March 8, Warsaw BBI Development is moving forward with plans to develop a 180-meter tower in Warsaw, in conjunction with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warsaw. The new tower will add 55,000 square meters of office space to Warsaw’s fast-growing office market. Read more.

March 8, Ontario In the age of steel and concrete, there is still a role for wood in the construction of tall buildings, a new study commissioned by the Canadian Wood Council argues. The study encourages designers and builders to “push the envelope of conventional thinking about wood construction.”  Read more.

March 7, China A Chinese company has built a 30-story hotel in 15 days, using pre-fabrication techniques. Most of the tower was built in a factory and then assembled on site, according to news reports. The company boasts that it has constructed some buildings even quicker. See time lapse video of the construction here.

March 6, Charleroi, Belgium A collaborative design by Jean Nouvel and MDW Architecture won a competition to redesign a 19th century brick barracks, which will be converted into to a hybrid police station and dance studio. The 246-foot tower is based on an elliptical plan and clad in blue brick, tapering as it rises. It will also glow at night...more

March 6, Portland A new 'superblock' is under development for Portland’s Lloyd District, including 4 towers and more than 780 residential units, making it one of the city’s largest apartment projects. Planners hope the design will create a new pedestrian-friendly neighborhood for the city...more

March 5, Saigon Up to 65 of 79 buildings in HCM City do not have adequate parking space, according to a new report. A government proposal calls for construction permits on projects to be withheld unless adequate parking is included in the plan. Calls for building underground parking have been delayed by red tape, according to this article...more

March 5, New York The Manhattan headquarters of the Hearst Corporation has been given a LEED platinum rating for its on-going sustainable operations by the U.S. Green Building Council. Hearst Tower, one of the first green office buildings in New York, was awarded a gold status when it was completed in 2006...more

March 6, Liverpool A plan to regenerate 60 hectares of dockland in Liverpool is moving forward, after the City Council approved the scheme. Heritage organizations and UNESCO had opposed the Liverpool Waters project, warning it would seriously damage the impact of the city’s historic sites. ...more

March 6, Kuwait City SOM’s curling Al Hamra Firdous Tower in Kuwait City is officially complete. The 412-meter tower, the 13th-highest in the world, according to CTBUH’s Skyscraper Center, features three glass ‘veil’ walls wrapping a near-opaque stone wall on the south side, blocking the sun. ...more

March 6, Bangkok A new law is under consideration in the Thailand capital to force owners of more than 1000 older buildings to install sprinklers, in the wake of a devastating tower fire last week. The towers affected were built before the enactment of new safety codes in 1992. ...more

March 5, Vancouver The Vancouver City Council has appoved plans to build a 53-story residential tower in a neighborhood previously off-limits to condominium development. The tower, which will be the second-tallest in the city, is part of the Telus Garden redevelopment project. ...more

March 5, Amman, Jordan Several ambitious projects in Jordan are stalled, in the wake of the economic downtown. The Jordan Gate development, which included two towers of more than 180 meters,  has become a “grim reminder of the days when the sky seemed the limit for Amman real estate," according to Executive magazine. ...more

March 5, Seattle A 300-foot-tall tower proposed for the First Hill neighborhood in Seattle is drawing protests from local residents. The project, which would be the tallest in the neighborhood and the first to hit the area’s maximum height restrictions, is too big and out of scale with the neighborhood, protesters say. ...more

March 2, Jeddah ENR examines the lessons learned in the development of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, and how those experiences affected the design of Kingdom Tower, the one-kilometer tall building in development in Jeddah. Burj Khalifa was a “learning laboratory for supertower design,” the article concludes. ...more

March 2, New York Several investors in the company that owns the Empire State Building have filed a lawsuit to stop an initial public offering. The deal is a “one-sided” transaction that doesn’t fairly value the assets of the company, including the iconic tower, investors charge in the suit. ...more

March 2, Brno, Czech Republic The city of Brno has spent millions of dollars to restore a villa designed by Mies van der Rohe. The Villa Tugendhat, built in 1930, has gone through many fabled incarnations over the years. The house was opened to the public in 1989 and was the inspiration for the novel “The Glass Room.” ...more

March 1, Shanghai, China The 29-story Jin Hongqiao International Center was topped out last week. The project, designed by John Portman and Associates, is actually two towers connected by a seven-story sky bridge, which will serve as an entranceway to a retail complex. Find details on the project in The Skyscraper Center ...more

