Work begins on Freedom Tower

(Picture: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill)

Work has started on the foundations for the world’s tallest building, the Freedom Tower, which will occupy the northwest corner of the 16-acre World Trade Centre site in New York.

Topping out at a height of 1,776ft the steel framed structure will include an 80ft high public lobby within a 200ft high base and then 69 floors of office space, restaurants and parking.

Freedom Tower will culminate in a glass parapet that marks the respective heights (1,362ft and 1,368ft) of the original World Trade Centre towers, while on top of this an antenna reaches the final topping out height.

Structural engineers for the project, Cantor Seinuk, and architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, said the Tower will have a robust steel frame consisting of beams and columns connected by a combination of welding and bolting.

The companies added that, paired with a concrete core shear wall, the frame lends substantial rigidity to the overall structure while providing column-free interior spans.

The construction schedule envisages steelwork being visible above the base in 2008 with topping out in 2010 and full occupancy in 2011.