CONSTRUCTION & TECHNOLOGY

Did you know that the maximum occupancy of the Burj Khalifa is 35,000 people, almost the population of a small town! And did you know that during the hot summer months or in the cool winters, the temperature at the top of Burj Khalifa is six degrees cooler than at ground level.

"They want to get into the big boys' playground," said James Fortune, an elevator consultant who has advised architects on some of the world's tallest buildings, including the current record holder, Dubai's Burj Khalifa.

The Kingdom Holding Company approved the plan to build the USD 30 billion Kingdom Tower in Jeddah the tallest building on Earth that will stand one mile high. The Kingdom Tower will be nearly double the height of the existing tallest building on the planet, the 2,717 foot Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It will be erected in Obhur just outside of the port city Jeddah.

Visitor safety and waiting times have vastly improved at Dubai's monumental Burj Khalifa Tower thanks to global crowd control specialist Tensator. With more than 160 storeys, Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world, attracting hordes of tourists and locals wanting to experience breathtaking views of the city and the UAE's Gulf shore each day.

A startling number of planned sky-rises are poised to change the cityscape of India’s commercial capital within the next decade. The emblematic Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia are still some distance away—the former is over 600m tall, while the latter is nearly 457m—but Mumbai is fast catching up in reaching for the skies.

Construction on the Burj Khalifa started back in 2004 and it ended five years later, when it became the tallest artificial structure in the world, a record held to this day.

When the clock struck 8.30pm last night, the lights went out across the country. In the capital, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Yas Hotel and several streets were plunged into darkness. In Dubai, the Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab and Downtown Dubai quieted their usually blazing bulbs and lasers.

The UK construction group is to extend the Dubai Mall — at 5.9 million square feet the biggest by floor space — and connect it to the 830-metre Burj Khalifa in a development that will add 100 stores and increase capacity to 100 million shoppers a year.

The under-construction Chandrodaya Mandir in Vrindavan, designed to be the world’s tallest temple, will have its foundation five metres deeper than the famous Burj Khalifa in Dubai. “The foundation of...

The Burj Khalifa is taller than any other building on Earth, but its observation deck does not make it as World Number One. A list of the world's tallest viewing platforms puts the Burj's At the Top in third place behind the decks on two towers in China.