Back in November of last year, we reported on the JEC Tower rising to 69 floors. With progress now moving at at extremely rapid pace, it surpassed 100 floors in recent weeks, becoming one of only around 25 buildings worldwide to do so.
Concrete is king in the Middle East," says engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti, which is helping realize the project. "So why not take advantage of Saudi Arabia's local techniques to construct Jeddah Tower? We did just that, with an efficient concrete-based system that employs construction practices and concrete strengths common in the region.
The structural system is simplicity itself without columns, outriggers, floor beams, spandrel beams, and vertical transfers. Specifically designed to be built quickly and efficiently, all walls are interconnected, and each structural element resists both wind and gravity loads. Below, a massive concrete foundation system supports the weight of all that height with a 5-meter [16.4-ft]-thick raft foundation supported on 270 bored piles, each 1.8 meters [5.10 ft] in diameter, that go to depths up to 105 meters [344 ft]."
