Saudi Arabia is planning on building the world’s tallest building. Currently, the owner of the Guinness World Record is Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, but Saudi Arabia wants to change that with the Kingdom Tower.
The $1.2 billion project would be the start of a new Kingdom City area in Jeddah, Construction Weekly reported last month. After several delays, the project will finally start building this month.
According to CNN, Advanced Construction Technology Services just announced that they are testing materials that would be needed in order to make the structure happen, especially right on the coast. They will have to build foundations 200 feet deep in order to keep it protected from saltwater damage.
Another challenge will be getting the concrete up to the highest floors. The Burj Khalifa was built using a pump that pushed up 6 million cubic feet of concrete. The Kingdom Tower would require 5.7 million cubic feet of concrete, along with 80,000 tonnes of steel, the Saudi Gazette noted.
The Kingdom Tower is planned to reach 3,280 feet or 1 kilometer and will have 200 floors. (The Burj Khalifa is 2,716 feet tall or 827 meters.)