Top 10 construction world record holders

, September 27th, 2010

Achieving world records in construction is something that rarely occurs. Whether by chance, coincidence, good luck or by sheer tenacity, aligning design, developer and localised ambition with adequate funding, expertise and manpower is something that comes along once in a lifetime for a select few developers and contractors.

The criteria for inclusion in this list was simple: projects need to have been completed, or be close to completion and functional in some way. We’ve not bothered with projects still on the drawing board, or those that are being built – we’ve just dealt with those that exist, and those that are recognised as leading the world in their categories. We've also listed current record holders, not those that are set to surpass them. The tallest all residential tower, for example, is Australia's Q1 Tower but it's set to be superceeded by several projects fairly soon - but as they have not been finished, the Q1 Tower retains the title as world's tallest.

We didn’t have to look far for inspiration for this collection of world toppers. Dubai still ranks as one of the world’s tallest cities – with 51 skyscrapers all standing over 200m high, matching New York’s tally. Hong Kong has 52 but Dubai has the Burj Khalifa, and six others that stretch to over 300m – including the world’s tallest hotel (building used exclusively as a hotel), the Rose Tower, at 333m and 72-storeys.

The Middle East is home to some of the largest and most ambitious projects ever undertaken, but China’s sheer size and ambition to dominate industry means it too has embarked on some deeply impressive construction projects. With the eyes of the world on it, China’s rush to create enough power to fuel its industry while cutting greenhouse emissions has been impressive. It consumes more power than the US but, per capita, produces far fewer emissions.

The List
World’s tallest building
World’s furthest leaning tower
World’s largest mall
World’s longest suspension bridge
World's tallest all residential tower
Building with largest usable space
Building with largest floor space
World’s tallest bridge
World's largest power plant
World’s largest manmade island

Next page: World's Tallest Building

World’s tallest building:

The Burj Khalifa
No great surprises here. The Burj Khalifa burst on to the international scene earlier this year with a massive fanfare, fireworks and festivities at the dawn of the new decade after a much anticipated build. The fanfare wasn’t without merit: the building smashing almost every record in the books – and by a considerable margin.

What’s not commonly know is that the Burj actually bagged several world-topping records when it was opened (see below), and setting new heights for others to surpass.

While other supertall projects, including Kuwait’s kilometre high City of Silk, Jeddah’s proposed Kingdom Tower (1001) and Bahrain’s Murjan Tower (1022m) are in the planning stages, they don't yet exist. Even if they were to be started soon, the length of time it would take to reach the Burj Khalifa's lofty heights means the Dubai super-structure would reserve its place at the top of the world for some time yet.

According to The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Taipei 101, at 508m, is the next tallest skyscraper and retains the record for being the world’s tallest all-office tower. Toronto’s 553m landmark CN Tower, and other towers of its type, were excluded from the list because they’re not habitable buildings.The building with the highest observation deck in the world is the Shanghai World Financial Centre (at 474m). The Burj Khalifa is second, at 452m – but still holds the record for the highest outside observation deck.

**The World's Top 10 Tallest Habitable Buildings**
Rank	Building	City	Country	Height
1	Burj Khalifa	Dubai	UAE	828m
2	Taipei 101	Taipei	Taiwan	508m
3	Shanghai World Financial Centre	Shanghai	China	492m
4	International Commerce Centre	Hong Kong	China	484m
5=	Petronas Tower 1	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	454m
5=	Petronas Tower 2	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	454m
7	Nanjing Greenland Financial Centre	Nanjing	China	450m
8	Willis Tower	Chicago	USA	442m
9	Trump International Hotel and Tower	Chicago	USA	423m
10	Jin Mao Building	Shanghai	China	421m

Statistics
Project: Burj Khalifa
Location: Dubai, UAE
Work started: January 2004 (site excavation)
Completed: January 2010 (official launch)
Developer: Emaar Properties
Contractors: Samsung, BESIX and Arabtec
Architect: Adrian Smith, Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM)
Height: 828m
Floors (above ground level): 162
Cost: $1.6bn
Nearest rival: Taipei 101 (508m)
Achievements:
- Tallest building in the world
- Tallest free-standing structure in the world
- Highest number of stories in the world
- Highest occupied floor in the world
- Highest outdoor observation deck in the world
- Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world
- Tallest service elevator in the world; world’s highest mosque (158th floor)
- World’s highest swimming pool (76th floor)
- World’s highest occupied floor.

