Belfast’s hopes of having the tallest building in Ireland have been "trumped" by Dublin.
The 80-metre Obel Tower currently under construction in Laganside will be dwarfed if the new U2 Tower planned for Dublin’s docklands gets the go-ahead.
Work on Belfast’s £50m Obel Tower started in May last year and it is due for completion in late 2007.
The 26-storey building consists of a residential tower, an eight storey hotel and a seven-storey office building.
The hotel will extend to 144 bedrooms, and the development will feature a restaurant/bar, commercial office suites and 182 apartments with two levels of car parking space.
Homes, costing from £100,000 to £475,000, were snapped up within 48 hours of going on the market, netting sales in excess of £30m. The name ‘Obel’ is derived from an obelisk set in old Belfast.
However the skyscraper will be left in the shade by the new 32-storey U2 Tower on the southside of the River Liffey.
This building will include luxury duplex apartments and recording studios for rock giants U2.
The tower has caused controversy among householders in the Ringsend area of Dublin.
Initial plans were for a 60 metre tower, however, last month, Irish environment minister Dick Roche approved a 40 metre increase.
Damien Cassidy of the Ringsend Environmental Group said they planned to take their protest to Europe.
"Dublin city is rather like Belfast. The heart of the city is the River Liffey as the Lagan is in Belfast," he said.
"This particular tower is going to appear as a monstrosity in what used to be a small maritime village of three storey buildings."
Paul Maloney, chief executive of the Docklands Authority, said: "The U2 Tower will provide a unique and remarkable architectural icon for docklands and the city of Dublin."
Meanwhile, both the Obel and U2 Towers are a long way off topping Taipei 101 in Taiwan which has 101 storeys and stands at 508 metres.
Petronas Towers 1 and 2 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, form the world’s second tallest building with 88 storeys at 452 metres high.
Sears Tower in Chicago is the fourth tallest building with 110 storeys at 442 metres high and Jin Mao Building in Shanghai is fifth with 88 storeys at 421 metres.
New York’s Empire State Building ranks ninth with 102 storeys at 381 metres and the Trump Building on Fifth Avenue stands 283 metres high.
By Lesley-Anne Henry, Belfast Telegraph
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