Sky City, Broad Sustainable Building’s ambitious skyscraper development for Changsha, China, has hit a few speed bumps with construction delays and cost spikes.

Sky City behind schedule

When Sky City is complete, it will stand 2,749 feet, making it the world’s tallest building - just a few feet taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. But, when will Sky City finish?

Construction was scheduled to start earlier this year, and work commenced just over a week ago. Then, on July 25, Chinese officials halted construction because the developer had not received approval to start. The end of 2013 was the initial goal for completion, but now, things won’t even get rolling again until April 2014.

Some safety issues have arisen. It has become a concern that the land won’t be able to handle the weight of the building. Also, the speed at which Broad Sustainable Building is planning to complete the tower may compromise the workers’ safety.

Broad Sustainable Building claims that because of Sky City’s unique prefabricated design, it should only take six months to top off. Once all the components are made in a factory, it’s just a matter of piecing them together at the site. Concerns about proper safety measures while erecting a building of this height at this speed are valid. It will be interesting to see if Sky City actually rises as quickly as predicted, once the prefab work is done.

Costs for Sky City quickly rising

When Sky City was first announced, the estimated cost was $625 million. Now that construction is underway and the developer has a better idea of what is entailed, the cost has jumped to over $855 million. No reports have been released stating the reason for the extra costs.

We won’t be surprised if the costs continue to rise over the next year. They’re only a week into construction, who knows what could happen - especially with a project of this magnitude.

The Burj Khalifa cost approximately $1.5 billion. We’re not sure if Sky City will be matching the luxuriousness of Burj Khalifa, but it wouldn't be outrageous if the costs ended up somewhere around the billion dollar mark.

About Sky City

Sky City is a mixed-use project that will feature residential, office, and recreational components. There will be 4,450 suites, ranging in size from 645 to 5,600 square feet, spread out over 220 floors.

The design is very plain. There’s not much to admire besides the height of it, but it dwarfs the rest of the city, and stands out like a sore thumb. What do you think of the design?

Images from CNET