The race to build the world’s tallest building has reached a new level with plans for a mile-high tower to be built near the Red Sea port of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

The multi-billionaire owner of the Savoy Hotel in London has unveiled plans for the ambitious £5 billion tower, which will overtake skyscrapers planned or under construction in Kuwait and Dubai.

The Mile High Tower will be double the height of its nearest rival and visitors will be able to see Africa from the top of the tower.

Riyadh-based Kingdom Holding, which is controlled by billionaire Prince al-Walid bin Talal, will invite bids before July for contracts to build the tower in Saudi Arabia’s commercial capital. It is estimated the project will cost approximately 5 billion pounds. The project will push architecture and engineering to new limits, as the tower must be robust enough to withstand the extremes of temperature and strong desert winds in the region. Masterminded by British-based engineers, the building will be onstructed in a “mini-city” near the Red Sea port of Jeddah and ould be twice the height of the world’s tallest building.

The 51-year-old’s Kingdom Holdings has appointed a joint venture et up by Hyder Consulting and Arup, the London enginerring irms, to build the 5 billion pounds tower.

The building will be fitted with a giant computer-operated damper tretching down several floors - to counter the nausea-inducing way caused by the wind.

The structure will also be stabilized by two mini-towers, lanking the building’s base and attached to the main structure y arched sky-bridges.

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