World Trade Centre back in business as staff of first tenant begin work

The silvery skyscraper that rose from the ashes of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks to become a symbol of American resilience has opened for business, as 175 employees of the magazine publishing giant Conde Nast settled into their first day of work there.

The opening on Monday of the country's tallest building, One World Trade Centre, marked a symbolic return to a sense of normality for the site where the twin towers fell more than 13 years ago.

"The New York city skyline is whole again," said Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns both the building and the World Trade Centre site.

Steps away from the new 541-metre tower are two memorial fountains built on the footprints of the decimated towers, a reminder of the more than 2,700 people who died.

Conde Nast, publisher of Vogue, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, is expected to move in about 3,000 more employees by early next year, eventually occupying 25 floors of the US$3.9 billion, 104-storey tower.

Privately, some Conde Nast employees acknowledged that they were nervous about working in a skyscraper that could again be a terrorist target.