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Tall towers have come to symbolise the excesses of the boom years. The focus must be on city centres instead. Makkah’s Clock Royal Tower, the world’s second tallest tower at 577 metres, is scheduled to be complete in August this year. If the project meets its completion deadline, it comes just eight months after the opening of the world’s tallest tower, Dubai’s 828-metre Burj Khalifa.

Come April, the first tenants may finally be able to move into Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, now the tallest building in the world. Despite a series of setbacks since its ostensible opening two months ago, including the closing of the observation deck, the tower has already prompted an exuberant proliferation of record-breaking statistics: it soars more than half a mile high, stands twice the height of the Empire State Building, boasts views that reach 60 miles, etc

Harbouring most of the world’s architectural wonders such as the tallest building in the world—the Burj Khalifa with 168 floors, the only seven-star hotel in the world—Burj Al Arab, one of the world’s largest shopping malls—Dubai Mall, among others including the New Metro, Dubai is unarguably, the world’s most glamorous tourism destination.

More than a dozen of us filed into the dark elevator, ready to be whisked up 1,483 feet to the observation deck of the newly minted tallest building in the world. The smooth 60-second ride delivered us to the Burj Khalifa’s 124th floor. People of all ages were making their way around the viewing platform’s floor-to-ceiling windows, soaking up the 360-degree views of Dubai at night.

UAE's largest contractor posts loss for last quarter of 2009. The UAE’s largest contractor Arabtec has posted a loss for the last quarter of 2009, with profit for the full year slashed by 50%. The contractor, whose projects include the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa, blamed the results on a charge of about $80m (£53.5m) for bad debts.

The improbably thin shaft of the 828-meter (2,717-foot) Burj Khalifa, a tour de force of architecture and engineering, is a reflective-glass icon ofDubai's triumphant arrival on the world scene. Or it's a towering monument to easy-money hubris. Take your pick. Changing expectations is the perilous fate of architecture that strives to be the biggest, the most lavish, the most significant. Now pundits galore predict the end of spectacle and glitz. The post-crash reality is looking more complex.

More of a test really. Waiting for them to re-open the observation deck so I can go back and do it properly!

Iconic fashion designer Giorgio Armani has said he is nervous his first hotel project, which will be located in the base of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, may look outdated when officially opened later this month. “I’ve been working on this for five years. I’m finally going to see what I designed, and it’s a bit nerve-racking to think that what I liked five years ago might look old now,” the Italian designer told US-based fashion trade publication Woman’s Wear Daily at the weekend.

It may well be the tallest building on the planet, but the Burj Khalifa can no longer boast the fastest lifts in the world. That record has now been clinched by the new 1 080 metre/minute lift in the 212.75-metre-high G1 Tower being built by Hitachi in Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan. This will also be the tallest lift research facility in the world.

The world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa (formerly known as Burj Dubai), officially opened Jan. 4 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Architect Adrian Smith, who designed Burj Khalifa while at the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, attended the opening ceremonies. Burj Khalifa's official height was announced at 828 meters, or 2,716.5 feet. "It was the culmination of many years of work and one of the most thrilling moments of my career," said Smith, who left SOM in 2006 to start his own firm, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.