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A new record: 97 buildings taller than 200 meters completed in 2014

A new record: 97 buildings taller than 200 meters completed in 2014

Last year was a record-breaking year for high-rise construction, with 97 tall buildings completed worldwide, including 11 "supertalls."


By BD+C Staff | January 13, 2015
Torre Costanera in Santiago, Chile, is South America's first supertall. Photo: J
Torre Costanera in Santiago, Chile, is South America's first supertall. Photo: Javier via Flickr/Wikimedia Commons

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat released its 2014 Year in Review report. According to the report, the total number of buildings over 200 meters completed (97 worldwide) was higher in 2014 than in any other year on record. Another first: 11 supertalls were completed last year. 

The market continues to shift to Asia, with 76% of tall buildings completed there; 60% in China alone. Surprising to CTBUH, there was an increase in all-steel construction for the first time since 2000, which bears further investigation.

There will be multiple mega projects to watch in 2015, which the report recaps here.

Other noteworthy findings from the report:
• After China, the most 200-meter-plus buildings went up in the Phillippines (five), then United Arab Emirates and Qatar (four each), with the U.S., Japan, Indonesia, and Canada tying for fourth place (three each).
• Chile completed the first supertall in South America, the 300-meter Torre Costanera in Santiago.
• Japan also entered the supertall market with the 300-meter Abeno Harukas in Osaka.
• One World Trade Center was the tallest building of the year to be completed and is now the world's third-tallest building.
• All-office buildings continue to fall out of the 100 Tallest buildings ranking, with 39 in 2014, down from 42 the previous year.

Read the full report here.

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