According to news agency Xinhuanet, Shanghai, China's economic center, plans to build a super-sized exhibition center that is likely to become the world's largest, announced a municipal official Sha Hailin. The Shanghai municipal government has set up a headquarters to command construction of ancillary facilities to the China Expo Center, which will be located at the Shanghai Hongqiao Central Business District, said Sha Hailin, deputy secretary general of the Shanghai municipal government, at a press briefing. The center, composed of a main exhibition hall and ancillary facilities, will cover an area of about 104 hectares, with an indoor area of 400 thousand square meters and 100 thousand square meters of outdoor exhibition areas. The project will cost US$ 3.6 billion, and the first-phase investment has been secured, without elaborating on the amount.

As reported by Chinadaily, developers working on a new skyscraper, which once built will be the capital's tallest building, say they will break ground on the project on September 19. CITIC Group (China International Trust and Investment Corporation), which won the rights to the 11.478 square meters land in the Central Business District (CDB) with a bid of US$ 563 million on last December 21, plans to build a 510-meters tall office tower with 104 floors above ground and four basement levels. The final design hasn't been decided yet, as the group is waiting for municipal governmen's approval, but the building will be higher than 500 meters. The new skyscraper is called Zhongguo Zun, which means China Goblet, as the inspiration for the design came from an ancient ritual vessel. Construction will be completed in five to seven years and the completed building will offer 350 thousand square meter of space. The land where the building will stand is in the north of the CBD, which houses many international companies. The capital's tallest building now is Tower 3 of China World Trade Center, which is 330 meters tall and is also in the CBD. The skyscraper is expected to serve as an office building for CITIC Group. The design of the new skyscraper adopts many elements from traditional culture, such as the Kongming (Floating Paper) Lamp. The building will remind people of the ancient Chinese city, representing Beijing's image perfectly.

According to Interfax news agency, on September 6 the tallest building of Tajikistan, a 22-storey business-center "Dushanbe Plaza" opened in Dushanbe. The press-secretary of Dushanbe City Hall Shavkat Saidov mentioned that the building is 92-meters tall. The building was built in the center of Dushanbe, 50 meters away from the main square of the country Dusti (Friendship). The total construction budget of the building amounted US$ 33.6 million. The business-center with total area 40 thousand square meters will have two restaurants, hall for fashion shows, conference-hall, offices and hotel rooms. In the two towers of "Dushanbe Plaza" will work 12 elevators, and a two-floor underground parking lot. It should be noted, that before "Dushanbe Plaza" construction Tajikistan had only two 16-storey residential buildings in the capital.

Kingdom Tower, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's project to erect the world's tallest building in Jeddah, is designed to imitate the contours of a sprouting desert plant. Adrian Smith's task is to make sure it doesn't sway in the wind like one. The American architect has the right resume for the job. He already grappled with effects like horizontal wind divergence and negative pressure high above the Persian Gulf desert when he designed Dubai's "Burj Khalifa", today's highest tower. As explained Adrian Smith during telephone interview to news agency Bloomberg, Kingdom Tower will rise from three separate bases in continuous slopes that end at different heights, helping to balance the building's weight and stabilize it against winds that can reach 190 kilometer per hour at the top. The tower is designed to move about 1 meter side-to-side at 500 meters in the most severe storms that occur once every 50 years or so, he said. The movement will be much less in more typical weather conditions. Designing the world's tallest buildings presents numerous challenges beyond high winds. The observation deck will stick out from the building in an 24 meter-wide disc that was originally designed as a helicopter-landing platform, Smith said. The idea was abandoned after several pilots judged that landing there would be too risky. Water must be pumped up the 163-floor Kingdom Tower in stages, using holding tanks at various levels, to avoid too much pressure building up in the pipes and causing them to burst, Smith said. Evacuation also requires special planning. The Jeddah tower will have emergency refuge rooms every 20 floors, where people can stop to get water and protection as well as emergency instructions while descending to the ground. Smith said he's looking at ways to use the elevators in emergencies rather than following the common practice of banning their use. Smith's design includes a system that collects moisture out of the air and from mechanical systems within the tower, producing enough fresh water each year to fill 14 Olympic-size pools. Summer temperatures in Jeddah, the gateway to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, can soar to 40 degrees Celsius with 80 percent humidity. The Kingdom Tower's exterior walls will be made of glass with insulation behind it to help the structure control the heat, Smith said. "We use glass because it's easy to maintain and has longevity," Smith said. "It also reflects the sky and helps the tower feel lighter and more elegant." Apartment prices in Kingdom Tower will probably be comparable to luxury homes in Dubai and a two-bedroom apartment will probably sell for around US$ 800 thousand.

Construction costs in Switzerland are more than 25 percent higher than anywhere else in the world, according to the annual International Construction Cost Comparison Report released by asset consultancy EC Harris. The annual report, which benchmarks the construction costs in 55 countries across the globe using UK prices as a baseline, found that Europe continues to be the most expensive continent in which to build, providing eight of the top 10 entrants in the final league table. According to the report, the price of construction in Switzerland is 71 percent higher than in the UK, where costs are now more than 20 percent below their peak price in mid-2008. Overall, the UK is now tied with Bahrain as the 12th most expensive place in the world to build, up four places from 2010 where it finished in 16th place. Denmark retained its position as the second most expensive place to build, closely followed by its Scandinavian neighbour Sweden. Australia and Canada were the only non-European markets to make it into the top 10 although Bahrain just missed out, finishing in 12th place overall alongside the UK. India and Sri Lanka were tied as the cheapest countries in which to build with construction costs estimated to be 72 percent cheaper than the UK baseline. Mathew Riley, head of Cost and Commercial at EC Harris, said, that it was no surprise to see that Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries are the most expensive places to build as high labour costs and the need to import materials are all combining to drive prices up. The report also underlines the need for Western economies to start planning ahead now to guarantee access to the raw materials needed for future construction projects. During the economic downturn global supply chains have shifted their focus to meeting the demands of economies like China and India and are likely to continue to prioritize them over the coming years as they offer the greatest revenue growth opportunities.