List of tallest buildings in South Africa

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 five areas: Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Bloemfontein and Pretoria/Johannesburg. However, key marginal areas have experienced rapid growth. Such areas include the Garden Route (Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay), Rustenburg area, Nelspruit area, Cape West Coast, and the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast.

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, home of the busiest port in Africa and an important economic centre in South Africa.

Bloemfontein, The judicial capital of the South Africa

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.

Name	Height (architectural)	Floors	Built	City	Notes
The Leonardo	234 m (767 ft)	55	2019	Johannesburg	Tallest building in Africa since 2019
Carlton Centre	223 m (732 ft)	50	1973	Johannesburg	Was the tallest building in South Africa and on the Continent of Africa until 2019
Ponte City Apartments	173 m (568 ft)	54	1975	Johannesburg	Tallest residential building in Africa.
SABC-South African Broadcasting Corporation	160 m (520 ft)	34		Johannesburg
Marble Towers	152 m (499 ft)	32	1973	Johannesburg
South African Reserve Bank Building	150 m (490 ft)	38	1988	Pretoria	[1] Tallest building in Pretoria
88 on Field	146 m (479 ft)	26	1985	Durban	[2] Tallest building in Durban Central.
Sandton City Office Tower	141 m (463 ft)	22	1973	Sandton	Topped out in 2014.
Michelangelo Towers	140 m (460 ft)	34	2005	Sandton	The tallest hotel in South Africa.
ABSA Tower	140 m (460 ft)	32	1970	Johannesburg
KwaDukuza eGoli Hotel Tower 1	140 m (460 ft)	40	1970	Johannesburg	[3] Mothballed since 1998
Trust Bank Building	140 m (460 ft)	31	1970	Johannesburg	[4]
Portside Tower	139 m (456 ft)	32	2014	Cape Town	[5] Tallest building in Cape Town.[6]
Standard Bank Centre	139 m (456 ft)	34	1968	Johannesburg	[7]
Southern Life Centre	138 m (453 ft)	30	1973	Johannesburg	[8]
Monte Blanc	133 m (436 ft)	40	1985	Durban	[9]
ABSA Tower Pretoria	132 m (433 ft)	38	1976	Pretoria	[10]
Old Mutual Centre	130 m (430 ft)	33	1995	Durban	[11]
UCS Building	128 m (420 ft)	29	1976	Johannesburg	[12]
1 Thibault Square	127 m (417 ft)	31	1972	Cape Town	[13]
The Spinnaker	124 m (407 ft)	27	2007	Durban	[14]
Kine Centre	123 m (404 ft)	27	1974	Johannesburg	[15]
Embassy Building	120 m (390 ft)	28	1991	Durban	[16]
Metlife Centre (Hotel Sky)	119 m (390 ft)	28	1993	Cape Town	[17]
Atterbury House	119 m (390 ft)	29	1976	Cape Town	[18]
Carlton Hotel	119 m (390 ft)	30	1973	Johannesburg	[19] Mothballed since 1997
Pearl Breeze	118 m (387 ft)	25	2010	Durban
Southern Sun Garden Court Marine Parade	118 m (387 ft)	28	1985	Durban	[20]
Southern Sun Garden Court North Beach	118 m (387 ft)	33	1978	Durban	[21]
ABSA Centre Cape Town	117 m (384 ft)	34	1970	Cape Town	[22]
Radiopark	117 m (384 ft)	30	1962	Johannesburg
Civitas Building	112 m (367 ft)	31	1973	Pretoria	[22]
320 West Street	111 m (364 ft)	30	1973	Durban	[23]
Poyntons Centre	110 m (360 ft)	30	1968	Pretoria	[24]
Schlesinger Building	110 m (360 ft)	21	1965	Johannesburg	[25]
Golden Acre	110 m (360 ft)	28	1979	Cape Town	[26]
Protea Hotel Landmark Lodge	110 m (360 ft)	31	1976	Durban	[27]
The Palace	110 m (360 ft)	26	1986	Durban	[28]
Agricultural Union Centre	110 m (360 ft)	30	1968	Pretoria	[28]
John Ross House	109 m (358 ft)	33	1973	Durban
Durban Bay House	106 m (348 ft)	32	1986	Durban
Southern Sun Cape Sun	105 m (344 ft)	32	1982	Cape Town	[29]
Highpoint Hillbrow	105 m (344 ft)	25	1972	Johannesburg	[30]
Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence	104 m (341 ft)	26	1993	Cape Town
Maluti	104 m (341 ft)	33	1984	Durban
Transnet Tower	103 m (338 ft)	27	1973	Durban
Pearl Sky	102 m (335 ft)	31	2010	Durban
101 Victoria Embankment	102 m (335 ft)	38	1981	Durban
Servamus House	102 m (335 ft)	25	1973	Durban
Saambou Building	102 m (335 ft)	30	1951	Pretoria
Western Cape Provincial Administration Building	101 m (331 ft)	26	1976	Cape Town
Loch Logan Park	100 m (330 ft)	20	1983	Bloemfontein
Bowmans Gilfillan Building	100 m (330 ft)	18	2017	Sandton