March 1, Tokyo, Japan Work on Tokyo’s Sky Tree was delayed last year by the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan. Note: Although the 634-meter tower is referred to as the second tallest building in the world, CTBUH only includes towers that are at least 50 percent occupiable on the tallest building list. ...more

March 1, Boston, US Saunders Hotel Group is looking to build a 35-story tower on the site of the John Hancock Hotel and Conference Center, according to news reports. The Back Bay area of Boston has been going through a tall building surge, with three other towers in the planning stages. ...more

February 29, Pittsburgh, US Construction crews began tearing down a block in Pittsburgh this week to make room for the Tower at PNC Plaza, the 33-story building billed as “the world’s greenest skyscraper.” Work on the tower is expected to start in 2013. It will serve as the new home of the PNC Financial Services Group. ...more

February 29, Santiago, Chile Construction on the Gran Torre Costanera in Santiago has hit the 300-meter mark. The tower will be the largest in South America when it is completed, most likely in 2013. The tower is part of a four-building complex  that includes a shopping mall, which is also billed as the largest in South America. ...more

February 29, Boston, US Boston Properties has reportedly agreed to buy the 37-story Bank of America tower, 100 Federal Street, an office building with 1.3 million square feet of space.  Boston Properties already owns the Hancock Tower and Prudential Center.  Bank of America is looking to sell many of its buildings. ...more

February 27, Wuhan, China Authorities in central China's Hubei province are mulling whether to add height to a building project, a move that would make it the tallest building in China upon its completion. The Eco Tower Wuhan Center was originally planned to reach 606 meters, but local officials want to create a “landmark” building. ...more

February 27, Dublin, Ireland The redevelopment of Dublin’s iconic Liberty Hall building is moving forward, after local officials approved demolition of the existing building, the 17-story Eden Quay tower. The new tower includes offices, an auditorium and rooftop heritage area. If it passes an expected appeal, the new structure will be about 100 meters high.....more

February 26, Astrakhan, Russia A high-rise block of apartments has collapsed in the Russian southern city of Astrakhan, following an explosion. Eleven people remain missing, while seven people with injures have been rescued from the rubble. A video posted on YouTube captures the moment the building collapsed. ....more

February 26, Reston, USA The Virginia city of Reston is primed to get a new gateway in the form of a 23-story mixed-use project being planned for Reston Parkway by RTC Partnership. The proposed building’s height has already been approved by the county and would be taller than anything currently in Reston Town Center.....more

February 26, Shanghai, China Shanghai will restrict the construction of large foundation pits for new building projects in an effort to reduce land subsidence hazards, city construction officials said. Subsidence takes place when groundwater is pumped out, which happens for pit construction for the foundations of high-rises....more

February 27, St. Louis, USA A documentary explores the rise and fall of Minoru Yamasaki’s groundbreaking Pruitt-Igoe project in St. Louis.  The design for the 57-acre project was meant to set a standard for modern urban architecture. Instead the project was demolished after only 20 years.....more

February 27, Tel Aviv Spanish photographer Victor Enrich has manipulated his own architectural photography to create impossible and fantastical structures. One image shows a tower block that splits into two as though being unzipped. Other images suggest a vertical motorway and a seaside apartment block with balconies abnormally stretched to face the water.....more

February 25, Arlington, USA The first new building proposed under the Crystal City Sector Plan reached Arlington’s site plan review committee last week. The 24-story office building, complete with a unique cantilevered roof, would replace an older government office building that’s nearly vacant....more

February 24, Tokyo By 2050 people could step into an elevator and travel into space. Japanese company Obayashi Corporation recently announced its plans to build an elevator that would reach 36,000 kilometers above the ground, transporting up to 30 people at a time to a space-based work station...more

February 23, London A proposed 35-story skyscraper will loom over west London like a "weak rip-off of the Shard," neighbors claim. The 360-foot tower will stand almost as tall as St Paul's Cathedral, overshadowing hundreds of homes by day in North Kensington and causing light pollution at night, they charge...more

February 23, Chicago Skyscraper junkies now have a new place on the web to search for fun facts, read technical papers, and settle arguments. The Skyscraper Center launched by the CTBUH is an interactive global database offering detailed profiles and images on every completed building in the world taller than 200 meters...more

