China reaches for the sky

China has built more supertall buildings (defined as buildings of 200m and above in height) than the rest of the world combined, according to a survey of global skyscraper construction by the Council on Tall Buildings.

The survey found that 143 buildings taller than 200m were completed in 2018, a little off the record of 147 achieved the previous year.

Of those, 109 were built in Asia, with 88 in China. 

China increased its dominance of the supertall market, accounting for 62% of the total built, compared with 54% last year.

Second place was held by the US, which saw 13 supertall buildings completed, compared with ten in 2017. However, the Chinese city of Shenzhen alone saw more skyscrapers go up than in all the US during the year.

The tallest building to complete in 2018 was the 528m CITIC Tower in Beijing. It is the fourth year in a row in which the tallest building to complete in that year has been in China.

The average height of buildings above 200m completed in 2018 was 247m, a slight increase over the 244m figure for 2017. The average height of the World’s 100 Tallest Buildings grew again, to 381m, from 372m in 2017.

To view the report, click here