At 828 metres tall, the city’s most famous landmark may be overtaken by two upcoming projects in Saudi Arabia.
Rise Tower, a proposed mega-project in Riyadh, is planned to be two kilometres in height but is currently still in the planning stage. However, the Jeddah Economic Tower continues to gather pace, having recently reached the 370m mark.
Also known as JEC Tower, the Jeddah structure is planned to be more than 1km tall, which would surpass the Burj Khalifa in the tall-building rankings.
Global architectural firm HKS unveiled design proposals in 2025 for the massive Saudi Public Investment Fund-backed Rise Tower project in Riyadh.
Riyadh’s plans for a massive world-record-breaking tower have been in the pipeline since 2023, but it remains a long way from the big opening date, with it still in the design phase.
Once complete, the Rise Tower will have 678 floors housing luxury hotels, fine-dining restaurants, observation decks and high-end offices.
It will be the centrepiece of a proposed 306 square kilometre ‘city of the future’ masterplan called the North Pole development.
Additionally, a report from 2024 mentioned that Emaar is potentially working on a new “super tower” in Dubai to rival the Burj Khalifa.
