High on ambition

By Bruce Millar

Istanbul’s taste for the high life grows with the planned construction of the city’s tallest tower

An artist’s impression of the planned skyscraper in Istanbul

Construction is scheduled to begin early next year on what its developers are billing as Europe’s tallest tower. The plans highlight the scope of Istanbul’s ambitions as Turkey’s commercial capital and as a growing power within the region. However, the exact height of the mixed-use building, including super-high-rise apartments, is not yet clear, and the tower will not stand in Europe.

An online vote to name the building and decide its height is planned for next month. It is designed to capture public imagination and rally domestic support for a project that the developers, Turkish construction companies Varyap and GAP Insaat, are pitching as a symbol of Turkey’s ambitions to become a global economic powerhouse.

The scale of the project is clearly intended to impress an international audience. Erdinc Varlibas, Varyap’s chief executive, is confident that the public vote will support a building significantly taller than London’s Shard, which will reach 310m when it is completed next year, though it would still be dwarfed by the UAE’s Burj Khalifa at 829m. The design allows for a tower up to 400m tall, consisting of a main 300m structure and a flexible “crown” of up to 100m.

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via High on ambition – FT.com.