keep ahead of the pack

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Colin Foreman

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