Jeddah Tower Reaches Construction Milestone, Eyes 2028 Completion

The Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, set to become the world’s tallest building, has achieved a significant construction milestone. This record-setting skyscraper, crafted by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) and built by Saudi Binladin Group (SBG), now stands at 454 meters (approximately 1,489 feet) on its 113th floor. Ian Norman Miller, an executive project director at SBG, shared this update on LinkedIn.

Jeddah Tower’s height now surpasses the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, which, at 452 meters (about 1,483 feet), held the title of the world’s tallest building in 1998. This information comes from the Skyscraper Museum.

“It is humbling when you understand the significance of surpassing a previous world’s tallest building record holder and the effort required to reach this milestone,” said architect Bob Forest, partner at AS+GG, speaking to Newsweek. He highlighted the team’s perseverance in dealing with the extreme heat of Jeddah’s summer.

Once completed, the Jeddah Tower will rise over 1,000 meters (around 3,281 feet), surpassing the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which currently holds the title at 2,717 feet. Smith also designed the Burj Khalifa while at SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) before founding AS+GG. The advancement in Jeddah follows other skyscraper achievements, such as the planned Bevel tower in the U.S. and China’s Tianjin 117 Tower.

A Landmark Construction Milestone

Miller shared on LinkedIn, “454 METERS. LEVEL 113. Thirty years ago, my father helped build the World’s Tallest Building. Today, Jeddah Tower – being built by Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) – surpassed it.”

He reminisced about the construction of Petronas Towers and expressed pride in leading the Jeddah Tower’s progress, surpassing this feat with his SBG team.

Bob Forest of AS+GG recalled his days in Hong Kong during Petronas Towers’ completion. It represented a milestone for Asian architecture. Forest shared his hopes as a young architect to contribute to such landmark projects, realizing those dreams with the Jeddah Tower.

On Track for Completion in 2028

Forest highlighted ongoing engineering challenges, with the structural system needing to perform efficiently at unprecedented heights. Weather conditions significantly influence construction pace, such as halting work due to high winds. Forest explained the unpredictability of wind speeds despite climate modeling predictions.

He praised the construction team’s productivity and learning curve, allowing efficient completion. Forest stated, “With the team’s dedication to the process, Jeddah Tower is on track to meet its planned completion date” of August 2028.

Upcoming Milestones

The Jeddah Tower has two upcoming height milestones. The first is reaching 500 meters (around 1,640 feet), marking roughly the building’s halfway point. Achieving this will signal the need to double the height for full completion.

Following the 500-meter benchmark, the tower aims to surpass Taipei 101, signifying that only one current tallest building record remains to be beaten. Forest indicated each milestone holds significance but prioritizes the tower’s journey to exceed 1 km in height for ultimate completion and goal achievement.