Dubai 's 828-meter Burj Khalifa has less than a year left as the world 's tallest building . China 's projected 838-meter ( 2,749 feet ) Sky City broke ground in Changsha in central China on July 20 . Astonishingly , the construction company behind it expects to top out in April 2014 -- a build time of just 10 months . It took five years to build the Burj Khalifa . Fast construction claims from Broad Group , the Changsha-based construction company in charge of the build , have elicited strong reactions from China 's `` netizens , '' as well as experts . `` The speed is horrifying , how can that be possible ? '' said one user on Weibo , China 's Twitter-like service . Another criticized the liveability of the homes within , calling the project a `` giant stack of trailer homes . '' But the building would appear to herald a new age in Chinese construction , one in which tall , fast builds become common . It 's already difficult to keep track of China 's tallest building announcements . China 's race for the sky . Other projects under construction in China include : . • Shanghai Tower , Shanghai ( 632 meters , completion in 2014 ) • Goldin Finance 117 , Tianjin ( 597 meters , completion in 2015 ) • Ping An Finance Center , Shenzhen ( 660 meters , completion in 2016 ) • Greenland Center , Wuhan ( 636 meters , completion in 2017 ) • Golden Rooster Tower , Suzhou ( 700 meters , yet to be confirmed ) More than 10 cities in China are planning to build something taller than the 541-meter ( 1,775 feet ) One World Trade Center , the United States ' tallest building due to open early 2014 in New York City , according to the `` 2012 China Skyscraper Report '' by Chinese architecture website motiancity.com . The site , which defines `` skyscrapers '' as buildings taller than 152 meters ( 498 feet ) , also reports that China currently has 470 skyscrapers , 332 under construction and 516 planned but unconfirmed . That means by 2022 China could have a total of 1,318 buildings higher than 152 meters , more than twice than expected in the United States . Last year , real estate data company Emporis reported that half of the 10 tallest buildings under construction worldwide are in China . Sky City will cost RMB 9 billion ( $ 1.46 billion ) to build . According to Broad Group CEO Yue Zhang , the building is meant to save on energy and land . The group says the 202-story , 1.05 million-square-meter building will keep at least 2,000 cars off of Changsha city streets by creating an environment no one needs to leave . The tower will house more than 30,000 people alongside a shopping mall , school , hospital , office areas , roof garden , amusement park , sports facilities , organic farm and a 10-kilometer `` walking street '' that will run from the first to the 170th floor . `` Residents do n't need to step out of the building , they can do everything within it , '' said Zhang . Safety concerns . Some are worried the building could be vulnerable to safety hazards , due to the unconventional construction technique devised by Broad Group . That `` fast-building technology '' allowed the group to put up a 30-story tower in 15 days in 2011 , and a 15-story hotel within six days a year earlier . VIDEO : See a hotel built in six days . Zhi Yin , head of Beijing Tsinghua Urban Planning Academy , told Xinhua , China 's government-sanctioned media body , that Sky City would be `` either a marvel or a hoax . '' According to Yin , Broad Group 's Sky City is an experiment , he claims , that still needs a practical test . Yin Lu , an architect from Baojia Group , expressed concerns to Xinhua about subsidence when the building gets higher . Broad Group emphasized that relevant authorities have approved the building as safe . Super-fast construction method . The construction technique is simple , according to the company . Some 20,000 workers in BSB 's offsite factory produce thousands of prefabricated steel-and-concrete blocks , 60 square meters in size , over four months . These blocks are transported to the location , hoisted and packed into position to make up the final structure over two months , at a rate of three stories a day . Another four months are needed to complete the internal construction . Broad Group has applied this method to more than 30 of their buildings . There remains a certain amount of skepticism about the feasibility of the project from Chinese public and experts . The world should know the truth early next year .
Sky City broke ground July 20 , will top out in April 2014 . 838-meter tower will house 30,000 residents , a hospital , school and shopping mall . Score: 6