Dubai skyscraper becomes the tallest building on earth

Even in a city of skyscrapers it dwarfs all before it. More than twice the height of Canary Wharf, the Burj Dubai has been crowned the world's tallest building.

Measuring 512.1 metres (1,680 ft), it would tower over Canary Wharf at 235m and the Empire State Building at 381m if the builings were positioned side-by-side.

Its dizzying 141 storeys takes it past Taipei 101 in Taiwan, which at 508 metres had held the tallest building title since it was opened in 2004.

How the Burj Dubai compares with Canary Wharf and The Empire State Building

When the tower is completed next year developers Emaar Properties want it to fit all four criteria listed by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, which measures buildings to the structural top, the highest occupied floor, the top of the roof and the tip of the spire or flagpole.

Emaar did not say how tall the finished building will be.

Once finished it will have 56 lifts travelling at 1.75 to 10 metres per second.

The tower will be the centrepiece of a $20 billion development that will include residential, commercial and retail property.

Dubai is the Gulf Arab trade and tourism hub has embarked on a series of mega-projects in recent years, developing three palm-shaped islands off its coast and a cluster of man-made islands shaped like a map of the world.