The world’s biggest block of flats for 30,000 residents – complete with its own shopping mall, cinema and ski slope – is being built in Egypt with the help of property tycoon Mohamed Hadid at a cost of £420million.
The gigantic Skyline building is set to be built on the outskirts of the capital Cairo and will ease overcrowding in the city which has a population close to 21 million people and is expanding by 500,000 a year.
The luxury complex, the size of a small town, is to be built in the southeastern suburbs of Kattameya and is scheduled for completion in 2025.
An artist’s impression of the Skyline building set to be built on the outskirts of the capital Cairo
Mohamed Hadid, father of the models Gigi (left) and Bella (right), has described the project as massive and iconic and says his background makes him ideal to design the complex
The complex will have 13,500 apartments and a 40-acre garden with a network of cycle paths
An artist’s impression of the gardens in the £420million complex that is being built in Cairo
Tycoon and architect Hadid, 71, father of the models Gigi, 24, and Bella, 23, has described the project as ‘massive and iconic.’
He is working with the Spanish firm Van der Pas and the Egyptian engineer Raef Fahmy on the venture.
It will have 13,500 apartments ranging in price from around £35,000 for a studio to £90,000 for a three-bed flat.
Residents will be able to enjoy a 40-acre garden, a network of cycle paths and the world’s largest infinity pool on the roof.
It will also boast a shopping mall with international brands, restaurants an ice-skating rink, fitness centre, dry ski slope and a rock climbing wall.
The gigantic Skyline building is set to be built on the outskirts of the capital Cairo and will ease overcrowding in the city which has a population close to 21 million people and is expanding by 500,000 a year
The luxury complex, the size of a small town, is to be built in the southeastern suburbs of Kattameya and is scheduled for completion in 2025
Guinness World Records have confirmed the building as an official attempt at becoming the biggest residential building – but no current record exists in that category. The world’s tallest residential block is New York’s 426m-high 432 Park Avenue.
The Skyline building will be 11 storeys high and cover 650,000 sq ft – a floor area four times that of the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Giza which itself was the biggest man-made building for nearly 4,000 years.
The Egyptian government is already trying to ease the overcrowding issue by building a new administrative capital 28 miles east of the city centre.
The designers of the new Skyline complex decided against building it there as they believe its residents will still want to be near the old capital and the Nile.
Property tycoon Mohamed Hadid enjoys a close relationship with his model daughters Bella (left) and Gigi (right)
Hadid (pictured with daughter Bella), a Jordanian-American who was born in Palestine, said in a previous interview that the structure would be ‘massive and iconic’ and that he was perfect for the job of designing it
Hassan Morshedy, chief executive of the Morshedy Group which is behind the project, told The Times that Skyline would be ‘iconic, beautiful, but also affordable.’
He said: ‘Skyline is solving a housing problem, it’s not only about setting a record.
‘It will have 13,500 apartments yet everyone will have privacy, and all the facilities and amenities they can dream of.’
More than 3,000 buyers have already put down deposits for an apartment in the building, with the first expecting to move in by the summer of 2022.
Hadid, a Jordanian-American who was born in Palestine, said in a previous interview that the structure would be ‘massive and iconic’ and that he was perfect for the job of designing it.
He said: ‘It needs, I think, somebody of my background – I build hotels, city centers, large homes and projects of large magnitudes – to be able to deliver such a project.
Hadid is currently fighting back against a judge’s order to tear down his controversial Los Angeles mega-mansion after his lawyers filed a last minute appeal.
In new court documents obtained by DailyMail.com last month, Hadid is also appealing against LA Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan’s appointment of a receiver to oversee the demolition of the half-built ‘monstrosity’ dubbed the Starship Enterprise.
The move flies in the face of what Hadid, 71, had told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview in December last year – that he will demolish the property and replace it with something more modest.
He said the mansion was ‘finished’ due to water damage, blaming the judge for not allowing him to cover it, and had to come down anyway.
It was almost three months ago that Judge Karlan ruled that the giant house should be razed to the ground, branding the building a ‘clear and present danger’ to nearby homes in upscale Bel Air.
But that order was put on hold when Hadid’s construction company filed for Chapter Eleven bankruptcy last November after claiming in court that he ‘couldn’t afford’ the $5 million cost of the demo.
In November a judge ordered Hadid’s controversial Los Angeles home to be torn down out of safety concerns, saying it was a nuisance and a danger to the public