Rotterdam is again officially home to the highest residential building in the Netherlands – the waterside Zalmhaven tower – which reached its maximum height of 215 metres during the construction process this week.

The tower, due for completion in 2022, has 60 floors primarily devoted to 256 housing units, as well as offices, a restaurant, roof garden, car park and fitness centre.

The skyscraper knocks the previous record holder, the 165 metre Maastoren from the top of list of highest buildings in the Netherlands. The Maastoren is also in Rotterdam, as are the rest of the top five tallest buildings in the country.

Rents in the Zalmhaven tower will start at around €1,700 a month for a three room apartment but several dozen large flats are for sale, at a price well above €1m.

There are some 200 buildings in the Netherlands which are at least 70 metres high, and dozens more are at the planning stage, particularly in The Hague and in Amsterdam.

In Utrecht there is an unwritten rule that no building in the city may exceed the height of the Dom tower which measures slightly over 112 metres and is still the tallest church in the country.

However, plans are underway to build three high rise blocks, one of which will be 140 metres tall, on the outskirts of the city.