Gazprom's Skyscraping Giant

The project's designers have described the proposed new building as "a highly sustainable concept," which includes an "intelligent" double outer skin to minimise heat loss in the freezing Russian winters.

The new location for Gazprom's headquarters is a 17-hectare brownfield site on the edge of St Petersburg, formerly used for the industrial storage of sand.

The new building should rise to a height of 426 meters and comprise 330,000 square meters of internal space.

The giant building is expected to cost $3 billion.

The project is due to be completed by 2018.