Burj Dubai renamed Burj Khalifa, still the tallest thing on Earth

Tuesday, 5th January 2010 by

In September 2008 the still-incomplete Burj Dubai building officially surpassed the height of all other buildings, towers and masts worldwide, making it the tallest man-made structure on the planet. However, it wasn't until yesterday that the building was officially opened, and we learned its final official height, an absolutely unbelievable 828 metres tall.

Also revealed yesterday was a new name for the building, Burj Khalifa. Dubai's recent struggle with debt has been widely discussed, but last month Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan injected over £6bn into the flailing economy, and in return, the tallest-structure that man has ever built was named after him.

This building has been a favourite topic of conversation here on Google Sightseeing ever since we first launched, as they began building it a year before we hit the intertubes, but we can now finally discuss some of the other jaw-dropping facts and figures surrounding this incredible feat of engineering:

  • Visible from 95 km away
  • 900 private residences
  • 37 floors of office space
  • The most stories storeys of any building on Earth
  • Highest occupied floor of any building
  • Highest observation deck in the world (124th floor)
  • The longest lifts in the world

Being the tallest structure ever built also means that the Burj Khalifa is the world's tallest building, a competition which used to be broken down into four subtly-different categories. However the Burj Khalifa does away with all the categorisation by roundly beating everything else in every category.

So what did all of this cost? No one knows for sure, but reports start around £925 million ($1.5 billion). Even the upkeep is going to be astronomical: consider that the tower's glass and steel exterior would cover 17 football fields if laid out flat, and will reportedly take at least six weeks to clean.

See our previous coverage of the Burj Dubai, the World's Tallest Structures, The World’s Tallest Buildings and the World’s Tallest Towers.