Plans are moving forward on Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the latest contender for the mantle of “world’s tallest building.”

Part of the 23-million-square-meter project known as Kingdom City, the tower is slotted for 1001 meters, 173 meters taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the current record holder, which opened earlier this year.

Contractors are currently bidding for the right to build the skyscraper, according to the National. The project is being developed by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, one of the richest men in the world.

The project has been discussed for several years, but there has been a flurry of activity in recent years. Construction companies have been asked to submit bids three times this year, accounting for changes in the market and the tower’s design.

According to the National, bidders include Six Construct, a Belgian company that worked on the Burj Khalifa, and its Saudi partner, El Seif Engineering Contracting; Australia’s Multiplex Construction; and Saudi BinLadin Group, one of the biggest construction companies in the region.

If built to the current plan, Kingdom Tower would move past Burj Khalifa, but still faces competition for the “world’s tallest” title. The Burj Mubarak Al Kabir proposed for Kuwait is also planned for 1001 meters, and the Murjan Tower in Bahrain is slotted for 1022 meters, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

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Taiwan’s landmark skyscraper Taipei 101 is seeking to become the world’s tallest green building, its owner Taipei Financial Center Corporation (TFCC) announced yesterday. Harace Lin, chairman of TFCC, told a press conference that the company plans to apply for the Leadership in Energy and Environment

Design (LEED) certification for the building. To obtain that certification, Lin said, Taipei 101 will invest NT$60 million (US$1.8 million) over the next 18-month certification process to undergo hundreds of building modifications.

After the transformation is completed, Taipei 101 is estimated to save NT$20 million in energy costs each year. Lin said that Taipei 101 wants to be an international model of environmental protection and social responsibility.

“Taipei 101′s management team is expecting to make it an icon of green building industry in Taiwan and worldwide,” Lin said. “As the world’s tallest building, Taipei 101 aims to raise people’s awareness about our environment and be a pioneer of international green building certification for existing buildings, ” he added.

Saudi business mogul Prince al-Waleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding company announced last week that it had signed an agreement for the construction of the world’s highest skyscraper.

According to the company’s statement, the skyscraper will be 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) high and will be built in the city of Jeddah off the Red Sea. Dubai’s Emaar Properties real estate company will be in charge of developing the project.

The project, named Kingdom Tower, will spread over 23 million square meters and will include commerce, housing and office areas. It will be built not far from Jeddah’s international airport.

The total cost of the project is estimated at some $27 billion, and the tallest tower in the world will be built in its center.

The tallest tower in the world today is Burj Dubai, which is 800 meters (2,625 feet) hight and is still being built by Emaar.

Stay tuned for some pictures to follow…..

The Sears Tower will be getting a ‘green’ upgrade that includes wind turbines, roof gardens and solar panels will join the pair of antennas atop the Sears Tower’s staggered rooftops, said building officials who announced Wednesday that the skyscraper would undergo a $350 million green renovation.

The 5-year project would reduce the tower’s electricity use by 80 percent and save 24 million gallons of water a year, building owners and architects said. Separately, a 50-story, 500-room privately funded luxury hotel with its own green components would be built next to the skyscraper in 3 1/2 to 5 years.

According to Emporis, work has stopped on 124 of the 1,431 tall buildings that are already underway. Emporis is the world’s largest provider of global building data and defines skyscrapers as buildings at least 100 meters tall.

Considering that the US real estate crash was a major catalyst for this crisis, it is not surprising that construction has been curtailed sharply among the 203 skyscrapers under construction there. Twenty-one skyscrapers (10.3 per cent) have been set on ice.

In Asia the rate is exactly 10 per cent, with 84 out of 840 skyscraper projects logged in the Emporis’s database have stopped, although many Asian skyscrapers had ceased progress well before the crisis. The only skyscraper in the US or Europe known to have been on hold more than six months ago is Met 1 in Miami.

Less affected are European countries, where seven of 119 skyscraper projects (5.9 per cent) have stopped in 2008, including five in former Soviet states. Builders in South America have reacted less drastically, as only two out of 77 skyscraper projects there (2.6 per cent) have stopped. Mexico, Canada, and Central America, have been spared the worst so far, with only six out of 153 (3.9 per cent) projects shut down.