Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is considering plans for a 2-kilometer megatall tower as part of an 18-sq-km master-planned development to the north of 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.
A design competition with a participation fee of $1m is underway for the record-breaking tower, according to multiple sources close to the contest. About eight firms have been invited to participate in the competition. The firms involved include some of the world’s leading names in architecture, which have been selected based on their experience working on other megatall towers and iconic designs around the world.
The prospective participants include US-based firms Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture, Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) and Gensler; 10Design, which is part of France’s Egis; and Dubai-based Killa Design.
The project site is located west of the existing King Khalid International airport, and EY conducted a feasibility study for the development. For the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the cost of the tower was justified because it enhanced the land values of the surrounding Downtown district.
The developer of the Burj Khalifa, Dubai-based Emaar, used the strategy again when it launched The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour in April 2016 to boost property sales of the surrounding Dubai Creek Harbour development. That tower, planned to be at least 928 metres tall, has not progressed beyond the raft foundation. Riyadh’s proposed tall tower is just one major project planned for the northern outskirts of Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia has planned tall buildings before. 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. Attempts to revive the project have not proceeded as companies are reluctant to take on any liabilities from contractors and consultants that had previously worked on the scheme.
