It might be more interesting to compare to the speed of skyscrapers being built China, that are of similar size and complexity. Shanghai Tower took ~7 years, so

It might be more interesting to compare to the speed of skyscrapers being built China, that are of similar size and complexity. Shanghai Tower took ~7 years, so not substantially faster. Perhaps what makes the Freedom Tower construction seem slow wasn't the 8 year build time, but that plus 5 years of planning, permitting, financing, and review before it even started.