Skyscrapers still capture the imagination, despite the problems of the Paddington Pole, cut down to size and re-imagined as the Paddington Cube by Sellar Property Group in London earlier this year. The top 100 tallest towers in the world – either built or under construction – have no such problems, soaring to heights unthinkable in the UK. And more are on the way.
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s list of the tallest breaks down the buildings, ranking and sizing the top 100 in numerous ways for its new book on the subject. UAE developer Emaar Properties shares the title of most dominant with five of the tallest towers. When it builds The Tower, at its Dubai Creek Harbour project, it will be “slightly taller” than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, also developed and owned by Emaar. But the tallest, the Jeddah Tower, is expected to be 1,000m, when it is finished in 2020.
Chinese state-owned Greenland Group, which also owns five towers, has more modest plans for the UK. Its 67-storey Spire London would be the tallest residential tower in western Europe, but would still be only 235m (771ft) – a relative pipsqueak.
