{
  "id": 18681741,
  "title": "Future World’s Tallest Tower Faces El Niño Challenge Before Major Milestone",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/future-worlds-tallest-tower-faces-el-nino-challenge-before-major",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-11-07T09:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Newsweek",
    "slug": "newsweek",
    "url": "https://www.newsweek.com/when-jeddah-tower-overtake-burj-khalifa-worlds-tallest-building-el-nino-challenge-12675550"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Jeddah Tower, set to become the world's tallest building, is nearing a significant milestone as it is expected to complete its biggest project in less than a year-and-a-half, but faces the unpredictability of a Super El Niño before reaching its target height of 1,000 meters. Designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill, and constructed by the Saudi Binladin Group, the tower will surpass the current world's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, sometime around the third quarter of 2028. However, the team behind the project cautioned that the Super El Niño, which is currently strengthening, could force the construction team to pause for a week or two next year. Despite this challenge, the team remains confident about completing the tower by 2028. The tower's next major milestone will be reaching its halfway mark at 500 meters high around Thanksgiving. Once the tower reaches the 700-meter level, known as the sky raft level, the structure will significantly change, transitioning from a core with sheer walls to a structural tube. This change will present new challenges for the contractor as the construction methodology will need to adapt.",
  "summary": "The tower is expected to surpass the Burj Khalifa sometime around the third quarter of 2028, the general contractor told Newsweek.",
  "key_points": [
    "Jeddah Tower set to become world's tallest building",
    "Super El Niño may pause construction next year",
    "Tower to reach 500 meters around Thanksgiving"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}