Saudi Bin Ladin Group (SBG) recently commissioned a Lebanese consulting firm to test the materials necessary to build the world’s next tallest building in Jeddah. Among other things, Advanced Construction Technology Services (ACTS) has to figure out how to pump 500,000 cubic meters of concrete 1km into the sky.

The 1km high Kingdom Tower, if it is ever actually built, will be 173 meters (568 feet) taller than the world’s current tallest building in Dubai – the Burj Khalifa.

As one might imagine, building such a tall structure comes with a suite of engineering challenges – especially given its location along the Red Sea. With a tremendous footprint of 530,000 square meters (5.7 million square feet), the 200 story tower is expected to cost at least US$ 1.23 billion.

ACTS has worked in Saudi Arabia in the past, so they were a good fit for this quality control position, and they are devoting a lot of manpower to the project. Their chief task will be to find concrete that is strong enough to pump 1,000 meters high.

Oh, and the project will require a measly 80,000 tons of steel.

“The appointment of ACTS as an independent testing agency for one of the most challenging engineering structures in the world, is a vote of trust in ACTS’ capabilities and extensive experience in materials testing and engineering,” ACTS Chairman Khaled Awad told Saudi Gazette.

“We will be investing our experience and knowledge to provide accurate, traceable and reliable test information in the largest megatall building in the world.”

Related: Architecture Pornography – Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Tower

Now that we’re done with the facts, we have to ask – what is the point of such a flagrant misuse of natural resources?

An additional 160 floors of residential apartments could be used to provide housing for Jeddah’s expanding population, but at a time when species are going extinct, sea levels are rising, weather systems are changing, and water and food are scarce, surely the Saudis can come up with a more humble way of providing for their people?

But this isn’t about housing. If the Burj is any indicator, living in the tower will be extraordinarily expensive, and therefore reserved for the elite. No, we have to think this is about pride – the scourge of our planet.

Saudi wants to be the best, better than the Emiratis, better than the West, and better than Asia, where soaring skyscrapers seem to be built every other week. Even if this bombastic project requires great engineering prowess, it has no redeeming qualities.

Not only will all that steel and all that concrete require untold quantities of precious energy and water, but that money could be so much better spent. Think Syrian refugees, for example.

More than one million people a couple of countries over barely have shoes for their feet or blankets to keep them warm, much less a penthouse apartment 1,000 meters up in the sky.

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The intrepid Google team that set out to capture images from the soaring skyscraper in Dubai needed three days to get the job done.

Not only did they capture photographs from the 80th floor window cleaning gantry, they also ascended to the vertigo-inducing heights of the 124th floor, where they encountered 40mph winds.

Trekker backpacks and trolleys were key to the successful execution of this daring project.

These are new android-powered cameras, 15 five megapixel cameras in one resilient backpack, that Google designed in order to reach places that even a bicycle or snow machine can’t reach.

The 40 pound packs have two batteries that last all day, according to Google.

“The Burj Khalifa is special because it’s the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world” said Pascal Malite, Google’s Street View Program Manager.

“We are here to bring to the user the possibility to see this huge, immense, wonderful building,” she added.

This is the first time that Google’s Street View team has worked on a project like this in an Arab country, and now it is possible for just about anyone to experience the Burj without a costly, carbon-intensive flight across the globe.

:: Engadget

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Update: 2020: Construction of the Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, also known as the Kingdom Tower, has been plagued by political, economic and labour issues, with the proposed completion date of 2020 deemed unrealistic for many years now.

Boys, boys, boys, when will you learn that size doesn’t matter as much as performance? Next Azerbaijan broadcast plans to top that with their own mile-high cloud-puncher. Then Pakistan upstaged both with their own biggest building boast.

And performance brings us full circle back to Team Saudi who just commissioned the project delivery team for their kilometer-high Kingdom Tower. Even though 7 years later the project never managed to launch while the Saudi King is building Neom on the Red Sea. Is this engineering ingenuity, diversion, or architectural porn?

Actions speak louder than empty press releases. Obama may have scratched another trip to the moon, but, regrettably, the terrestrial race towards the heavens is on.

Green Prophet’s told you all about Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Tower. First conceived years back, geological testing commenced in 2008 for the planned one-mile-high structure. That initial engineering resulted in a down-sizing of tower height, which still bests Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.

Now Kingdom Tower is off the theoretical and into production. Its staying power lies in its wider context of regional development and in the deep pockets of its owner, billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The Prince likes his things big.

The Tower is the centerpiece of an ambitious urban development project called Kingdom City, a phased construction on 2 square miles of undeveloped waterfront property near the Red Sea port city of Jeddah. Once the Tower’s erected, they’ll be multiple phases of expansion and major infrastructure works to support it all.

British-based EC Harris and Mace have hooked up to provide project, commercial and design management for the $1.2 billion development which will break ground later this year. (Construction, by Bin Laden Group, is planned to wrap up in six years.)

