Saudi Billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the owner of the Savoy hotel, is interested in building a mile-high skyscraper.
The building would be five times higher than The Shard
He has invited London and other major cities to submit proposals for government support and tax breaks to build what would be the tallest building in the world.
The Prince was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying, “I am now inviting the major cities of the world like Shanghai, Moscow, New York, London and regional cities in the Middle East to come and give their offers.”
He went on to say that he is in talks with Emaar Properties, the largest real estate developer in Dubai, to enter into a partnership with Kingdom Holding, his investment firm, on the project.
“We are discussing and evaluating the possibility of building a one-mile tower,” he confirmed.
If the tower is constructed, it will be double the height of the current tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which measures 828 metres in height. It will also be taller than the Kingdom Tower currently under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and is five times taller than London’s tallest building, the Shard, which is 309 metres high.
The Prince has said that countries interested in hosting the tallest tower in the world would have to agree to offer attractive financing terms as part of the deal. This type of proposal would probably face numerous objections from London city planners and politicians alike. It would also cause issues for air traffic controllers.
Experts say the ambitious plan would have a number of design and engineering challenges. The design team that worked on the Burj Khalifa skyscraper conducted more than 40 wind tunnel tests to find out what types of challenges the wind would present on the construction process for such a high tower. The tower was constructed in a “Y” shape to accommodate high winds.
Engineers would also have to find a way to deal with the issue of the “stack effect,” which can lead to problems in the foundations of a building if the airflow is not managed effectively.
Prince Alwaleed did not specify how financing for the project would be provided if it went ahead or when the tower would be completed. He said that the cost had yet to be determined.
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