First World Trade Centre Tower Topped Off
 

A final steel girder has been hoisted onto World Trade Centre Tower 4, making it the first rebuilt structure to be topped off at the site of the September 11 attacks.

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With BeBe Winans singing God Bless America, workers raised their hard hats in tribute as the mammoth beam rose slowly into the Manhattan sky, swaying from a steel rope hoisted by a crane.

A US flag attached to the bottom of the beam fluttered above several hundred spectators at the topping-off ceremony.

The construction of the 293-metre (977-ft) tower, designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, began in 2008 and will be inaugurated next year.

"The topping out of 4 World Trade Centre represents another milestone in the effort to create a new, dynamic World Trade Centre at the heart of a resurgent Downtown," project developer Larry Silverstein said at the ceremony.

The unfinished skeleton of the nearby Freedom Tower is already the tallest building in New York City and is set to reach a symbolic height of 1,776 feet (541 metres), the year of US independence.

The New York site includes two fountains sunk into the footprints of the former Twin Towers, with the names of the dead inscribed around the edges.

"Ten years later, it's pretty remarkable," said an emotional Sally Rexach, a nurse who tends workers constructing 4 World Trade Centre.

She was at the site just after September 11, 2001, supporting workers who combed through the smoking debris in search of human remains.

"This is a very proud moment; it's full circle," she said, glancing across the 16-acre site.

More than 100 builders signed their names to the white-painted steel.

"Everybody's put their blood, sweat and tears into this," said John Rzeznik, a project manager at the site.

Some 3,000 people were killed in the attacks on September 11, 2001 when al Qaeda hijackers ploughed two planes into the World Trade Centre and a third into the Pentagon, while a fourth plane was brought down in a Pennsylvania field.


Sky News

All around the world that day is ingrained in the memory of everyone who witnessed the towers collapsing live on television.

great news, I wouldn't want to wash the windows though!!

This is big for America, I'm happy for them.

R.I.P

They're rebuilding them? Wat?
First I heard.

No they are New Designed Buildings

It's not operating as a 'world trade' centre though is it?
It's just Freedom Tower or whatever they've called it.

Or are they building the Trade centre in addition? First I've heard.

There are a number of buildings being constructed:

The new complex will include One World Trade Center (formerly known as the Freedom Tower), 7 World Trade Center, three other high-rise office buildings, a museum and memorial, and a transportation hub similar in size to Grand Central Terminal. Both One and Four World Trade Center are on track for completion and occupancy by 2013. The 9/11 memorial is complete, with the museum set to open in 2012. Two and Three World Trade Center, as well as the Transportation Hub, are also making progress, set to be finished by around 2015.

WTC 1 has been badly affected by cost cuts and the design is nowhere near as good as it was meant to be. I'm more looking forward to the Rogers & Calatrava buildings anyway. The new WTC1 is bland in comparison.

The new buildings stand out in NYC, due to the age of the other skyscrapers lol

It's a shame it took an unbelievably long time to replace a building. China built 278 comparable skyscrapers in the same amount of time. And a Dam that dwarfs 'Hoover Dam' and 7 Bridges - all of which are much bigger than 'Golden Gate' (which is tiny in some comparison). In the same time, Muslims in Arabia built the worlds tallest tower.

But having said that, I am happy for them. This should cheer them up. Only problem.. there is increasing evidence this wasn't even built by Americans after all. It seems neither Bush or even Obama were behind this. It was Hamad Karzai who actually built it. Look at the photos!

Thing is, China needs those skyscrapers to
A) Keep their economy growing
B) Because their population is massive

Okay, terribly sorry if this offends anyone.

I am so confused as to why they are rebuilding the WTC towers. When they are finished, they may as well place a sign with an arrow saying "Crash plane here", they are begging for another attack...

Again, sorry for the offence.

But 9/11 should have been a lesson to America to NOT rebuild them

I'm worried the same thing is going to happen again.