Saudi Arabia to build world's tallest building using steel

The Saudi Arabian Sovereign Fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has invited companies to bid for a design competition to build a 2 km tower as part of an 18 km2 master planned development north of Riyadh, west of the existing King Khalid International Airport .

The proposed tower will be more than twice the height of the world's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which stands 828 meters tall and uses about 40,000 tons of rebar to build. Contractors quoting mega-high towers in the region say a 2km-high structure could cost about $5 billion depending on the final design, Meade said.

A $1 million competition is being held for the record tower, and eight firms have been invited to enter the competition.

The Saudi government is interested in localization and prefers to reward companies registered in the country. Construction volumes in Saudi Arabia are expected to grow in 2022, 2023 and 2024 by 3.23%, 3.48% and 4.52% respectively (see Kallanish passim).

The Saudi Arabian steel industry is closely following similar Giga projects to meet its steel needs. Saudi Arabia is the fourth largest producer of direct reduced iron in the world with a production of 6.4 Mt in 2021. It has a surplus production of rebar, but is a net importer of flat products, especially thin sheets of hot rolled coil.