By Colin Simpson www.thenational.ae
DUBAI // The Burj Khalifa is set to remain the world’s tallest building for years to come despite a skyscraper building boom in China, according to new figures.
Building data firm Emporis has compiled a list of the top 10 “future skyscrapers” – ones currently under construction that will be among the world’s tallest when they are completed.
The upcoming towers reflect a trend towards building higher skyscrapers. Each of the ten newcomers will stand more than 500 metres tall, and they are all due to be finished by 2016.
Nine of the 10 will eventually take the places of the completed buildings currently ranked from 2 to 10 in the firm’s list of the world’s tallest skyscrapers. Even the tenth-ranked building currently under construction will be higher than the second-tallest completed building, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
However, the Burj Khalifa, at 828 metres, will remain unchallenged at the top of the list. When the Burj was being built it was believed that it would soon be overtaken by other taller buildings, but the global economic downturn put a halt to plans for new record-breakers. More info
