Tower Power

China leaves the Middle East trailing when it comes to building skyscrapers.

For the first year since 2006 the Middle East did not see the completion of a single supertall (300-plus-metres) building in 2016. However “optimistic projections” by The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) show as many as nine supertall buildings completing in this region in 2017.

The Middle East contributed nine of the record breaking 128 buildings of 200m height or greater that were completed around the world in 2016, matching its tally in 2015, The Council said in a report. This continues a steady trend of completions in the region but pales in comparison to the Middle East’s all-time high of 23 in 2013.

Unusually, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) did not have the greatest number of 200m-plus completions in the region for the year. That accolade went to Qatar, with four towers completed in 2016 followed by the UAE with just two completions, and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain tied with one each.

However, the UAE did complete the tallest building in the Middle East last year in the form of the 255m Regent Emirates Pearl in Abu Dhabi. The building includes a hotel with 377 rooms and suites and 60 furnished apartments. Emirates Pearl for Development and Investment, a joint venture between TDIC and Atlas Telecom, delivered the project which was built by Arabian Construction Company (ACC).

Worldwide, only 10 of the 18 to 27 supertall buildings projected to finish construction complete in 2016 actually did complete, partly as a result of construction delays typical of buildings in this height range. Nonetheless, 2016 still saw the third largest number of supertall completions of any year and the Council anticipates between 12 and 20 supertall buildings to complete in 2017, primarily in Asia and the Middle East.

The 128 buildings bigger than 200m that were completed in 2016 beat the previous record high of 114 completions in 2015, said The Council, bringing the total number of 200m-plus buildings in the world to 1,168 compared to just 265 in 2,000.

Ten buildings entered the list of the top 100 tallest building in the world in 2016, all of them above the 300m threshold, increasing the average height of the 100 tallest buildings from 357m in 2015 to 362m in 2016.

For the ninth year in a row, China had the most 200m-plus completions with a record 84. Lagging way behind in second place was the United States with just seven, followed by Korea with six completions, Indonesia with five, and both the Philippines and Qatar completing four.

Shenzhen had the highest number of 200m-plus completions of any city in 2016 with 11 while China’s Chongqing and Guangzhou, and Goyang, South Korea tied for second place with six each.

Tallest buildings completed in the Middle East in 2016

(2016 world ranking in brackets)

1 (=27) Regent Emirates Pearl – Abu Dhabi – 255m

2 (=41) Central Bank of Kuwait – Kuwait City – 240 m

3 (=46) Hilton Double Tree Sinyar Tower – Doha – 230m

4 (63) Qatar Petroleum District Tower 7 – Doha – 223m

5 (89) The 118 tower – Dubai – 212m

6 (=118) Gateway Towers AQ-1 – Doha – 201m

7 (=118) Gateway Towers AQ-2 – Doha – 201m

8 (=120) United Tower – Manama – 200m

9 (=120) Burj Damac – Riyadh – 200m