List of tallest buildings in South Africa

Johannesburg, the economic capital of South Africa.

Cape Town, the oldest city in South Africa and an important economic centre.

Pretoria, executive capital of South Africa.

Durban, an important economic centre on South Africa.

Bloemfontein

South Africa is the most structurally and economically developed nation on the African continent. As such, its major cities have experienced construction booms that most other cities of similar size in Africa have not. Advanced development is significantly localised around four areas: Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, and Pretoria/Johannesburg. Beyond these four economic centres, development is marginal and poverty is still prevalent despite government efforts. Consequently, the vast majority of South Africans are poor. However, key marginal areas have experienced rapid growth. Such areas include the Garden Route (Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay), Rustenburg area, Nelspruit area, Bloemfontein, Cape West Coast, and the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast.

Tallest buildings

The Southern Life Centre.

Michelangelo Tower

Sandton

Sandton skyline

This list ranks South African buildings that stand at least 100 m (328 ft) tall, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details. There are currently 50 buildings in this list.

Rank	Name	Height (architectural)	Floors	Built	City	Notes
1	Carlton Centre	223 m (732 ft)	50	1973	Johannesburg	Tallest building in South Africa and on the Continent of Africa
2	Ponte City Apartments	173 m (568 ft)	54	1975	Johannesburg	Tallest residential building in Africa.
3	Marble Towers	152 m (499 ft)	32	1973	Johannesburg
4	Pearl Dawn	152 m (499 ft)	31	2010	Umhlanga	[1] Tallest building in KwaZulu-Natal and tallest in Umhlanga. Part of the Pearls of Umhlanga Development.
5	South African Reserve Bank Building	150 m (490 ft)	38	1988	Pretoria	[2] Tallest building in Pretoria
6	88 on Field	146 m (479 ft)	26	1985	Durban	[3] Tallest building in Durban.
7	Michelangelo Towers	143 m (469 ft)	34	2005	Sandton	The tallest hotel in South Africa.
8	KwaDukuza eGoli Hotel Tower 1	140 m (460 ft)	40	1970	Johannesburg	[4] Mothballed since 1998
9	Trust Bank Building	140 m (460 ft)	31	1970	Johannesburg	[5]
10	Sandton City Office Tower	139 m (456 ft)	22	1973	Sandton	Topped out in 2014.
11	Portside Tower	139 m (456 ft)	32	2014	Cape Town	[6] Tallest building in Cape Town.[7]
12	Standard Bank Centre	139 m (456 ft)	34	1968	Johannesburg	[8]
13	Southern Life Centre	138 m (453 ft)	30	1973	Johannesburg	[9]
14	Monte Blanc	133 m (436 ft)	40	1985	Durban	[10]
15	ABSA Tower Pretoria	132 m (433 ft)	38	1976	Pretoria	[11]
16	Old Mutual Centre	130 m (430 ft)	33	1995	Durban	[12]
17	UCS Building	128 m (420 ft)	29	1976	Johannesburg	[13]
18	1 Thibault Square	127 m (417 ft)	31	1972	Cape Town	[14]
19	The Spinnaker	124 m (407 ft)	27	2007	Durban	[15]
20	Kine Centre	123 m (404 ft)	27	1974	Johannesburg	[16]
21	Embassy Building	120 m (390 ft)	28	1991	Durban	[17]
22	Metlife Centre	119 m (390 ft)	28	1993	Cape Town	[18]
23	Atterbury House	119 m (390 ft)	29	1976	Cape Town	[19]
24	Carlton Hotel	119 m (390 ft)	30	1973	Johannesburg	[20] Mothballed since 1997
25	Pearl Breeze	118 m (387 ft)	25	2010	Durban	Part of the Pearls of Umhlanga Development.
26	Southern Sun Garden Court Marine Parade	118 m (387 ft)	28	1985	Durban	[21]
27	Southern Sun Garden Court North Beach	118 m (387 ft)	33	1978	Durban	[22]
28	ABSA Centre Cape Town	117 m (384 ft)	34	1970	Cape Town	[23]
29	Radiopark	117 m (384 ft)	30	1962	Johannesburg
30	Civitas Building	112 m (367 ft)	31	1973	Pretoria	[24]
31	320 West Street	111 m (364 ft)	30	1973	Durban	[25]
32	Poyntons Centre	110 m (360 ft)	30	1968	Pretoria	[26]
33	Schlesinger Building	110 m (360 ft)	21	1965	Johannesburg	[27]
34	Golden Acre	110 m (360 ft)	28	1979	Cape Town	[28]
35	Protea Hotel Landmark Lodge	110 m (360 ft)	31	1976	Durban	[29]
36	The Palace	110 m (360 ft)	26	1986	Durban	[30]
37	Agricultural Union Centre	110 m (360 ft)	30	1968	Pretoria	[31]
38	John Ross House	109 m (358 ft)	33	1973	Durban
39	Durban Bay House	106 m (348 ft)	32	1986	Durban
40	Southern Sun Cape Sun	105 m (344 ft)	32	1982	Cape Town	[32]
41	Highpoint Hillbrow	105 m (344 ft)	25	1972	Johannesburg	[33]
42	Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence	104 m (341 ft)	26	1993	Cape Town
43	Maluti	104 m (341 ft)	33	1984	Durban
44	Transnet Tower	103 m (338 ft)	27	1973	Durban
45	101 Victoria Embankment	102 m (335 ft)	38	1981	Durban
46	Servamus House	102 m (335 ft)	25	1973	Durban
47	Saambou Building	102 m (335 ft)	30	1951	Pretoria
48	Western Cape Provincial Administration Building	101 m (331 ft)	26	1976	Cape Town
49	Loch Logan Park	100 m (330 ft)	27	1983	Bloemfontein

