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UK-based Foster & Partners is working as the architect on the proposed 2-kilometre (km) megatall tower in Riyadh for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

According to sources close to the project, the firm has been selected as the winner of a design competition that was launched in late 2022. Other firms that took part in the design competition included US-based firms Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture; Kohn Pedersen Fox; and Gensler. Also taking part were 10Design, which is part of France’s Egis, and Dubai-based Killa Design.

The proposed tower will be more than double the height of the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which is 828 metres tall.

Contractors that have priced megatall towers in the region say that depending on the final design, a 2km-tall structure could cost about $5bn to construct.

The tower is part of an 18-square-kilometre masterplanned development to the north of Riyadh.

The PIF has planned tall buildings before. It was considering plans for a tower of up to 1.2km in height at King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) on a plot known as KAFD X. Consultants were preparing designs for the project in 2019.