Sri Lanka is growing towards a real estate investment-friendly environment. The skyline of Colombo has changed drastically over the last few years with a few iconic towers coming into the city and its suburbs. At a transformational era such as this, Sri Lanka could be open to several architectural marvels. 
Lamudi Sri Lanka examines the possibility of building an imitation of existing global architectural giants in Sri Lanka.


Shard of London, UK
London is a city of skyscrapers and The Shard has only added to the long list of tall structures. The building is the second tallest free-standing structure in the UK with 87 storeys made of 11,000 panels of glass. 

The 1,200,000 square feet structure in Colombo 1 (Fort) would cost around US $ 300 million at an average rate of US $ 250 per square feet. In comparison to the original cost of construction in London – £435 million – it is much cheaper to construct in Colombo. The demand for office space and luxury residential properties is almost equally high. 


Burj Khalifa of Dubai
Speaking of skyscrapers, how can we omit the world’s tallest building? Burj Khalifa, standing tall at almost 830 metres into the sky, would bring a new definition to Sri Lanka if it is constructed in Colombo. The building has an entire floor space of 3,331,100 square feet. Assuming square feet rates based on Jones Lang LaSalle’s research, if the Burj Khalifa was built between Colombo one and three, it would cost approximately US $ 833 million while constructing it between Colombo four and ten would cost essentially US $ 520 million due to the difference in price per square feet.

The Burj consists of 900 residencies, 11 hectares of park, four storey recreational facilities and other amenities. Such a development in Sri Lanka would definitely bring in more tourism and might even make Colombo the biggest retail hub in South Asia. However, the investments would only be made by an elite group of Sri Lanka or foreign investors. 

Lamudi Sri Lanka Managing Director Hugh van der Kolff said, “With proposed tourism targets of two million and 2.5 million by the end of 2015 and 2016, respectively, these projects might even boost tourism to double for the years, if constructed.”


Shimzu Mega City Pyramid of Tokyo
Skyscrapers do not necessarily have to be vertically built, but horizontally as well. The Shimzu Mega City Pyramid is proposed to be 2,000 metres tall and is to be a mixed use development. Although, such a project would attract several retail investors and tourists, building such a project in Sri Lanka could be surpassing required supply rate. In terms of residencies, it would be capable of housing 750,000 people.