Mace, the firm behind London's now famous Shard, will, in a joint venture with construction company EC Harris, build the world's tallest skyscraper in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Plans for the tower, known as the Kingdom Tower, were announced 18 months ago, but Mace, the builders of the Shard and construction company EC Harris were only named as the firms behind the tower's construction on February 21.

The tower will reach a height of 1,000 meters, nearly three times the height of the Shard and would overtake the 828-meter Burj Khalifa in Dubai's as the world's tallest skyscraper. The Kingdom Tower will be the centerpiece of the $20bn Kingdom City urban re-development project taking place in the north of Jeddah by the Red Sea.

According to Mace, the Kingdom Tower will serve as "a mixed-use building featuring a five-star luxury Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons serviced apartments, first class office space, luxury condominiums and an observatory that will be higher than the world's current highest observation deck."

Construction will take around five years and is expected to begin by the middle of this year.