The 10 tallest buildings in South Africa

·19 Feb 2023

Measuring 227.9m, The Leonardo in Sandton, Johannesburg is the tallest building in South Africa, according to The Skyscraper Centre.

It is also the second tallest building in Africa, trailing the Iconic Tower in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, which is 393.8m high and scheduled for completion later this year.

However, the Leonardo is not the tallest structure in South Africa, with the smoke stack at Sasol’s Secunda Synthetic fuel plant being the tallest at 301m. Smoke stacks at South Africa’s energy-producing centres – including power stations – make up the nine tallest structures in South Africa.

The Telkom Tower (Hillbrow Tower) is the 10th tallest structure in South Africa, at 269 metres.

However, only residential or commercial buildings are included in The Skyscraper Centre’s list.

Six buildings in South Africa measure over 150ms in height across South Africa – including the Carlton Centre (201.2m) and the Ponte Tower (172.8m).

Despite being the tallest building in South Africa, the Leonardo – which was completed in 2019 – is only the 1022 tallest building in the world.

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates is the world’s tallest building – measuring 829.8m in height.

The Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia was planned to overtake the Burj Khalifa and become the first 1 kilometre-high building in the world, however, work on the project has stalled and no plans have been put in place to restart it.

Similarly, a R6 billion skyscraper in Durban was proposed in 2016, which would measure 370m high. No further updates on the skyscraper have been made and the Leonardo will likely hold onto its title as the tallest building in South Africa for the foreseeable future.

The tallest buildings in South Africa are listed below (all heights sourced from Skyscraper Centre):

1. The Leonardo – 227.9 meters