February 23, Ho Chi Minh City The 40-story BIDV Tower planned for Ho Chi Minh City is one of several high-profile skyscraper projects in Ho Chi Minh City delayed or cancelled due to a dramatic rise in interest rates. Some construction sites have been turned into temporary car parks by the developers...more

February 23, Toronto The developer behind a proposed 34-story hotel-condominium project in Toronto’s Distillery District still wants to proceed with the plan, despite the city’s concerns about its height and appropriateness for the historic area. The project, estimated to cost up to $130 million, would be the first hotel in the popular tourist area...more

February 22, Bilbao The Iberdrola Tower, a 41-story office skyscraper built as the headquarters for the Basque utility Iberdrola, was officially inaugurated in Bilbao this week. The 165-meter tower is the tallest building in Basque country and will join the Guggenheim Museum as one of the city’s architectural landmarks...more

February 22, Atlantic City A Philadelphia developer wants to build a 30-story, 124-unit condominium complex on a one-acre off-boardwalk site in Atlantic City. The most-eye-catching featuring would be a robotic parking system, which the designers say is already in use in other projects in New Jersey...more

February 22, Jeddah The plan to build the tallest tower in the world in Jeddah has been given the final clearance by local authorities, according to Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company. The SR4.6 billion Kingdom Tower will rise to more than 1,000 meters and serve as the centerpiece of the Kingdom City development...more

February 21, Shanghai Large cracks in the pavement around the Shanghai Tower are nothing to worry about, according to the builders of what will become China's tallest skyscraper. An independent team of experts has been closely monitoring the surrounding structures since construction started on the 632-meter tower...more

February 21, Karachi Ceremonies were recently held in Karachi to inaugurate Ocean Towers, which will be the tallest tower in Pakistan. The tower is 393 feet high and will house a shopping mall, corporate offices and a business club. The 28-floor skyscraper will pass the 381-feet tall MCB Tower as the tallest building in the country...more

February 21, Moscow A new documentary captures the construction process Federation Tower, the Moscow skyscraper which will someday be the tallest building in Europe. The project, launched in 2003, has been slowed by the owner’s turmoil and the global financial crisis, leading to fears the tower would never be completed...more

February 21, Hollywood Developer CIM Group is ready to break ground on a 260-foot tall tower in Hollywood, after six years of legal battles. Local activists complained the developer was given a “sweetheart deal,” including height variances, zoning changes and millions of dollars in loans...more

February 20, Belfast A Ballymena cleaning firm hired a special abseiling team to ensure that thousands of windows on Ireland’s tallest skyscraper are sparkling clean. The company brought in trained cleaners to clean the windows on the 28-story Obel Tower in Belfast, where high winds can create problems for the window cleaners...more

February 19, Cape Town The City of Cape Town has called on residents to comment on the draft of its new policy for tall buildings. Capetonians will be able to review the policy during the month of March. The city's Kylie Hatton said the draft seeks to create guidelines for any construction of new skyscrapers in the city...more

February 19, Calgary Calgary’s biggest office tower project, The Bow, is nearing completion. Tenants are expected to begin moving in to the iconic 58-story skyscraper in the next few weeks. Energy companies Cenovus and Encana will be the primary occupiers of the 2 million square feet of office space...more

February 19, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania The muddy houses with rusty corrugated iron sheet roofs of Dar es Salaam's Kariakoo district have been replaced by high rise buildings. And now firefighters are worried that the district is unprepared for an emergency. Safety standards have been ignored and building regulations are outdated, they say...more

February 18, London Perches precariously on narrow steel bars 1,000 feet above the ground, their high-visibility jackets mere pinpricks of color against the grey London sky, construction workers are putting the final touches to Europe’s tallest building. After 3 years of work, the last few floors of The Shard are taking shape...more

February 18, Melbourne A high-rise state primary school is in the cards for Docklands as the Government focuses on Melbourne's future. News of the concept came amid mixed views last week to a long-term plan by the state government to expand the city into a Manhattan-style metropolis...more

February 17, Houston Several commercial development projects located throughout the North Houston area are being billed as key economic drivers for the region. Among those are projects located in The Woodlands Town Center, which focuses on a continual build out called the “Super Block” and a high-rise condo near Waterway Square...more

February 17, Hainan, China German architecture firm HENN has won the contract to design a 10-tower development on a tropical Chinese island. The practice claimed first prize to design the Haikou Towers on Hainan, located in the South China Sea. Haikou Towers is set to become the heart of the new central business district of Haikou...more