Avesta unveils plans to build world's tallest tower in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan-based property developer Avesta has unveiled plans to build the world’s tallest building on an artificial island in the Caspian Sea.

The new Azerbaijan Tower will be 1,050m high and will feature 189 floors, including a 3,645ft business centre. Avesta company marketing director Kana Guluzade said the tower was initially intended to be 560m high. The building will be part of the Khazar Islands project, a cluster of 41 artificial islands featuring hotels and apartment buildings about 15 miles south of the Azerbaijani capital Baku.

Due to be completed in 2016, the first phase of the project will include restaurants, and residential and social facilities. The Azerbaijan Tower will be built in the second phase of Khazar Islands project, with construction scheduled to start in late 2013. The project will feature an office centre, a hotel, a recreation zone, entertainment facilities, a yacht club, a cinema, parks, a golf course, a rally track, a cycling track and the local mayor’s office.

The Azerbaijan Tower will be taller than the Prince Alwaleed-backed Kingdom Tower, the 1,000m building set to begin construction in Jeddah in the first quarter of 2012. It would also be 27% taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, currently the world’s tallest building at 830m.