Cities with the most skyscrapers

This table shows South African cities with at least one skyscraper over 100 metres in height, completed.

Rank	City	≥100 m	≥150	≥200 m	≥250 m	Total
1	Johannesburg	18	3	1	–	18
2	Durban	13	1	–	–	13
3	Cape Town	9	–	–	–	9
4	Pretoria	6	1	–	–	6
5	Sandton	2	2	–	–	2
6	Bloemfontein	1	–	–	–	1

Notable buildings in Johannesburg

Johannesburg features a variety of commercial and residential buildings, so there are also a few modern buildings such as the KwaDukuza eGoli Hotel and the Trust Bank Building. The Johannesburg-Pretoria combined metropolitan area has the densest concentration of skyscrapers on the continent and one of the densest in the world.

• 

  Sandton City

Carlton Centre is a skyscraper and shopping centre located in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. At 223 metres (730 ft), it is the tallest building in Africa and about half the height of the Willis Tower (the former Sears Tower) in Chicago. It was the tallest building in the southern hemisphere when originally completed. The Carlton Centre has 50 floors, and is 223m tall, about 40m short of featuring in the world's top 100 skyscrapers. The foundations of the two buildings in the complex are 3.5m in diameter and extend 20m down to the bedrock, 30m below street level. The building houses both offices and shops, and has over 46 per cent of the floor area below ground level.[1] A viewing deck on the 50th floor offers views of Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Ponte City is a skyscraper in the Hillbrow neighborhood of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1975 to a height of 173 m (567.6 ft), making it the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa. The 54-story building is cylindrical, with an open center allowing additional light into the apartments. The center space is known as "the core" and rises above an uneven rock floor. Ponte City was an extremely desirable address for its views over all of Johannesburg and its surroundings. The sign on top of the building is the highest and largest sign in the southern hemisphere.[1] It advertises the South African mobile phone company Vodacom.

Marble Towers is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1973 and is 32 storeys tall. The building has an eight-storey parking garage attached to it. It has the biggest electronic sign in the Southern Hemisphere, measuring 44 metres by 32 metres by 12 metres. It is made out of a mixture of concrete and marble. Its main use is for commercial offices.

KwaDukuza eGoli Hotel is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa. The complex, built in 1970 originally as "The Tollman Towers" (owned by the prominent South African family), were two separate towers, one 40 stories and the other 22, linked by a four-story podium with a pool deck and a running track. The building was empty for many years as the hotel, The Johannesburg Sun, relocated to Sandton. The building was then converted to a Holiday Inn, which also quickly failed. The new KwaDukuza eGoli Hotel opened in 2001, when it hosted 3000 police officers for the world summit on sustainable development, it was owned Mark Whitehead of Whitehead Enterprises, then also soon went out of business. The building is "mothballed."

Sandton City is a shopping centre located in Sandton, Johannesburg that was built as pioneer centre in 1973. The tower was built as part of a business park for downtown Sandton, a suburb of Johannesburg. Liberty Properties announced in 2008 that Sandton City would receive a R1.77 billion upgrade. Liberty Properties Chief Executive Samuel Ogbo envisaged the complex as South Africa's very own Wall Street The redevelopment will include the construction of an 60-storey office tower, new retail and office space and residential apartments. The extension will stretch to 30 000 m2 and the total complex will have a gross lettable area of 158 000 m2.

