Skyscraper construction is booming, with records being broken more regularly, particularly in the Middle East. On average the height record has risen by three metres (ten feet) a year since 1885, and by five metres since the 1960s. Until 1990, the world’s tallest buildings were almost always in North America. The years before and after the second world war saw a handful of exceptions in places such as Russia and Brazil. In recent years the baton has been passed to Asia (Malaysia, Taiwan, China) and then to the Middle East. Neck-cricking heights may please architectural buffs, but whether they make economic sense is another question. The commercially ideal height may not have changed much since 1930, the year construction of the Empire State Building began, when it was estimated (in New York) at 63 storeys. Today’s skyscrapers are heading to 170—and beyond.