Friday round-up: Tallest towers | World’s biggest airport build | ‘Brutal’ skills shortage

Much of the focus when it comes to headline-grabbing megaprojects in recent months has been on Saudi Arabia. As if to confirm that, Neom recently announced that it has secured $2.7bn in financing to fund projects this year.

In doing so, it has threatened to steal the limelight from Dubai, which for the last couple of decades has reliably churned out some of the highest-profile construction projects in the world.

Not to be outdone, it was announced this week that two more such projects have already started construction in the emirate: what will become the world’s tallest residential tower, and the world’s largest airport.

Saudi Arabia isn’t the only country vying to take the spotlight off Dubai. Thailand’s Prime Minister announced earlier this week that the country is exploring the construction of what would overtake Dubai’s Burj Khalifa as the world’s tallest tower.

In other news, a construction skills shortage persists on both sides of the Atlantic. The UK faces ‘brutal’ battle for skilled people as major new projects come on stream, according to one warning. And in the US, a continued upswing in construction demand has pushed employment in the sector higher in a metropolitan areas.

Image of the week

Inside the newly constructed 6.7km-long Tiangxiang Avenue Tunnel, part of the Nanchang-Jiujiang high-speed intercity railway in Nanching City, Jiangxi Province, China. The tunnel has been bored using the ‘Hero’ boring tunnel machine (TBM), built by China Railway Construction Company (CRCC), which launched in November last year. The TBM is the largest shieled tunnelling machine launched on China’s railways at about 134m long with an excavation diameter of 14.8m. (Image: Costfoto/NurPhoto via Reuters).