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 m	≥200 m	≥250 m	Total
1	Durban	18	1	–	–	19
2	Johannesburg	13	2	2	–	17
3	Cape Town	10	–	–	–	10
4	Pretoria	6	1	–	–	7
5	Sandton	2	–	1	–	3
6	Bloemfontein	2	–	–	–	2

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 223 m (732 ft) tall, about 40 m (130 ft) short of featuring in the world's top 100 skyscrapers. The foundations of the two buildings in the complex are 3.5 m (11 ft) in diameter and extend 20 m (66 ft) down to the bedrock, 30 m (98 ft) below street level. The building houses both offices and shops, and has over 46 per cent of the floor area below ground level. 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. 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 by 32 by 12 m (144 by 105 by 39 ft). 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 a 60-storey office tower, new retail and office space and residential apartments. The extension will stretch to 30,000 m² (320,000 sq ft) and the total complex will have a gross lettable area of 158,000 m² (1,700,000 sq ft).

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 (460 ft). 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 (260 ft). 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
The Leonardo	Sandton	2019-present	234	767	55
Carlton Centre	Johannesburg	1973–2019	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, proposed and on hold

This lists skyscrapers that are topped out, under construction, on hold, approved or proposed in South Africa, but are not yet completed structures as of July 2020.

Name	Height m / ft	Floors	Year	City	Status
W Hotel & Residences	145 metres (476 ft)	36	2024/2025	Cape Town	Proposed
zero2one	142 metres (466 ft)	44	TBC	Cape Town	Proposed
The Vogue	138 metres (453 ft)	37	TBC	Cape Town	Proposed
Umhlanga Plaza		37	TBC	Umhlanga	Proposed
Northern Lights	*132 metres (433 ft)	38	TBC	Sandton	Proposed
16 on Bree	118 metres (387 ft)	36	2021	Cape Town	Topped Out
Umhlanga Arch		33	2020	Umhlanga	Topped Out
Oceans Umhlanga Tower 1	125 metres (410 ft)	30	TBC	Umhlanga	On Hold
Oceans Umhlanga Tower 2	125 metres (410 ft)	30	TBC	Umhlanga	On Hold
The Modern	120 metres (390 ft)	32	2023	Cape Town	Proposed
Radisson Blu Hotel	122 metres (400 ft)	25	2021	Umhlanga	Under Construction
The Rubik	89 metres (292 ft)	27	2023	Cape Town	Under construction
Menlyn Link		26	2023	Pretoria	Proposed
Harbour Arch #1		23	2023	Cape Town	Under Construction
Harbour Arch #2		23	TBC	Cape Town	Proposed
Hilton Garden Inn		23	2020	Umhlanga	Under Construction
*Extremely rough estimate from CTBUH. This estimate may or may not be far from the actual height and if it is lower than the criteria, it should not be removed from this list as it is not the actual height. The actual height of this building has not been announced yet.

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	370 metres (1,210 ft)	88	TBC	Durban
The Cullinan Square	192 metres (630 ft)	47	TBC	Cape Town

See also

• List of tallest buildings and structures in South Africa
• List of tallest structures in South Africa
• List of tallest buildings in Cape Town
• 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 Pretoria
• List of tallest buildings in the Philippines

References

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2. "88 on Field, Durban". Emporis. Archived from the original on 2019-10-31. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
3. "Kwa Dukuza Egoli Hotel Tower 1, Johannesburg". Emporis. Archived from the original on 2007-02-10.
4. "Trust Bank Building, Johannesburg". Emporis.
5. "The Building". Portside. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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