Fast facts
45,000 -- Amount, in cubic metres, of concrete used in the foundations
58 -- Number of elevators
900 -- Number of apartments within the building
309,473m³ -- Gross floor area within the building

Next page: World’s furthest leaning tower

World’s furthest leaning tower

ADNEC Capital Gate tower, Abu Dhabi
While the Leaning Tower of Pisa was never built to lean, its status as the world furthest leaning tower stood for well over 800 years before being toppled in the history books by Abu Dhabi’s 35-storey, 160m tall ADNEC Capital Gate.

To be fair, there wasn’t actually a record to be broken: Guiness World Record staff created a category for it, and awarded ADNEC its world topping honours earlier this year.

Architects created the building’s lean and twist by stacking the floor plates over each other. Floors 1-11 are vertically stacked, floors 12-28 are staggered between 800 to 1,400mm and then back to 900mm, and floors 29-35 between 300mm-900mm.

The core of the building uses vertical post-tensioning to resist the pressure placed on it. The tower features other innovative construction techniques including the world’s first known use of a ‘pre-cambered’ core, which contains more than 15,000 cubic metres of concrete reinforced with 10,000 tons of steel.

Pisa’s tower not only leans, but it’s also curved. Constructed in three stages over a 177 year period (the Pisans were constantly at battle), the tower started to lean soon after building started in 1173 after the soil foundations started to give. In the later stages of construction, engineers built the walls on one side longer than the other to compensate for the lean, making it bend at the top. The tower is now counter-weighted to stop it from falling over.

Statistics
Building: ADNEC Capital Gate
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Work started: September 2007 (enabling works)
Completed: End of 2010
Developer: Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company
Main contractor: Al Habtoor-Leighton Group
Architect: RMJM Dubai
Incline: 18 degrees
Nearest rival: Leaning Tower of Pisa (4 degrees incline)

Fast Facts
-- Guinness World Records staff created a new category for the building’s record.
-- Several attempts have been made to prevent Pisa’s tower from toppling.

Next page: World’s largest mall

World’s largest mall

Dubai Mall
There are a few that claim the title of world’s largest mall. The New South China Mall has the largest Gross Leasable Area (GLA) of any mall in the world at 600,000m², while Dubai Mall’s 350,000m² GLA ranks it just sixth largest in the world.

However, when it comes to total area, Dubai Mall’s 1,124,000m² easily eclipses all others to claim rights to the title of world’s largest mall.

Built within the Burj Khalifa complex and with over 1000 shops and several separate malls-within-a-mall, Dubai Mall also has an aquarium with 33,000 animals and a 270-degree acrylic walkthrough tunnel, aquatic zoo, Olympic-sized ice-skating rink, 22-screen multiplex cinema, SEGA theme park, children's play zone and numerous other attracttions to keep shoppers entertained.

Dubai Mall also holds two other world records: one for the Dubai Aquarium’s largest acrylic panel ever made (32.88 m wide × 8.3 m high × 750 mm thick and weighing 245 tons).

The other is for the world’s largest dancing fountain which, at 275m (902.2ft) long, is longer than the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Statistics
Building: Dubai Mall
Location: Dubai, UAE
Work started: 2004
Completed: November 2008
Developer: Emaar Properties
Main contractors: JV between Dutco Balfour Beatty, Al Ghandi/CCC
Architect: DP Architects Pte Ltd
Size: 1.124million m²
Nearest rival:
Achievements:
- World’s largest mall by area
- World’s largest acrylic panel (aquarium)
- World’s largest dancing fountain

Fast Facts
2,600 --Pieces of external pre-cast concrete erected
1,930,000 -- Amount of stone, in square feet, laid within the mall
13,800 -- Amount of structural steel, in tonnes, used in the mall

Next page: World’s longest suspension bridge

World’s longest suspension bridge

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, Japan
There may be longer, taller and more impressive looking bridges in the world but the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, or Pearl Bridge, linking Kobe City in the north with Awaji Island in the Seto Inland Sea has the longest span of any bridge in the world.

Prior to the construction of the bridge, ferries used to operate between Awaji and Kobe but the opening of the bridge in 1998 changed that. The bridge has three spans, one each at either oend of the bridge (both 960m) and the record-breaking one of 1991m between the two main 282m towers.

