At 5pm today, Alain Robert climbed up the 45-storey Suntec City Tower One, but not with the stairs like an ordinary human.

Dubbed the "Human Spider", the French professional climber tried to scale the Suntec Tower during his last visit to Singapore, but the attempt was aborted when the mall's security guards stopped his ascent.

This time round, the 46-year-old was invited to do so - legally - as part of The Straits Times' 163rd anniversary celebrations.

At 1.65m and 52kg, Mr Robert is famous for climbing buildings and monuments around the world. He has scaled over 80 skyscrapers worldwide, including the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the New York Times building and the Canary Wharf in London.

His Suntec City climb was the highlight of "The Straits Times: A Part of My Life" contest - organised in conjunction with the English daily's latest revamp exercise and branding campaign

The grand prize of the contest was a seven-seater family sports car - a Volkswagen Touran Sport 1.4 TSI worth $79,480, sponsored by Volkswagen Group Singapore.