Ceremony marks start of Freedom Tower

A ceremony today was officially marking the beginning of construction of a new building at the World Trade Centre site – the Freedom Tower.

Organisers say it will be the world’s tallest skyscraper and is designed as a twisting glass and steel tower that evokes the Statue of Liberty nearby.

The building is to stand 533 metres (1,776 feet) – its height in feet symbolising the year the US became independent from Britain and the ground-breaking coinciding with US independence day.

A 20-ton slab of granite that will become the cornerstone of the skyscraper replacing the World Trade Centre has an inscription honouring “the enduring spirit of freedom”, a source said today.

According to a source close to the rebuilding effort, the cornerstone is inscribed: “To honour and remember those who lost their lives on September 11th, 2001 and as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom – July Fourth, 2004.”

Completion of the Freedom Tower is scheduled for 2009, and trade centre leaseholder Larry Silverstein has plans to build four more towers between 2009 and 2015.

Also planned for the site are a rail hub, a memorial that transforms the twin towers’ footprints into reflecting pools, and cultural space including several small theatres.

The Freedom Tower is set to rise in a corner of the site that still holds the ruins of a parking garage.