The bridge deck provides 68m clearance, sufficient for ships to pass under.

The Kobe earthquake spread the distance between the two suspension towers by a metre but deck construction hadn’t started, so the extra distance was easily accommodated.

It surpassed UK’s Humber Bridge as the longest suspension bridge when completed in 1998. With a span of 1410 metres, Humber bridge had held the record since 1981 but now sits fifth in the world rankings.

Statistics
Structure: Akashi Kaikyo bridge
Location: Near Kobe, Japan
Work started: 1988
Completed: 1998
Construction: Obayashi Corp
Main contractor: Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Solétanche Bachy, Taisei Corportation
Designer: Honshu Shikoku Bridge Authority
Length: 3,911 metres
Main span: 1,991m
Pylon height: 283m
Clearance: 68m
Cost: 980 bn yen (AED40bn)
Nearest rival: China’s Xihoumen Bridge, 1650m

Fast facts
68m -- Clearance under the bridge for vessels
1,991m -- Length of main span

Next page: Tallest all residential tower

Tallest all residential tower

Q1 Tower, Queensland, Australia
Again, a contentious record and one that will upset a few readers – but it all comes down to the definition and the use of the word “all”. The Burj Khalifa is ruled out because it’s a mixed use development (hotel, office tower and residences), while other towers also fall away thanks to the definition.

According to The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the world’s tallest all-residential tower is the 323m 78-storey Q1 Tower in Queensland, Australia when measured to the top of its highest structural component. The Eureka Tower in Melbourne is actually taller, when measured to the roof – and its highest floor sits above that of the Q1 – but TCTBUH’s rules place it below the Q1 in rankings.

It won’t matter soon anyway – both will be pushed off their perch by two Dubai towers being erected in the Marina area now. Residential tower 23 Marina will stand 395m tall and have 89 floors and is due for completion at the end of the year, while the Princess Tower, just 300m away will top out at 414m and have 107 floors and is due to be finished at the end of 2011. The Elite Residence Tower, still under construction, will also be taller than Q1.

Of the current tallest 10 completed all residential towers in the world, Dubai has five, including the Emirates Crown (296m, 4th), Millennium Tower (285m, 5th), 21st Century Tower (269m, 7th), and Al Kazim Towers 1 and 2 (each 265m, 8th=). The next tallest all residential tower in the GCC is the Al Fardan Residences in Doha (253m, 16th).

Statistics
Building: Q1, Queensland
Location: Gold Coast
Work started: 2002
Completed: 2005
Developer: Surfers Paradise Beach Resort
Main contractor: Sunland Constructions
Architect: Sunland Group
Height: 322.5m
Floors(above ground): 78
Nearest rival: Capital City Moscow Tower (302m)

Fast facts
28^th -- Tallest building in the world
235m -- Height of the highest floor

Next page: Building with largest usable space

Building with largest usable space

Boeing aircraft plant, Washington state, USA
Building huge aircraft requires equally impressive facilities, and Guinness World Records lists the Boeing Plant in Everett, Washington as the largest building by volume in the world.

Initially built to house production facilities for the 747 Jumbo jet in 1966, the facility is still used to build all of Boeing’s twin aisle aircraft including the latest generation 747, 767, 777 and new Dreamliner.

The building has been expanded three times since 1966 – once in 1980 to accommodate the 767 production lines and again in 1993 to house the 777 production line - and now covers an area of 39.8 hectares, roughly the size of the Canary Wharf business estate in London.

Total volume of the building is 13.3 million cubic metres – and doesn’t include the paint hangars where the mighty machines are finished before flight test and delivery.

Production at the plant varies according to market conditions, but Boeing says they’re able to produce up to seven 747 and 777s, and five 767s per month.

Statistics
Building: Boeing Plant
Location: Everett, Washington State, USA
Work started: 1966
Completed: 1967
Developer: Boeing
Original size: 176,514m²
1980 expansion: 260,126m²
1993 expansion: 399,480m²

Fast facts
2m -- Number of visitors to the plant between 1968 and 2008
13.3 million -- Volume, in cubic metres, of the factory building

Next page: Building with largest floor space

Building with largest floor space
Dubai International Airport Terminal 3, UAE
When it comes to setting records, airports are fairly good places to start. The sheer size of the aircraft required to haul people around the globe means that terminals need to be incredibly big if they’re to cater for millions of passengers every year – and none more so that Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 3.

