Builders with high hopes aim to build the world’s tallest tower in just seven months.
Sky City will soar to 838 metres to dominate the skyline in Changsha, China, by March 2014.
The builders claim they need four months to prefabricate the sections – and three months more to bolt them together on site.
Work will start at the end of August 2013.
Chinese developers argue energy effective vertical cities is the only way to stop the country’s sprawling urbanisation and also offers a way to reduce energy consumption in the world’s most populous nation.
“How we use land is a number one concern in China,” said Zhang Zue, chairman of developers Broad Group. “The way land is used has triggered a massive demand for transportation and energy consumption. Now, conservation is our main focus.”
Secret rooftop garden
He also revealed the tower will have a secret rooftop garden, while the outside will have balconies littered with plants that will become literal hanging gardens.
Sky City will climb to 202-floors and give more than a million square metres of floor space divided between homes and businesses.
The tower is designed to stand through an earthquake registering nine on the Richter scale.
China’s current tallest skyscraper is the £750 million Shanghai World Trade Centre, which just tips 540 metres.
Plans to surpass Sky City with a new 1,000 metre £1 billion super tower in the Saudi Arabian capital of Jeddah are said to be ‘progressing well”.
The government says ground works will start in December 2013 and are set to last 10 months. The tower is scheduled to open in 2018.
Tallest twisted tower
Designers have included an observation deck at 502 metres, a restaurant two floors higher and a sky terrace on floor 157, 630 metres from the ground.
Architects and developers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, are also looking to build another super tower to shoot past the 1,000 metre mark.
Emaar Properties chairman Mohamed Alabbar explained the city needs more than one super tower – but argued the emirate has plenty of time to bring the plans together.
The world’s tallest tower is the 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Dubai also opened the world’s tallest twisted tower, the 310 metre Infinity, which comprises nearly 500 apartments and overlooks the city’s marina.
The second highest is the 601 metre Makkah Clock Royal Tower, gracing Mecca, Saudi Arabia, while the new World Trade Centre in Manhatten, New York, USA, has topped out at 541 metres.