World’s biggest skyscraper opens high over Dubai

It boasts the highest swimming pool; the highest restaurant and – bizarrely enough – the highest fountain to be found above ground anywhere in the world.

And when the Burj Dubai skyscraper is finally inaugurated, the closely guarded exact height will be revealed officially, though it is known to be more than 800 metres, 60 per cent bigger than its nearest rival in Taiwan.

At its busiest, the site employed 12,000 workers, clocking up 22-million man hours to complete the structure since construction began in 2004.

But apart from the architecural and engineering challenges, the billion-euro edifice had to survive a near catastrophic collapse in Dubai’s property sector to make it to opening day – albeit with two completion delays since the foundations were laid.

The developers have said that 90 per cent of the accommodation on the 200 storeys has already been sold.

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