China to Cap SkyScrapers at 500 meters...

6 Minute Read

• Citing safety concerns, China implemets a cap on buildings that exceed the height of 500 meters.

• China is home to almost half of the worlds 100 tallest buildings and new buildings taller than 500 meters (1,640 feet) will no longer be approved.

  A Change in Architecture 

It's become apparently that the creation of super skyscrapers. correlate to high vacancy rates, as developers struggle to find tenants to fill these mega-spaces. There are also safety concerns, after a recent wobbling sky scraper in Shenzhen caused a lot of controversy. 

“The taller the buildings the smaller the floor plate per floor,” said Wong. “Most commercial buildings are between 180 and 200 metres, as that height provides the optimal floor plate to attract tenants, especially those that are involved in new-economy or hi-tech industries, the sectors that are expanding the fastest right now.”

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, each city boasting one of the world’s 10 tallest buildings, also have the highest commercial vacancy rates in the country, totalling 7.9 million square metres of empty space in the second quarter, equivalent to 29 blocks of the International Commerce Centre (ICC), Hong Kong’s tallest building.

Image: The Shanghai Tower 

The Shanghai Tower, completed in 2015, is China’s tallest building, standing 632 metres on the eastern banks of the Huangpu river that cuts through the nation’s commercial hub.

With 128 floors topped by the world’s highest hotel, the 20 billion yuan (US$3.14 billion) building struggled for years to fill its 576,000 square metres of space (6.2 million square feet), not including 380,000 square metres on the ground. Ant Group, an affiliate of this newspaper’s owner Alibaba Group Holding, occupies four floors in the building.

Second on the list is the 115-storey Ping An Financial Center, completed in 2017 in the southern Chinese technology hub of Shenzhen , the home base of China’s largest insurer.

Image: Tianjin CTF Financial Centre

Chow Tai Fook Enterprise (CTF), the privately held controlling shareholder of Hong Kong’s New World Development, has developed and lent its name to two Chinese super skyscrapers. The 111-storey Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre stands 530 metres in the Guandong provincial capital in seventh place globally, holding joint position with its sibling Tianjin CTF Finance Centre in the eastern Chinese seaport. The Tianjin tower, completed in 2019, is the newest addition to the world’s 10 tallest buildings.

At about 5 metres for every storey, 250-metre buildings will have about 50 floors, said Wong, adding that the most sought-after floor plates are about 20,000 square feet per floor.

In Shenzhen, new-economy enterprises have each been taking up between 10,000 and 100,000 square metres (1.07 million square feet) of office space, according to JLL.

At least 20 super skyscrapers are on the drawing board in China, six of them taller than 500 metres, some scheduled for completion as soon as 2022. The tallest among them is the 597-metre Goldin Finance 117 tower in Tianjin, developed by the debt-strapped Goldin Financial Holdings, which received a bailout from Hong Kongs richest man Li-Ka-shing last July. The 128-storey building is due for completion in 2022.

China Evergrande, the worlds most indebted property developer at one stage, has its 518-metre Evergrande International Financial Centre under construction in the Anhui provincial capital of Hefei, scheduled for completion in 2025. The bamboo-shaped building features 128 floors.

Sources: Yahoo News

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/china-bans-super-skyscrapers-putting-090354417.html

Whats your take?

Lets us know in the comment section.

---

READ MORE

Follow HeyExpat to keep your finger on the pulse, on the latest news, trends, and happenings in the Middle Kingdom.