JEC Tower on track to become world’s tallest building

Fahad Redha

January 20, 2026
3 min read

JEC Tower on track to become world’s tallest building

JEC Tower in Saudi Arabia is nearing completion as it races towards 100 floors ahead of its planned 2028 opening. Last November, the tower reached 69 floors, with engineering company Thornton Tomasetti reporting in late December that it has surpassed 80 floors.

At that pace, it is expected to reach its 100^th floor over the coming weeks, being one of only around 25 in the world to reach such a height. Architects Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill (AS+GG) reported that the building will boast at least 157 floors and exceed 1km (0.62 miles) high in Jeddah, the Saudi port city. This will make it overtake the Burj Khalifa and be almost twice as high as America’s tallest building, the One World Trade Center in New York.

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Inside, the JEC Tower will feature the world’s highest observation point, a luxury hotel, office space, and palatial apartments, while two-story elevators will bring people up and down at up to 10m (30 feet) per second.

The project is being led by Saudi Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud and has been going on for over a decade. Work stalled at the 60^th floor and paused for a few years. The JEC Tower is one of Saudi Arabia’s ‘gigaprojects’ as the country looks to become a major tourism destination.

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