{"id":875204,"date":"2026-06-18T05:49:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/875204\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T05:49:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:49:23","slug":"worlds-tallest-skyscraper-approaches-major-construction-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/875204\/","title":{"rendered":"World\u2019s Tallest Skyscraper Approaches Major Construction Milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Construction on Saudi Arabia\u2019s Jeddah Tower, which will be the world\u2019s tallest building upon completion, is approaching a major new milestone, accelerating toward its uppermost levels, the engineer behind the tower told Newsweek.<\/p>\n

Once completed, the structure is expected to exceed 1,000 meters (around 3,281 feet), surpassing Dubai\u2019s Burj Khalifa, currently the world’s tallest building<\/a>, which stands 828 meters (2,717 feet) high. <\/p>\n

The tower is designed by architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill, the co-founders of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG), with Smith also known for designing the Burj Khalifa while at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.<\/p>\n

Read More on Travel<\/p>\n

Engineer John Peronto, managing principal at Thornton Tomasetti and project manager for the Jeddah Tower, told Newsweek that the team is pushing \u201cvery aggressively\u201d toward completing the upper observation level around the 160th floor, known as the “sky terrace.” He said the project is roughly \u201c60 weeks out\u201d from reaching that point, describing it as a \u201cmajor milestone\u201d expected in the near future.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The building has already reached significant heights, with Peronto noting it is \u201cpretty close\u201d to the 104th floor, at just over 400 meters (around 1,312 feet). He said construction is moving at an estimated rate of about 4 meters per week, putting the project on track to reach the 500-meter mark in roughly 25 weeks. \u201cI’m sure we will celebrate as a team when we get to 500 meters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The tower\u2019s progress comes amid Saudi Arabia\u2019s broader Vision 2030 initiative, aimed at diversifying the national economy beyond oil. Jeddah Tower is the centerpiece of the Jeddah Economic City, a 5.3 million-square-meter urban development currently under construction.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

However, other major projects in the kingdom have faced delays or uncertainty. NEOM, a vast multi-region development that includes the linear city known as The Line and the floating industrial hub Oxagon, has seen its timelines shift.<\/p>\n

A report by Semafor in May said that funding for The Line has been suspended until at least 2030, as the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, prioritizes infrastructure such as ports and data centers. Some construction contracts tied to NEOM, including those for the Trojena ski resort, were previously reported to have been canceled.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

At the same time, officials have insisted projects remain active. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the PIF, told Al Arabiya Business in April that \u201cno project in NEOM has been canceled,\u201d explaining that some have been delayed because they are not on the critical path.<\/p>\n

Other developments, including the Mukaab\u2014a proposed cube-shaped skyscraper reportedly large enough to contain 20 Empire State Buildings\u2014have also encountered setbacks. Planned construction of the Mukaab was reportedly suspended as part of a broader review of PIF-backed initiatives, the Saudi Press reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Rapid Progress on \u2018Groundbreaking\u2019 Tower<\/p>\n

Jeddah Tower appears to be at the most advanced stage among Saudi Arabia\u2019s flagship megaprojects, and the building is on track for its projected completion date of August 2028, Peronto told Newsweek.<\/p>\n

The construction pace has picked up considerably compared to earlier phases of the project. The engineer said progress is now moving \u201cmuch faster than it ever did,\u201d adding that the team has been averaging roughly one floor per week on the central core. Although holidays and wind conditions have caused short delays, he described the overall pace as strong, saying \u201cthe momentum is high right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tower is expected to rise to at least 167 stories. While Peronto said he could not recall the exact number of occupied floors, he confirmed it would be \u201cdefinitely more than 130 floors\u201d and ultimately \u201cin the 160s [floor level].\u201d Near the top, the design incorporates a \u201csky raft\u201d\u2014a structural transition zone that supports the shift toward the building\u2019s spire, Peronto explained.<\/p>\n

The tower\u2019s unprecedented height presents significant engineering challenges, particularly in terms of construction logistics. Peronto said one of the most \u201cgroundbreaking\u201d aspects of the project is the need to pump concrete to a height of one kilometer\u2014something never previously achieved on this scale.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be pumping the highest concrete pump of any building on the planet,\u201d Peronto said, explaining that advances in technology now allow the team to pump concrete the full height of the tower using a single system, rather than multiple staged pumps as originally anticipated.<\/p>\n

He emphasized that designing an efficient and workable system for such extreme conditions has been one of the project\u2019s most complex tasks.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be able to first design a system that works, design it efficiently so that you can afford it, and then make sure that it’s highly effective and buildable,\u201d Peronto said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Do you have an architecture or design-related story to share? Let us know via s.kim@newsweek.com, and your story could be featured by Newsweek.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Construction on Saudi Arabia\u2019s Jeddah Tower, which will be the world\u2019s tallest building upon completion, is approaching a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":875205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[2513,648,1032,21976,1033,171,60278,271,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-875204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-architecture","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-buildings","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-jeddah","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116769545803817778","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}