Moscow's high hopes grounded

It was to be Europe's tallest building, but now comes news that the highly anticipated Russia Tower, which was planned for central Moscow, will never be built and the site will instead house a huge car park - a slightly less glamorous end to the monumental plan...

The ambitious Russia Tower was to be the centerpiece of the prestigious Moscow City complex in the heart of the business district. In keeping with the Russian thirst for big territories, the tower was intended to take the country to ‘new heights' on its completion in 2011.

The 612-metre high skyscraper was designed by well known British Architect Sir Norman Foster and was to have a pyramidal shape - boasting shopping centres, offices, hotels and apartments over 118 levels. It was to house 25,000 people and the top seven levels were to serve as a platform for visitors wanting to look at a panorama of the Russian capital.

The only building that would have topped it in terms of height was the 818 metre Burj Dubai - which is the tallest building in the world.

But, fast forward to the present and the Russia Tower is languishing unbuilt and the 2.4 hectare site will now be turned into an enormous carpark to hold the estimated 3,000 vehicles belonging to people accessing the existing buildings in the complex.

Developers Russian Land announced at the end of last year that the tower was being put on hold and now it turns out that they couldn't find the £1.2 billion they needed for the project.

Other companies were discussing financing the project but nothing came of it and now the Moscow City project is being viewed as a failure without its centerpiece.

The abandonment of the Russia Tower is also being seen a real blow to an economy that is already struggling to counteract the effects of the global economic downturn.

Picture by ushakov