Trust Bank Building is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1970 to a height of 140 metres. The building is the former head office of Trust Bank of South Africa, and as such has one of the largest bank vaults in South Africa. The building was sold in February 2003 for Rand 6.4 million (USD $640.000), which may prompt the name to be changed to that of the new tenant.

11 Diagonal Street is a skyscraper in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1984 to a height of 80 metres. It is designed to look like a diamond as it reflects different views of the Central Business District from each angle of the building.

Panoramic The central business district of Johannesburg.

Timeline of tallest buildings in South Africa

Timeline of tallest buildings over 100 m (330 ft). Includes all buildings. Excludes all demolished or destroyed buildings.

Name	City	Years as tallest	Meters	Feet	Floors	Photo
Carlton Centre	Johannesburg	1973–Present	223	732	50
Marble Towers	Johannesburg	1973-1973	152	499	32
KwaDukuza eGoli Hotel Tower 1	Johannesburg	1970-1973	140	460	40
Trust Bank Building	Johannesburg		140	460	31
Standard Bank Centre	Johannesburg	1968-1970	139	456	34
Radiopark	Johannesburg	1962-1968	117	384	30
Saambou Building	Pretoria	1961-1962	102	335	30

Tallest topped out, under construction, approved and proposed

This lists skyscrapers that are topped out, under construction, approved or proposed in South Africa, but are not yet completed structures as of November 2016.

Under construction, approved, and proposed

Name	Height m / ft	Floors	Year	City	Status
The Leonardo	188 metres (617 ft)	48	2020	Sandton	Under construction
Pearl Sky	~150 metres (490 ft)	32	2018	Umhlanga	Under construction
zero2one	148 metres (486 ft)	43	2020	Cape Town	Proposed
The Modern	~124 metres (407 ft)	32	2020	Cape Town	Proposed
PwC Gauteng	106 metres (348 ft)	26	2018	Midrand	Under construction
Bowmans Gilfillan Building	100 metres (330 ft)	18	2017	Sandton	Topped out
16 on Bree	?	35	2019	Cape Town	Proposed
Oceans Umhlanga Tower 1	?	28	2019	Umhlanga	Approved
Oceans Umhlanga Tower 2	?	28	2019	Umhlanga	Approved
Radisson Blu Hotel	?	25	2019	Umhlanga	Approved
KPMG House	?	24	2017	Cape Town	Under construction
Acsiopolis	?	20	2018	Sandton	Under construction
Green Park	?	20	2017	Sandton	Under construction
Park Central	?	20	2018	Johannesburg	Approved
Menlyn Towers	?	20	?	Pretoria	Proposed
StayEasy/Sunsquare Hotels	?	19	2017	Cape Town	Topped out

Tallest buildings that are visions that have not been canceled

This lists visions that are over 100 m (328 ft) tall and are not canceled.

Name	Height	Floors	Year	City
Durban Iconic Tower	363 metres (1,191 ft)	88	TBA	Durban
Goldies	~150 m (492 ft)	36	TBA	Cape Town
Kgoro Central	?	30	TBA	Sandton
Durban Skytree	?	27	TBA	Durban

See also

• List of tallest buildings and structures in South Africa
• List of tallest structures in South Africa
• List of tallest structures in the world by country
• List of World Heritage Sites in Africa
• List of tallest buildings in Africa
• List of tallest buildings in the Philippines

References

1. Pearl Dawn, Durban
2. emporis.com - South African Reserve Bank Building, Pretoria
4. Kwa Dukuza eGoli Hotel
5. Trust Bank Building (Johannesburg)
7. http://www.iolproperty.co.za/roller/news/entry/cape_town_s_tallest_building
8. Standard Bank Building
9. Southern Life Center
10. Monte Blanc
11. ABSA Tower Pretoria
12. Old Mutual Centre
13. UCS Building
14. BP Centre
15. The Spinnaker
16. Kine Center
17. Embassy Building
18. Metlife Centre, Cape Town
19. Shell House
20. Carlton Center Hotel
21. Holiday Inn Durban - Marine Parade
22. Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach
23. ABSA Centre Cape Town
24. ABSA Centre Cape Town
25. The Spinnaker
26. Poyntons Centre
27. Schlesinger Building
28. Golden Acre
29. Protea Hotel Landmark Lodge
30. The Parade
31. The Parade
32. Holiday Inn Cape Town
33. Highpoint Hillbrow