Pentagon set to lose largest building crown to India’s diamond hub

A giant office built in PM Modi’s home state Gujarat has received attention after being featured by a US broadcaster

The new building of the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) in the Indian state of Gujarat, where 90% of the world’s diamonds are cut and polished, is in the spotlight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday shared a 50-second video clip by CNN featuring views of the building. The office complex is set to surpass the Pentagon, the US Department of Defense headquarters in Virginia, which was for the last 80 years considered the world’s largest office building.

Modi, who hails from Gujarat and served as its chief minister for thirteen years, has tweeted a video released by CNN Style, displaying the new SDB complex he is set to inaugurate in November this year. The US broadcaster claimed it had exclusively obtained the new photos of the SDB complex, which was produced by London-based architectural photographer Edmund Sumner. The details of the project and the outside view of the building have been reported in the Indian media before. 

In his tweet, the Indian leader praised the diamond bourse for reflecting the vibrancy and progress of Surat’s diamond industry. “It is also a testament to India’s entrepreneurial spirit. It will serve as a hub for trade, innovation and collaboration, further boosting our economy and creating employment opportunities,” he tweeted. 

Surat Diamond Bourse showcases the dynamism and growth of Surat's diamond industry. It is also a testament to India’s entrepreneurial spirit. It will serve as a hub for trade, innovation and collaboration, further boosting our economy and creating employment opportunities. https://t.co/rBkvYdBhXv

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 19, 2023

The giant 15-storey office complex of SDB – which has been branded as a “one-stop destination” for over 65,000 diamond professionals – is built across 35 acres of land and comprises over 7.1 million square feet of floor space. The building has more than 4,200 office spaces that can also be used as small workshops for cutting and polishing diamonds, retail, wellness and conference facilities. 

The construction work for the complex was helmed by Indian architecture bureau Morphogenesis, which won the bid following an international design competition. Construction started in 2019, but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The cost of the development is estimated at 32 billion rupees ($388 million). 

Mahesh Gadhavi, SDB’s CEO, told CNN that thousands of people linked to the diamond trade would save up to over four hours of commute time between Surat and Mumbai, as the move to relocate businesses to the Gujarat city is a much “better option.” Competing with Pentagon headquarters was not part of the plan, according to Gadhavi – the scale was dictated by the demand for office spaces. Diamond companies lapped up many of the spaces before construction work even began, and a lottery system had to be used to allocate offices to prospective tenants, Morphogenesis’ co-founder, Sonali Rastogi, explained.

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The new SDB complex is now surrounded by low-rise buildings, but the architectural look and feel for Surat – which has a population of 7 million people – is set to change once the comprehensive Surat Smart City program – which is comprised of over 80 projects and worth more than 31 billion rupees – is implemented. 

Surat has been home to some 4,000 diamond cutting and polishing units, employing 800,000 workers, and is globally known as India’s diamond hub. In the past year, however, the industry has been in distress because of the global demand downturn, as well as disruptions in the supply of rough diamonds due to sanctions imposed by the USA on Russian diamond mining company Alrosa, which accounts for about a third of the global rough diamond supply. Indian cut and polished diamond shipments may dip up to 10-15% to $19-20 billion in the 2023-24 financial year, after an 8-10% contraction in the previous year, rating agency ICRA estimated.