Amid all the global doom and gloom it looks like Kuwait could be about to make up for all the iced projects around the world with one massive development.

The Kuwaiti government is reportedly about to start on its City of Silk, a brand new 250,000 sq m metropolis on the Tigris and Euphrates river delta.

Anchoring the new city will be the Burj Mubarak al Kabir, a 1001m skyscraper to rival the Burj Dubai.

Designed by London-based architect Eric Kuhne, the skyscraper is three interlocking towers, each twisting 45 degrees top to bottom.

This unusual design is to ensure the whole structure doesn't topple over in high winds.

Popular Science claims the development is about to go ahead. But I guess we shall have to wait and see.

In a competition only open to billionaire developers, the Burj Dubai has seen off early efforts from Saudi Arabia's royal family to build a skyscraper taller than the 800m plus tower.

The Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), which is owned by Saudi Arabia's royal family, has shelved plans to build a skyscraper to rival the Burj.

In October the company announced it would build the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah but that the final height was a secret and would be well over 1km high.

But sources now say the tower is on hold after KHC lost £5.6bn in the fourth quarter of 2008 due to the downturn in equity markets.

Project manager Bechtel is in the process of ending its involvement with the project.

It is unknown how long the development will be delayed.

As the economic crisis reduced financial markets to rubble in 2008, tall buildings hit a high - literally.

New figures show the average height of the top 10 tallest buildings completed in 2008 rose to 319m - 31m above the previous highest average set in 1998.

The 492m Shanghai World Financial Centre - also known as the bottle opener - was the tallest building, followed by the 363m Almas Tower in Dubai. See the full list here.

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has named 2008 the most successful year of skyscraper construction and is predicting even better results in 2009 and 2010.

The international research group points to the 818m Burj Dubai, the 577m Makkah Clock Royal Tower in Saudi Arabia and the 414m Dubai Towers in Doha - all to be completed in 2009.

The council also predicts the Burj Dubai will hold the title of the world's tallest building until 2020 and that building heights will fall until 2017.

I wonder what Saudi Arabia's Al-Waleed bin Talal - the man who wants to beat the Burj with a 1km high skyscraper - thinks of that?

Burj Dubai - the tallest building in the world - has hit topping out stage.

At least that is the rumour setting the internet ablaze at the moment - an official announcement has yet to be made.

Witnesses in Dubai say the tower has hit well over 800m and will not be going any higher and Wiki claims topping out was achieved 17 January.

Local media reports the skyscraper is being prepped for an 09/09/09 soft opening.

What we do know for sure is that workers are adding an antenna with a blinking light to the tower.

Samsung Engineering and Construction has confirmed its' workers are on the job.

In these credit crunch times, you can just about bet that if anything is still going up, it is going up in Dubai. So here's a quick guide to some of the more obscene and audacious projects under construction right now.

5. O-14, Business Bay

Architects Reiser + Umemoto originally dreamed this building up as a curtain-wall tower, but decided that would be "ridiculous in Dubai". A much more sane idea obviously was to build a tower with no interior columns, held up by an exoskeleton that has 1,300 holes in it. The 22 storey building will be made of concrete with steel reinforcement. Its exoskeleton acts as a chimney that cools the building and is connected to the slab via "tongues".

4. Falconcity of Wonders

Always dreamed of seeing the seven wonders of the world, but don't like travelling? Why not try Falconcity of Wonders - home to all your favourite ancient wonders plus a few modern ones like the Eiffel Tower and Leaning Tower of Pisa to keep even the fussiest sightseer happy. Yep, Dubai really will be the centre of the world when it finishes construction of its own Taj Mahal, pyramid, hanging gardens of Babylon and Great Wall - not to mention a few others. Oh, and when viewed from space, the city will resemble a falcon. Of course.

3. Burj Dubai

It may not be finished but that hasn't stopped this massive tower taking out the title of the world's tallest man-made structure ever built. Standing at around 707m, it is expected to get as high as 818m. It's also setting construction records left and right, with concrete being pumped 601m high and workers to put in 22 million man hours by its' completion in September 2009. Interestingly, ice is added to make sure the concrete can withstand hot Gulf weather and the weight bearing down on it.

2. Hydropolis

It gets pretty hot in Dubai, so you can kind of see where designers got the inspiration to build an entire hotel the size of Hyde Park under water. The £300m Hydropolis project will be reinforced by concrete and steel with Plexiglas walls and bubble-shaped dome ceilings that let visitors see the marine life around them. But construction hasn't gone swimmingly, with contracts cancelled or delayed. It should be open late 2009.

1. The World

Could there be a more audacious name for a building project? Thumbing its' nose at rising sea levels, Dubai is building 300 islands in the shape of the world 4km offshore. Initial development is completed and 232km of shoreline has been created. Rumoured to have bought their own piece of the world are Posh and Becks, drummer Tommy Lee and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.