World's fourth tallest skyscraper at almost 600m opens in Shenzen

The tower is just two metres shorter than the world’s third tallest building, the Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel. It also sits below Shanghai Tower (632 metres) and the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (828 metres).

Had the Ping An Finance Centre been one metre taller it would have qualified in the “megatall” category – which includes buildings of 600 metres or more.

The Ping An Finance Centre is Shenzen’s tallest skyscraper and the fourth tallest in the world. Photo: Kohn Pedersen Fox associates

The tower will accommodate Chinese insurance company Ping An’s 15,500 employees.

At its base are five storeys of retail punctured by a central atrium and glazed walls that fill it with natural light.

At the top of the tower, the facade tapers to form a pyramid with an observation deck that is expected to receive 9000 visitors a day.

The facade of the building was constructed from 1700 tons of stainless steel, forming what KPF are calling “the largest stainless steel facade system in the world”.

• Related: Shanghai Tower, world’s second-tallest building, opens with a whimper after delay
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The steel was chosen for its ability to resist corrosion in the city’s salty coastal air.

The tapered form is designed to reduce wind load on the structure by 40 per cent.

Construction took seven years and initial plans stated the building would be 660 metres tall.

According to Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat data Shenzen will continue to cement its reputation as a global skyscraper capital – the city already boasts 49 buildings taller than 200 metres and a further 48 are under construction.

Emaar Properties, the firm behind the Jeddah Tower in Dubai, soon to become the world’s tallest building, project that it will top out at more than one kilometre high when it is completed in 2020.