Kingdom Tower has reached 430 m and 107 floors in Jeddah, keeping the project moving toward its planned kilometer height. Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud said the tower has now risen to 107 floors as work continues in Saudi Arabia.
JEC Tower in Jeddah
The tower, also called the JEC Tower, Jeddah Economic Company Tower and Jeddah Tower, is planned to include at least 157 floors. At 430 m, it still has around 570 m left before it reaches 1 kilometer, and the current height places it well past the 100-floor mark.
Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill designed the building, while Thornton Tomasetti is handling engineering duties. The plan calls for offices on the lower floors, a 200-room luxury hotel above them, service apartments, a sky lobby, multiple groups of residences, multiple viewing points and a helicopter pad.
Thornton Tomasetti and AS+GG
Thornton Tomasetti said, "As the first human-made structure to reach 1 kilometer (3,280 feet) in height, the design of Jeddah Tower is truly a pioneering engineering achievement," and added, "First, we had to determine rational design wind loads at extreme elevations. Second, we had to control building movements, both lateral and vertical, over time. Third, our resulting structural system solutions had to be, above all, efficient and effective in their advancement of the ambitious architectural design. All easier said than done."
The firm also said, "Simplicity was key for constructability ease. Also, since the building was so large, we wanted to use materials judiciously. Our tall-building experts worked peer-to-peer alongside AS+GG and RWDI, pairing innovation and experience with advanced computational structural modeling and extensive wind tunnel testing. The outcome? An unparalleled structural system organization that supports the world's tallest building-to-be."
The Line and Mukaab
Other Saudi gigaprojects such as The Line and Mukaab have faced major setbacks, while the JEC Tower continues to rise. The contrast leaves Kingdom Holding Company with one project advancing through the structure itself, not a promise on paper, and it keeps the focus on whether completion sometime in 2028 can still be met.