This team’s delivered over 100 skyscrapers including London’s Shard and Abu Dhabi’s The Landmark. Adrian Smith, the American architect behind the Burj Khalifa and New York City’s Trump Tower, is the designer.

Stack up those four skyscrapers and you could run a 5k race along their facades without ever treading on something sustainable. Despite their sky-high project price tags, they are devoid of innovative design elements that would reduce their gargantuan environmental impacts or enhance occupant safety.

Consider the waste generated, the power and water consumed, the resultant road congestion, and the devastating impact on local real estate. Consider the thousands of birds who die in collisions with the acres of tower skin (ornithologist Daniel Klem, Jr. estimates that collisions with skyscraper glass kills up to 1 billion birds a year in the United States alone). Are Jeddah emergency services equipped to handle fires a kilometer above ground? Think of the attraction for splashy acts of terror.

Then read through their project press releases. You’ll find nothing to address those previous questions, but spot a few ho-hum green features including proximity to mass transit, high performance thermal glass, and efficient plumbing fixtures. The same can be said about my little apartment which was built over 25 years ago.

Middle Eastern mega-projects tend to chase world records in terms of manly dimensions or bloated price tags. What would it take to incite project teams to hit new heights in green technologies? Buildings made from smart materials that don’t deplete already-stressed water resources, with on-site renewable energy-generation. International media would eat it up, and it would be a powerful project differentiator for all stakeholders to lay claim to, with bragging rights to the host nation.

Call me Miss Cranky, but these competitions to see whose is biggest are better suited for the locker room and not the world construction stage.

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Abu Dhabi Group will construct the world’s tallest building in Pakistan. It’s the stuff of dreams. Let’s hope it stays that way. The project will surpass Dubai’s Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building in Dubai) as part of a $45 billion national investment by Pakistani tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain, according to Construction Week Online.

The mega-deal between Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, chairman of Abu Dhabi Group, and Hussain was just inked in Abu Dhabi.  Sheikh Al Nahyan said, “I am genuinely happy that in this historic project we are working with visionary Malik Riaz Hussain, this guarantees that the project will be delivered beyond our expectations but also before time. We will Inshallah be welcoming first residents in next three to four years.”

Watch that space.  Not a single major capital project has come in as per original schedule in the Middle East in a decade (developments related to elite sporting events are excluded from that broad smack-down).  It’s the economy, stupid.  Development money flows at a trickle, and new space is hard to sell.

Hussain also plans to build a series of single-themed cities for media, medicine, education and sports, as well as miniature versions of the Seven Wonders of the World.  Is Pakistan aiming to “out-Vegas” Dubai?

About $10 billion of the planned budget will be spent in Lahore and Islamabad and $35 billion will pour into Sindh.  The combined works are expected to create 2.5 million jobs.

Is this marvelous or misdirected? 

The world’s tallest building plunked down in Pakistan, the world’s sixth most populous nation that suffers from poverty, terrorism, illiteracy and corruption. The literacy rate (for population above ten years old) is 58.5%, and over a third of its people are under age 15.  Half of Pakistan’s’ urban dwellers lack access to sanitation, resultantly, gastroenteritis (transmitted through waterborn pollutants) is a leading cause of death.

As typical in a developing nation, efforts to spur economic growth undermine environmental protections.  Waste disposal is largely unregulated and there are no controls on vehicular emissions. Pakistan has the second-highest rate of deforestation in the world. But hey, it’s location, location, location.

Amidst the media shock and awe reporting on this story, one quiet blogger offered a clear perspective.  Ali Rafiq writes on The Tribune website:

“The tallest building on the planet, Burj Khalifa, was built in 2010 when Dubai was ranked as the seventh most visited city in the world. The second tallest building, the Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel, was built in a city that is visited by several million pilgrims annually as part of an obligate religious duty. The third tallest building in the world, the Taipei 101, is located in a city that holds one of the largest global foreign exchange reserves and boasts virtually full employment.

“The crux of the discussion is that all such buildings symbolise already existing prosperity in their respective cities, instead of initiating the process of development.

“When the Mughals, at the peak of their power, were busy building lavish architectural miracles like the Taj Mahal, the West invested in the field of science. The effect of these different approaches are being felt a couple of centuries later when the West has left us far behind in terms of development. The effect is felt even more when each year hundreds of our educated youth leave their home country for greener pastures, disheartened by the security situation that worsens each passing day.”

The Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment is a United Arab Emirates-based private equity firm owned by Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan, member of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family and Minister of Presidential Affairs for the UAE. According to Wikipedia, the company was formed in 2008 as the investment vehicle for the takeover of Manchester City Football Club.

This may be a good move for it’s shareholders, but what’s in it for 180 million Pakistanis?

Image of fantasy tower from Shutterstock

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