"They're acts of optimism, they're dreams rendered in steel and concrete," says William Baker, the chief structural engineer behind what will soon be unveiled as the tallest building in the world.

  Mr Baker's company, Skidmore Owings Merrill, specialises in skyscrapers. He himself has been making sure a superscraper stays up - Burj Dubai.

 The structure is almost finished and is expected it will be unveiled in a few weeks' time. But no one is saying how tall it will be.

 "We're not allowed to say. The client hasn't announced what it is and I don't think they will," says Mr Baker. "It'll turn into urban folklore, you'll have people measuring the shadows on GoogleEarth and trying to figure it out."

  All good publicity, and that is after all a large part of what skyscrapers are about - showing off.

  The current record holder is Taipei 101, at just over 500 metres high. To qualify as tallest structure, a building must be kitted out and working as hotel, offices, flats - whatever is there.

  The Burj (which means Tower in Arabic) will not be fully functioning until later in the year, but the basic structure will be ready soon.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7798943.stm

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 {It's tall. It's really tall! A new tower of Babel? It seems these oil rich nations are determined to spend their petro-dollars in the most flashy way possible. Meanwhile their fellow Arabs.... the Palestinians... live in squalor, in a constant state of war or uprising and where whole generations have been raised in filthy camps with little water or food. Why are these wealthy states ignoring the Palestinians? I have my own theory but would like to hear what other people think? Any ideas?}