Kilometre-high skyscraper planned

At more than a kilometre high, it is about to become the world's tallest building.

Set at the heart of a new multi-billion pound Arabian city, the 250-storey tower would form the centrepiece of a development that the Kuwati government hopes will establish it as a serious global player.

London-based architect Eric Kuhne & Associates is in talks with Kuwaiti government officials over the project, according to a report published in the Architects' Journal.

The 1,001m tower will form the centrepiece of the Madinat al Hareer, or "City of Silk", that would house 700,000 people.

Kuhne claims constructing the city and its infrastructure - including four ports - would cost $150bn (NZ$214bn) and take 25 years.

The next highest building in the world is the Burj Dubai, the landmark tower in the Middle Eastern tourist hotspot designed by US architect Skidmore Owings and Merrill.

Still under construction, its height is likely to be between 700 and 800m when it is completed in 2008.

The tallest completed building is Taipei 101, in Taiwan, which measures 509m.

Earlier this week, a geologist from the National Taiwan Normal University claimed that stress from the skyscraper may have reopened an ancient earthquake fault.

The building is thought to have triggered two recent earthquakes because of the force that it exerts on the ground beneath it.

More well-known man-made giants include the Empire State Building, which was the tallest structure in the world for 41 years, and almost 75 years after it was built it remains the world's ninth highest skyscraper at 443m.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris measures 320m.

Canary Wharf, One Canada Square, completed in 1991, is the tallest skyscraper in Britain, reaching 237m.

The Swiss Re Tower in London, also known as "The Gherkin" for its unique shape, is the capital's seventh tallest skyscraper at 180m.

But those are due to be overshadowed by the 309m London Bridge Tower, which is also set to be the tallest building in Europe.

The concept for the new city, Kuhne has told the government decision-makers, will combine Arabic philosophy, culture and politics for the first time, to attract interest from across the region.

"You could fit 30 Ebbsfleet Valleys into this city," he said.

"It will become the manifestation of 2,000 years of Arabic heritage."

It is hoped that the proposals, when complete, will enable the country to bid for the Olympic Games, and "awaken a new entrepreneurial class" for the oil-rich nation.

It will also provide a startling landmark and an instantly recognisable skyline for the area.

Other plans being mooted for the city include a wildlife sanctuary that would function as a "stop- off" for birds migrating across the region, and an international centre for studying chronic diseases.

Engineering expert at tall buildings specialists Arup, Bob Lang, said: "The issues with buildings of this height now are the same as they were at the turn of the last century - how you move people up and down the building, and how strong your materials are.

"If these criteria arefulfilled then there's no reason why you can't build super-high."Kuhne is known to like projects with a bit of excess.

As well as Bluewater shopping centre in Kent - the largest in Europe - his £350m proposals for three towers in Jersey attracted local oppositions for being "vastly out of scale" with their surroundings.

He is also behind radical plans to turn the Irish dock where the Titanic was built into a £1bn business and leisure complex.

The development would be the biggest ever in Northern Ireland, and the largest waterfront mixed-use scheme in Europe.

The project - located on a 185-acre site on the banks of Belfast's River Lagan - is expected to create at least 20,000 new jobs over the next 15 years.

- INDEPENDENT