One World Trade Centre has risen like a phoenix from the ashes and rubble of ground zero in downtown New York to dominate the skyline as the tallest skyscraper in the West.
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Two-thirds of the massive building’s 3 million square feet of floor space is now leased.
The original twin towers of the World Trade Centre were destroyed in the 9/11 terror attacks.
One World Trade Centre is a completely different building, designed and constructed from scratch using the latest techniques and materials.
Standing at 541 metres high over 109 floors, of which five are at basement level and below, One World Trade Centre is the tallest building in the USA and the Western hemisphere, but only the fourth highest in the world.
Construction started in 2006, when the project was named the Freedom Tower.
World’s tallest buildings
Building was finally completed this month, although fitting out offices and other facilities inside is continuing.
The project has not been without risk – only this week a team of window cleaners were rescued by 100 firefighters when their platform broke 240 metres up and left them dangling over the streets of Manhattan.
They were eventually rescued safely.
The tallest building remains Dubai’s Burj Khalifa at 828 metres tall with 163 floors. The skyscraper has held the title since completion in 2010.
Also completed in 2014 alongside One World Trade Centre is the Shanghai Tower, China, peaking at 200 metres shorter than the Burj Khalifa, but tipping One World Trade Centre by just 91 metres at 632 metres high.
Most expensive building
In third place is the Makkah Clock Royal Tower in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. At 601 metres high, the huge clock face on the main tower can be seen from 25 kilometres away.
However, in the race to climb ever high into the skies, construction has already started on the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Destined to rise into the blue skies above the city at a kilometre high, the tower will dwarf even the Burj Khalifa.
Despite their size, the most expensive building in the world is not a skyscraper but the £2.5 billion Terminal Two Queens Building at London’s Heathrow Airport.
Standing only 40 metres high over four floors, construction started in May 2010 and finished on June 4, 2014
In contrast, the Burj Khalifa came in costing £1 billion.
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