Saudi Royals Restart Work on the World’s Tallest Tower

The Saudi Royal family has restarted construction of what is set to be the world’s tallest building: the one-kilometre-tall Jeddah Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Through the Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), the Saudis have awarded a new contract worth $1.9 billion for the tower to the Saudi Binladin Group, the original contractor.

Part of that money—approximately $292 million—has already been paid for completed work.

Earlier this year, JEC invited 14 firms, including China Harbour, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, Skanska, and Strabag, to bid for a contract to complete the project.

Other companies invited include Mohammed Abdulmohsin al-Kharafi & Sons, Nesma & Partners, Powerchina, Samsung C+T, and Saudi Freyssinet.

Almabani, Bawani, Consolidated Contractors Company, El-Seif Engineering Contracting, and Hyundai Engineering Construction were also invited.

Following the re-engagement of the Saudi Binladin Group, JEC has now rescheduled the project for completion in 2028—a decade after work stopped amid an anti-corruption probe. 

“We are back,” Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company, one of the main backers of the project, posted on X at the start of this month.

JEC, which is owned by Kingdom Holding Company (the Saudi Royal family’s investment vehicle, with a 40% stake), Bakhsh Group (also with a 40% stake), and Sharbatly Group (with a 20% share), has been working on the project since 2014.

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Construction of Jeddah Tower, formerly known as Kingdom Tower, stalled in 2018 at 63 storeys, standing at 250 metres. At that time, Saudi Binladin Group had completed a third of the construction work for the superstructure of the tower.

Germany’s Bauer had completed the piling work for the building.

If the project goes as expected, Jeddah Tower will stand at an estimated 1,008 metres – seven times the height of Nairobi’s Times Tower. It will comprise over 500,000 square meters of floor space and stand 180 meters taller than the Burj Khalifa.

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The 252-storey tower will have 89 more floors than the 163-storey Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, which is currently the world’s tallest building, and will also offer the highest observation deck in the world.

“The floor count is 252 floors, with occupied floors being 167. It’s a mixed-use development with 7 floors for offices, 7 floors for hotel, 11 floors of service apartments, and different grades of housing to the observatory tower,” JEC said in a press release.

The actual tower starts just over 20 metres above ground level, accessed via a ramp and podium around the tower. The largest floor in the building is 85,000 sq m, comprising a car park to accommodate 2,200 cars.

The contract for the construction of Jeddah Tower was initially signed with Saudi Binladin Group for $1.2 billion, and the entire project was estimated to cost $20 billion.

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