Work on what will become the world’s tallest building started in 2013 and was supposed to be concluded by 2020. A break in construction works in 2018 was prolonged by the Covid-19 pandemic however, bringing any progress to a halt. Although no new projected deadline had been announced yet, work has reportedly started again on the over 1,000 metres high tower.
Similar to Burj Khalifa, the exact height the tower will reach is yet unknown and will probably only be revealed once it is completed, but the aim is to make it the first tower in the world to surpass the 1,000-metre mark. The Jeddah Tower, formerly known as Kingdom Tower, is also planned to become the building with the most floors in the world – 252, 167 of which being habitable.
Initially expected to cost $1.2 billion to construct, although the estimate is likely to have changed after the 5-year break in construction, the tower will be the centrepiece and first building on the $20 billion Jeddah Economic City development project. “We are creating an independent city … so that you don’t have to leave here. It’s changing the mindset of Jeddah”, Hisham Jomah, chief development officer of Jeddah Economic Company, told CNN in 2018, before works stopped.
Jeddah is going to be repositioned on the international scene of modern cities. You speak about downtown Dubai – and now we’re going to have downtown Jeddah.
Hisham Jomah, Chief Development Officer, Jeddah Economic Company.
Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG), Jeddah Tower will be a mixed-use building featuring a luxury hotel, office space, serviced apartments, luxury condominiums and the world’s highest observation deck. Planned for the 157th floor, a statement from AS+GG reveals the diameter of the terrace to be 30 metres, which would make it a little over 700 square metres.
© AS+GG 
© AS+GG
The first 5 floors of the Tower will be used for retail, while floors 6 to 90 will be reserved for office spaces. Residences will take the 94th to 114th floors, with 500 apartments spread into 4 tiers of luxury. Besides having their own private entrance, apartments in tier 4 will be laced with gold. Floors 115 to 156 will be occupied by the Four Seasons Hotel with close to 200 rooms, several restaurants and other amenities.
The great height of Jeddah Tower will require one of the world’s most sophisticated elevator systems. The complex will contain 59 elevators, including 54 single-deck and five double-deck elevators, along with 12 escalators. Elevators serving the observatory will travel at a rate of 10 meters per second in both directions. The relatively slower speed compared to other skyscraper elevators is expected to reduce the nausea people often get when using high-speed lifts.