Home to Emirates airline’s expanding fleet, Terminal 3 handles a bulk of the airport’s 40.9 million passengers annually (2009 figures) and, once its dedicated Airbus A380 Concourse 3 is up and running, will give the airport the potential to handle 75 million travellers every year. Terminal 3 alone will have a maximum annual capacity of 43 million travellers.

Not surprisingly, the terminal boasts the largest interior floor space of any building in the world: its 1.456 million square metres easily beats nearest rival Holland’s Aalsmeer Flower Auction (990,000m²).

Terminal 3 was opened in 2008 after an extensive construction phase involving the Al Habtoor Leighton Group, South African company Murray and Roberts and Japanese firm Takenaka. More than 136 million man hours were worked on the project at a cumulative lost time injury frequency rate of 0,17. At one stage the project accumulated a record 32 million man hours without a lost time accident.

Statistics
Building: Dubai International Airport, Terminal 3
City: Dubai, UAE
Work started: 2002 (Phase 2)
Completed: 2008
Client: Department of Civil Aviation, Government of Dubai
Main contractors: Al Habtoor Leighton Group, Murray & Roberts and Takenaka
Designer: Aéroports de Paris International and Dar Al-Handasah Consultants
Total cost: $4.5bn
Floor space: 1.456 million square metres
Nearest rival: Aalsmeer Flower Auction facility, Holland

Fast facts
33,000 tons -- Weight of structural steel used in construction
2.4 million -- Amount, in cubic metres, of concrete used
10 million -- Amount, in cubic metres, of earth excavated

Next page: World’s tallest bridge

World’s tallest bridge
Millau Viaduct, France
Like the Burj Khalifa, the Millau Viaduct in France is one of those structures that you simply can’t get sick of looking at. A staggering feat of engineering, the bridge stands as a monument to what can be achieved when, on those exceptionally rare occasions, British technical ability and French tenacity combined to produce something truly extraordinary.

Like the Concorde and Channel Tunnel, the Millau Bridge was an Anglo-Saxon effort. Designed by French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Norman Foster, the bridge’s highest mast towers 343m over the Tarn Valley floor. That’s higher than the Eiffel Tower (324m) and just short of the John Hancock Centre in Chicago (344m). There is 270m clearance from the bridge deck to the valley floor: enough room to stack three 747-8s end-on-end and still have 30m headroom – should you be so inclined.

Main contractor Effiage, also involved in the Channel Tunnel project, was a natural choice for the job: the company was formed in 1992 after the amalgamation of Fougerolle (founded 1844), Quillery (founded 1863), Beugnet (founded 1871), and La Societe Auxiliaire d' Enterprises Electriques et de Travaux Public, better known as SAE (founded in 1924). The construction consortium also included the Eiffel company, responsible for the steel roadway, ENERPAC for the roadway’s hydraulic supports, Freyssinet for the cable stay work – and several other key sub-contractors.

The bridge broke three records when it opened: that for the highest pylons in the world (244.96m and 221.05m), the highest bridge tower in the world (the mast atop pylon 2 hits 343m) and Europe’s highest road bridge deck at 270m. It also has the longest bridge deck that is supported only by cable stays and pylons (at 2460m).

Since opening, the deck height of the Millau has been surpassed by four bridges in China, and it will also soon relinquish its title as highest cable-stayed bridge to a new project being built in Mexico.

As world’s tallest bridge, Millau’s nearest rival is the Sutong Bridge in China which stands 306m high but boasts the world’s longest cable stayed bridge span at 1,088m.

The world’s highest bridge (ranked by measuring the clearance between the deck and the ground or water below) is the Si Du River Bridge in China. The suspension bridge spans the 500m deep Si Du River valley, with 472m of clearance below the bridge deck.

Statistics
Structure: Millau Viaduct
Location: Tarn Valley, southern France
Work started: October 2001
Completed: December 2004
Client: Ministry of Public Works, France
Main contractor: Effiage (France)
Designer: Norman Foster and Michel Virlogeux
Height: 343m
Nearest rival: Sutong Bridge, 306m

Fast facts
2,460m -- Total length of road way
85,000 -- Cubic metres of concrete used
290,000 tons -- Total weight of bridge

Next page: World's largest power plant

World's largest power plant
Three Gorges Dam, China
China’s awakening as an industrial giant has seen it embark on a raft of mega projects including this, the Three Gorges Dam – the largest electricity generating plant of any type in the world.

