{"id":688755,"date":"2026-01-11T10:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T10:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/688755\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T10:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T10:58:10","slug":"europes-tallest-building-cost-1-7bn-to-build-and-is-a-462m-infrastructure-masterpiece-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/688755\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe’s tallest building cost \u00a31.7bn to build and is a 462m ‘infrastructure masterpiece’ | World | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Massive construction projects<\/a> always attract a lot of attention, especially when they break records. One example is the tallest building in Europe<\/a>, which strangely is located far away from any major city centre. The Lakhta Center is located about seven miles from St Petersburg in Russia<\/a> and officially reaches 462 metres.<\/p>\n

The building cost an estimated \u00a31.5 billion to \u00a31.7 billion to construct. What\u2019s more, its height, design and engineering have led many infrastructure enthusiasts<\/a> to call it a \u201cmasterpiece\u201d. One person left a Google review saying: \u201cJust by looking at it you can tell how magnificent the building is. Let\u2019s not get into too many details about how it was built, but it\u2019s a masterpiece and one of the prettiest buildings ever made.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to infrastructure experts<\/a> at Best Diplomats, the Lakhta Center is not only the tallest building in Europe<\/a> but also the northernmost skyscraper in the world.<\/p>\n

It was completed in 2019 and rises more than three times higher than any other structure in the surrounding area.<\/p>\n

The tower was built as the headquarters of Gazprom, Russia\u2019s<\/a> state-backed energy company, and features a twisting shape.<\/p>\n

The twist is one of the building\u2019s main features. It was designed to reduce wind pressure, which helps the tower stay stable without the heavy dampers used in many other supertall buildings.<\/p>\n

From the base to the top, the structure rotates a full 90 degrees, making each floor slightly different from the one below.<\/p>\n

Inside, the Lakhta Center has offices, shops, restaurants, a science centre and a planetarium.<\/p>\n

The 87-storey building also includes observation areas with views over the Gulf of Finland.<\/p>\n

Its construction set several engineering records. Infrastructure experts at the B1M say the building\u2019s foundation required more than 20,000 cubic metres of concrete, poured continuously over 49 hours.<\/p>\n

This is more than what was used for the Burj Khalifa in Dubai<\/a>. On top of that, the curved glass fa\u00e7ade, made of over 16,500 individual panes, is one of the largest used on any skyscraper.<\/p>\n

The tower\u2019s design was inspired by the layout of a 17th-century Swedish fortress that once stood nearby.<\/p>\n

Engineers<\/a> also had to deal with the cold climate. Ice can build up at the top of the spire and fall, so designers added ice-catching frames and mesh panels.<\/p>\n

Some of the ice collected is reused for the building\u2019s air-conditioning system.<\/p>\n

The Lakhta Center was supposed to be the first building in a new business district. Plans once included two more towers nearby, including one that would reach 700 metres.<\/p>\n

These projects have been paused after Gazprom faced financial problems linked to Western sanctions following Russia\u2019s invasion<\/a> of Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Massive construction projects always attract a lot of attention, especially when they break records. One example is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,77,299,208060,208063,208061,6084,208059,332,208062,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-688755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-europes-tallest-building","14":"tag-europes-tallest-building-cost-u00a31-7bn-to-build-and-is-a-462m-infrastructure-masterpiece","15":"tag-gazprom-headquarters","16":"tag-infrastructure","17":"tag-lakhta-center","18":"tag-russia","19":"tag-russian-infrastructure-masterpiece","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115876115405569158","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}