Tel Aviv attempts plastic brick record with 36-meter tower

[December 29, 2017]    TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Tel Aviv residents have built a world record-contending, 36-meter (118ft) plastic brick tower, featuring more than 500,000 pieces, to honor a young cancer victim in the Israeli city.

Women pose for a selfie next to a 36-meter (118 feet) tower built in an attempt to break the Guinness world record for the highest building blocks structure in Tel Aviv, Israel December 27, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

The multi-colored 'Omer Tower', named after 8-year-old Lego fan Omer Sayag, was completed using cranes in Rabin Square on Wednesday after more than a fortnight's construction work by thousands of residents.

"It was the idea of his (Sayag's) former kindergarten teacher, and building blocks were donated by residents, companies and some were purchased using municipality funds," a spokesperson for the mayor's office said.

There was no Guinness World Records adjudicator on site to measure the 'Omer Tower', meaning Tel Aviv must wait for approval from the body to confirm they have beaten the previous record of 35.05 meters (115 ft), built in Milan in 2015.

(Reporting by Naama Shilony; Writing by Patrick Johnston in LONDON; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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