The government has lifted building height restrictions, allowing towers to be built up to 70 storeys high. The move paves the way for investors to develop buildings almost twice the height of current projects, currently limited to 40 storeys.

Kuwait is experiencing a construction boom, and the recent announcement may go some way to relieving some of the pressure on plots available for development. 'It's a good move,' says one design consultant. 'People will certainly now go for bigger towers, although it will likely be some time before they start coming up because the existing power, sanitation and parking infrastructure cannot cope with the huge demands these kind of buildings create.'

Infrastructure limitations are not the only impediments to high-rise development. Government regulations also state that a building's maximum height cannot be more than 400 per cent the size of the plot it is built on. 'Lifting the ratio restriction is key,' says one private developer. 'This is what we would all like to see. Unless this rule is relaxed, it doesn't matter how many storeys the tower can have, we simply wouldn't be allowed to build it.'