Incredible £1.7bn tower that's Europe's tallest hailed 'infrastructure masterpiece'

Huge construction projects always get people talking, especially when they break records. One building that has done exactly that is the tallest tower in Europe, and it is not even in the centre of a big city. It sits around seven miles outside St Petersburg in Russia and stands at an impressive 462 metres tall.

The project was estimated to cost between £1.5billion and £1.7billion. And because of its size and design, it has caught the attention of people all over the world. The building is called the Lakhta Center and it was completed in 2019.

The tower is the headquarters of Gazprom, Russia’s state-backed energy company, and has a very distinctive shape.

It features a twisting design that rotates as it rises. From the base to the top, the building turns a full 90 degrees, meaning each floor is slightly different.

This design is not just for looks. It helps reduce wind pressure, allowing the tower to remain stable without the need for heavy dampers used in other skyscrapers.

Inside, the Lakhta Center includes offices, shops, restaurants, a science centre and even a planetarium.

There are also observation areas where visitors can look out over the Gulf of Finland.

The 87-storey building also holds several engineering records. According to infrastructure experts at the B1M, its foundation required more than 20,000 cubic metres of concrete, poured continuously over 49 hours.

That is more than what was used for the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The glass façade is also huge, made up of more than 16,500 individual panes.

It therefore can’t come as much of a surprise that building it came with challenges.

One of the biggest issues was the freezing conditions in winter. This meant that ice can form at the top of the spire and fall.

To solve this, special frames and mesh panels were added to catch the ice. Some of that ice is even reused in the building’s air-conditioning system.

The design was also inspired by a 17th-century Swedish fortress that once stood nearby.

Plans originally included turning the area into a larger business district with more towers. One of those was expected to reach around 700 metres.

However, those plans have been put on hold following financial issues linked to sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

People who have seen the Lakhta Center up close have been impressed. One person wrote in a Google review: “Just by looking at it you can tell how magnificent the building is.

“Let’s not get into too many details about how it was built, but it’s a masterpiece and one of the prettiest buildings ever made.”