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It probably comes at no surprise to anyone in the industry that 2019 was another record-breaking year for supertall construction. The pace of building completions taller than 300 metres has been picking up year after year, led mostly by growth in China.
Once again, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has analyzed and catalogued tall building completions of the past year. Their annual report, CTBUH Year in Review: Tall Trends of 2019, shows that a total of 26 supertalls were completed this year, the most in history. It surpasses the 18 supertalls built in 2018, which itself was a record. The total number of supertall buildings around the world now stands at 170, a substantial increase from the 76 that existed in 2013, and the 26 that were in place in 2000.
The 530-metre-tall Tianjin CTF Finance Centre was the tallest building completed in 2019. "This is the fifth year in a row that a building over 500 metres has been completed, which is a remarkable accomplishment for the building industry—it was only 15 years ago that such buildings didn’t exist," said CTBUH Chief Executive Officer Antony Wood.
While supertall construction continues to break barriers, the overall number of completed buildings of at least 200 metres in height declined by 13.7 percent for a total of 126. The overall completion figure hasn't declined since 2010-2011, a temporary shift that was attributed to project cancellations stemming from the 2008 recession. CTBUH notes that the projects completed in 2019 were generally conceived five or more years ago, representing development and market conditions a half-decade earlier.
China took 45 percent of the total tall building completions in 2019, a decrease from its 63 percent share in 2018. Asia as a whole remained dominant, contributing 87 of the 126 buildings above 200 metres for a 69 percent share, although that number is also down from the 75.3 percent share of 2018's total. The United States meanwhile matched its total of 14 tall building completions for the second year in a row.
From a city level, Shenzhen remained the world's new skyscraper capital, beating its own record for the fourth time in a row with 15 completions. Dubai was a distant second, with a still-respectable nine completions.
A number of skyscrapers completed in 2019 became the tallest in their country. Africa and Algeria alike now have a new tallest building with the completion of the Great Mosque of Algiers, which features a 265-metre-tall minaret. The Leonardo in South Africa adds a new 227-metre-tall peak to the Johannesburg skyline.
The European continent also saw a new tallest building when St. Petersburg's 462-metre Lakhta Center was delivered. In South America, Brazil finally broke the 200-metre mark when the 235-metre Infinity Coast Tower in Balneario Camboriu opened.
Looking to 2020, CTBUH is projecting a similar number of building completions above 200 metres high. Of the 115 to 145 completions predicted, between 17 and 30 of them are expected to be supertalls.
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