Tall buildings back on the rise says worldwide review

Recovery in global confidence means a new spurt of investment in skyscrapers. Up to 90 tall buildings of 200m or more in height are expected to be completed this year, according the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.  Of those 13 will class as super tall at over 300m including One World Trade Centre New York which at 541m will become the United States’ and North America’s tallest building.

Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia the world’s next tallest building ever – the Kingdom Tower  at 1000m and with 167 floors  - will be coming out of the ground in Jeddah. In China the 632m high Shanghai Tower is set to complete and will boast the world’s fastest elevators. And in South America the Torre Costanera in Santiago, Chile at 300m will be South America’s tallest building and its first super tall.

For 2015 CTBUH predicts 105 skycraper completions.

The CTBUH Year in Review: Tall Trends of 2013 report put together by Daniel Safarik and Antony Wood says that after a year of recovery over the past 12 months 2014 will see a return to year on year growth in tall building construction.

“It is important to note,” they say “that 2013 was the most successful year ever in terms of 200m plus building completion with 73 completed.”

"2013 was the most successful year ever in terms of 200m plus building completion with 73 completed.”

Between 2000 and 2013 the total number of 200m buildings in existence increased from 261 to 830, or 318%

“From this point of view,” say the report authors “we can confidently estimate that the slight slowdown of 2012, which recorded 69 completions after 2011’s record 81, was a blip and that 2013 was more representative of the general upward trend.

For the fourth year running nine supertalls were completed in 2013, and the 36 together make up nearly half the 77 supertalls that now exist. Led by the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai Tower 2, three of the five tallest buildings completed this year are located in the United Arab Emirates. And for the sixth year in a row China completed the most 200m plus buildings of any country in the world. The 37 buildings were constructed in 22 cities across China.

Europe had two of the 10 tallest buildings for the first time since 1953 – the 306m Shard in London and the 339m Mercury City tower in Moscow. North America’s share of total 200m plus completions dropped from 6% to 1% of worldwide figures.

2013’s top 10 tallest building completions

1. JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai Tower 2, UAE           355m

2.Mercury City Tower, Moscow, Russia                             339m

3. Modern Media Center, Changzhou, China                    332m

4. Al Yaqoub Tower, Dubai, UAE                                        328m

5= The Landmark, Abu Dhabi, UAE                                    324m

5= Deji Plaza, Nanjing, China                                             324m

7. Cayan Tower, Dubai, UAE                                               307m

8= East Pacific Center Tower A, Shenzen, China              306m

8= The Shard, London, UK                                                  306m