Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia passed 100 storeys in April, moving more than 400 metres skyward in the race for the world's tallest buildings title. New drone footage from May 2026 shows its concrete and steel core rising above the surrounding landscape.
If completed as planned, the tower would reach 1 kilometre and stand at least 180 metres taller than Dubai's Burj Khalifa. The project sits inside the $20 billion Jeddah Economic City plan, which is meant to reshape Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast into a commercial and business center.
Adrian Smith's tower design
Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill designed the tower. Smith's design has been paired with a concrete-based structural system tailored to local construction methods and materials, plus a foundation built on a five-metre-thick concrete raft supported by 270 bored piles.
Each bored pile measures 1.8 metres in diameter and extends as deep as 105 metres below ground. The structure covers 530,000 square metres, and the projected budget is around £885 million, or USD$1.2 billion.
Burj Khalifa and the height target
Dubai's Burj Khalifa presently measures 830 metres, so Jeddah Tower would need to climb at least another 180 metres to pass it. The tower is expected to become the first human-made structure to reach a full kilometre above ground level.
The scale is only one part of the pitch. Jeddah Tower is set to include a luxury Four Seasons hotel, premium residential units, commercial office space, and what is anticipated to be the world's tallest observation deck.
Views from 644 metres
Guests are expected to experience views from 644 metres above street level, with the highest human-made viewing platform placed on the 157th floor. Double-decker elevators in the tower are capable of speeds surpassing 10 metres per second.
For people following the project, the concrete core rising above the landscape is the clearest sign that the tower has moved into a more visible phase. The next measure that matters is whether the structure keeps advancing toward 1 kilometre without breaking the design limits that make the record attempt possible.