The scale of the project is difficult to convey in a single picture. It stretches 2,335m across the Yangtze River, stands 185metres high (has 32 generators each producing 700MW and, when supplemented with other smaller generators, has a combined output of 22.5 GigaWatts.

Three Gorges is not the tallest dam in the world: that honour falls to another Chinese power called the Jinping-I Hydropower Station on the Yalong River which will be brought online in 2014.

The tallest working hydroelectric dam is the Nurek Dam in Takistan which stands at 300m high. Iran’s proposed 335 metre tall Bakhtiari Dam may surpass both when it is completed.

However, Three Gorges remains the largest. The dam wall is made of concrete and is about 2,309 metres (7,575 ft) long, and 185 metres (607 ft) high. The wall is 115 metres (377 ft) thick on the bottom and 40 metres (131.2 ft) thick on top. The project used 27,200,000 cubic metres of concrete, 463,000 tons of steel and moved about 102,600,000 cubic metres of earth. The reservoir created behind the dam wall is 660kms long.

The dam has its own system of locks and lifts for ships to keep the flow of cargo and goods along the river running, while a huge downstream reservoir helps prevent the risk of flooding should the dam fail. Four further dams upstream reduce sedimentation in the water and prevent the risk of the Three Dams failing.

Work started on the project in 1994 and it is expected to reach full capacity next year.

Statistics
Structure: Three Gorges Dam
Location: Yiling District of Yichang, China
Work started: December 1994
Completion: December 2011
Client: China Three Gorges Project Corporation
Main contractor: China Three Gorges Project Corporation
Cost: $30b
Size: 2309m x 185m
Annual output: 100 billion kW-h
Nearest rival: Itaipu Dam, Brazil

Fast facts
27.2million -- Amount, in cubic metres, of concrete used in the construction of the dam
463,000 -- Amount of steel, in tons, use in the dam construction
660km -- Length of reservoir created by the dam
1.24 million -- Residents relocated to make way for the reservoir

Next page: World’s largest manmade island

World’s largest manmade island
Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE
While it may be the smallest of the three Palm islands planned for Dubai’s coastline, it remains the only one developed so retains the title it snatched in 2007 when the final breakwater stone was laid.

It’s not that small either. The island stretches 5km in to the sea, it’s 5km wide and the crescent that surrounds the 16 fronds is 11km long, from tip to tip. It covers 560 hectares, making it the biggest man-made island in the world.

It remains one of the most exclusive tracts of land in Dubai and is home to one of the most ambitious hotel resorts ever constructed, the Atlantis, The Palm.

Making the island was no small construction feat and the sheer volume of material required to establish the ornate landmark is enough to cause any quantity surveyor’s calculator to haemorrhage zeros.

More than 1 billion cubic metres of sand and 7 million tons of rock were used to create the Palm, and 10 dredging rigs worked around the clock for two years to create the trunk, fronds and 11km crescent surrounding the development. Developer Nakheel says the material used to create the Palm is enough to build a two metre high, half metre wide wall that could wrap around the world three times.

Main land reclaimation contractor Van Oord built the breakwater and the fronds simultaneously, a complex operation because the fronds were subject to erosion while the breakwater was unfinished. The beaches on the fronds were constructed so that they followed an exact, predetermined slope.

Creating the island was just the first step, and even now, work continues on building and developing the Palm. There was no shortage of initial interest in the first phase properties: each of the 4,000 properties announced sold within 72 hours of the initial sales release.

Nakheel envisages it will take another five years for Palm Jumeirah to be brought to full fruition, with more hotels, luxury villas and exclusive developments under construction on the crescent.

Nakheel’s two other larger Palm projects, the Palm Jebel Ali (land reclamation works completed) and Palm Deira are considered longer term developments that the company will focus on at a later date.

Statistics
Development: The Palm Jumeirah
Location: Dubai
Work started: August 2001*
Completed: October 2003*
Developer: Nakheel
Main contractor: Van Oord
Designer: Nakheel
Cost: $12b
Size: 560 hectares
Nearest rival: Palm Jebel Ali, under construction.

Fast facts
1 billion -- Amount, in cubic metres, of sand used to construct the Palm Jumeirah
11km -- Length, from tip to tip, of the crescent
72 hours -- Time in which initial 4000 properties sold on the development