List of Tallest Buildings in Edmonton

List Of Tallest Buildings In Edmonton

This is a list of the tallest buildings in Edmonton, the capital city of the province of Alberta in Canada.

None of Edmonton's tallest buildings are among the tallest in Canada, and are generally shorter than the tallest buildings in the rival city of Calgary. This may partly be explained by the fact that while Edmonton and Calgary are both booming centres of the oil and gas industry, Calgary is the home to most corporate head offices, while Edmonton (and more so its surrounding region) is home to refineries, upgraders and other production facilities. Furthermore, because of the presence of aircraft taking off and landing at the Edmonton City Centre Airport, zoning bylaws in downtown Edmonton restricts any building from reaching an elevation higher than 815.34 m (2675 ft) above mean sea level and varies within the area depending on base elevation.

Edmonton has always been a city of low-rise construction. Edmonton was settled much later than other Canadian cities and was very much a frontier town of rustic buildings until 1909 when two transcontinental railways arrived (the Canadian Northern and Grand Trunk Pacific), and more so after 1912 when the sale of the Hudson's Bay Company reserve in what is now the western half of downtown prompted a building boom. This boom went bust during the Great War, and Edmonton saw very little new construction until after the discovery of oil nearby, at Leduc No. 1, in 1947. Nevertheless, being surrounded by flat plains on all sides, there has never been much incentive for Edmonton to build up, as in, for example, Vancouver which is sandwiched between the sea and a mountain range. The first true skyscraper was not built until the construction of the CN Tower in 1966. Another building boom did not really begin until the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 which prompted most of the city's current tall buildings were constructed. (see history below) Highrise construction was virtually non-existent between the mid 1980s and the early 2000s due to low oil prices, upon which Edmonton's economy depends.

The rapid oil price increases of 2003-2008 had created a new boom in Alberta and prompted new construction again. Due to the time lag between the beginning of the boom and when buildings are completed, the next wave of new highrise buildings really began construction in 2006 or 2007 and many were not completed until after the 2008 financial crisis had caused a drop in oil prices. In 2007, Edmonton had 235 completed high-rise buildings, with 8 more under construction, 1 under reconstruction, another 6 approved for construction and 43 more proposed. EPCOR Tower, which was completed in 2011, was the first major office building since 1990 with Commerce Place. By 2008, the city was experiencing something of a building boom, with 780,000 square feet (72,000 m2) of office space under construction and vacancy rates still falling.

Following the 2008 drop in oil prices many projects were stalled, but several already under construction have continued.