The Dubai skyline. The tallest building completed in the emirate last year was the 336-metre-high SLS Tower in Business Bay. Reem Mohammed / The National
The Dubai skyline. The tallest building completed in the emirate last year was the 336-metre-high SLS Tower in Business Bay. Reem Mohammed / The National
The Dubai skyline. The tallest building completed in the emirate last year was the 336-metre-high SLS Tower in Business Bay. Reem Mohammed / The National
The Dubai skyline. The tallest building completed in the emirate last year was the 336-metre-high SLS Tower in Business Bay. Reem Mohammed / The National

Dubai built more high-rises than any other city in 2020


Deepthi Nair
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More high-rises were completed in Dubai last year than in any other city in the world, a new report shows.

Twelve buildings taller than 200 metres were completed in 2020, a record for the emirate and three more than in 2019, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's 2020 Year in Review report showed.

“Dubai has always been one of the centres globally for tall buildings and thus this position came as no surprise,” said Christopher Seymour, managing director for consulting engineer Mott MacDonald Middle East.

“The reason there was an apparent surge in completions in 2020 was down to the upturn in commitment in investment for this type of project around five years ago, aligned with the strong property market at the time – and those projects finally came to completion.”

The tallest building completed in Dubai last year was the 336-metre-high SLS Tower in Business Bay, making it the 11th-tallest worldwide.

Rounding off the top five are the 307-metre-high Amna Tower at Habtoor City, Jumeirah Gate (303 metres) at Jumeirah Beach Residences, ICD Brookfield Place (282 metres) at DIFC and Boulevard Point (280 metres) in Downtown Dubai.

The last time Dubai topped the global ranking was in 2010, the year the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, was completed.

It broke Shenzhen’s four-year streak as the city completing the most towers.

The southern Chinese city completed nine buildings above 200 metres last year, down from 18 in 2019.

Globally, there were 106 high-rises completed last year, a 20 per cent decline on the 133 handed over in 2019.

This was the lowest number since 2014 as Covid-19 disrupted construction around the world.

2020 yielded only 106 completions of buildings 200m and taller, a 20 per cent decline from 133 in 2019.
2020 yielded only 106 completions of buildings 200m and taller, a 20 per cent decline from 133 in 2019.

The tallest building to be completed last year was Central Park Tower in New York City, at 472 metres – the first time in five years that the tallest completed building was not in China, and the first time since 2014, when One World Trade Centre completed, that the tallest building of the year was in the US.

This was also the first time since 2014 in which no building exceeded 500 metres in height.

China completed more than half the total number of buildings in the study (56), down from 57 in 2019 and 92 in 2018.

The second-most prolific country in terms of high-rise completion was the UAE, followed by the US with 10 and the UK with five. India completed three 200 metre-plus buildings in 2020, all in Mumbai.

In 2020, London completed four buildings with a height of at least 200 metres – the most in any year – despite the shadow of Brexit hanging over the city.

Three of the four are in Canary Wharf, the financial district.

The report estimates that between 125 and 150 buildings taller than 200 metres will be completed this year.

Of the top 30 projected completions this year, 18 are in China, five are in the US and three are in Saudi Arabia.

The two tallest buildings set to be completed this year are Riverview Plaza A1 in Wuhan (436 metres) and 111 West 57th Street in New York City (435 metres).

The number of towers in the UAE over the next few years is expected to fall as project launches slow amid a push to improve the supply-demand imbalance.

“In the last few years, the property market has become significantly weaker, particularly following the onset of the pandemic," Mr Seymour said.

"While we will still see completions of significant assets this year and next, the investment into new schemes is predicted to be lower.”

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Find the right policy for you

Don’t wait until the week you fly to sign up for insurance – get it when you book your trip. Insurance covers you for cancellation and anything else that can go wrong before you leave.

Some insurers, such as World Nomads, allow you to book once you are travelling – but, as Mr Mohammed found out, pre-existing medical conditions are not covered.

Check your credit card before booking insurance to see if you have any travel insurance as a benefit – most UAE banks, such as Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, have cards that throw in insurance as part of their package. But read the fine print – they may only cover emergencies while you’re travelling, not cancellation before a trip.

Pre-existing medical conditions such as a heart condition, diabetes, epilepsy and even asthma may not be included as standard. Again, check the terms, exclusions and limitations of any insurance carefully.

If you want trip cancellation or curtailment, baggage loss or delay covered, you may need a higher-grade plan, says Ambareen Musa of Souqalmal.com. Decide how much coverage you need for emergency medical expenses or personal liability. Premium insurance packages give up to $1 million (Dh3.7m) in each category, Ms Musa adds.

Don’t wait for days to call your insurer if you need to make a claim. You may be required to notify them within 72 hours. Gather together all receipts, emails and reports to prove that you paid for something, that you didn’t use it and that you did not get reimbursed.

Finally, consider optional extras you may need, says Sarah Pickford of Travel Counsellors, such as a winter sports holiday. Also ensure all individuals can travel independently on that cover, she adds. And remember: “Cheap isn’t necessarily best.”

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