For 80 years, the Pentagon was the largest office building in the world. But that title has now been taken by a building in Gujarat’s Surat that will house a diamond trading center, according to a DailyExpertNews report. Surat is known as the gemstone capital of the world where 90 percent of the world’s diamonds are cut. The newly built Surat Diamond Bourse will be a “one-stop destination” for more than 65,000 diamond professionals, including cutters, polishers and traders, the outlet said.
The 15-story building is spread over 35 acres of land and has nine rectangular structures, according to the DailyExpertNews report. They are all connected by a central spine.
According to the company that built the sprawling complex, it encompasses more than 7.1 million square feet of floor space.
The building will be officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November this year. It took four years to complete the construction of the building.
According to the SDB website, the complex has a recreation area and parking area spread over 20 lakh square feet.
It is a non-profit organization promoted by SDB Diamond Bourse, a company registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 and established for the establishment and promotion of Diamond Bourse in Surat, Gujarat.
Speak against DailyExpertNewssaid Mahesh Gadhavi, CEO of the project, said the new building complex will save thousands of people from traveling – sometimes daily – to Mumbai by train to conduct business.
The building was designed by Indian architectural firm Morphogenesis following an international design competition.
“To surpass the Pentagon was not part of the competition’s remit. Rather, the size of the project was dictated by demand,” said Mr. Gadhavi. DailyExpertNews.
He added that all the offices had been bought by diamond companies before construction.