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Fire breaks out at Taipei 101

A fire burns on the 10th floor of the Taipei 101 Financial Center, the city's tallest building, yesterday. No casualties were reported. An earthquake in March last year caused two tower cranes to fall from the building, killing five people. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

A fire broke out yesterday morning at the yet-to-be completed Taipei 101 building in the Hsinyi district, and was extinguished approximately 30 minutes later. No casualties were reported, the building's owners said in a statement.

The fire broke out at the top of the nearly completed 10-floor shopping mall complex, scheduled to open in October.

"The fire started at around 10am on the roof of the podium tower but was put out by firefighters at 10:30am," the Taipei Financial Center Corp (台北金融大樓公司) said. "No one was injured as construction workers were evacuated from the site in time."

According to the initial investigation, approximately 100m2 of the podium roof were destroyed by the fire, which may have been started when sparks from a welding torch ignited roofing materials, the company said.

Construction of the 101-floor skyscraper will be suspended for an unspecified time until safety checks are completed, it added.

"Since the fire occurred at a place outside the main tower, there's no major impact on the overall structure of the building and its ongoing construction," said Barbie Lin (林純如), a public relations specialist at Taipei Financial Center Corp.

The planned 508m-tall structure, which has NT$14.3 billion in insurance coverage -- including for fire -- is expected to become Asia's tallest building when completed in September next year.

Damage to the building structure is minor, Lin said, without elaborating on losses.

But the problem-plagued office tower may have suffered more damage to its image after the fire than to the actual structure.

The complex just last year went to great lengths to rebuild its image after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake in March shook loose two cranes atop the building, killing five people.

"It's not something that people like to hear about," said Claire Chen (陳慶華), marketing manager at Lend Lease Pty Ltd Taiwan (聯盛國際).

The Australia-based Lend Lease is responsible for the retail planning, marketing and leasing for Taipei 101's scorched shopping mall.

So far, more than 110 stores representing both local and international brands, have signed non-binding agreements to move into the 76,000m2 shopping mall. "Several of our potential tenants have called us this morning expressing their concerns over the building's safety," Chen said.

International brands including Gucci, YSL, Christian Dior, Sergio Rossi, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole and Sisley, have signed up with the proposed mall. "But we aim to sign up 162 brand companies by October," Chen said.

The accident comes at a time when most people around the globe are trying to erase nightmarish images from their minds after terrorists knocked down the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan, New York, in 2001, said Edward Chien (簡漢城), president of New America International Taiwan.

"Many of our corporate clients had told us they're not interested in moving into skyscrapers anymore following the September 11 tragedy," Chien said. "And here in Taiwan, people are also worried about quakes as a fault line lies near Taipei 101."

The tower now faces a major hurdle to restore public confidence in the project, which has seen two other fires since July last year, another international property agent said.

"It will not be easy to restore the public's faith in the project in the short term," said Wendy Hsueh (薛惠珍), director of research at DTZ Debenham Tie Leung. "Fear is not something you can ease overnight."

Hsueh, whose office is located near the Taipei 101, recalled the moment when she spotted smoke spewing from the podium ceiling yesterday morning.

"The first thought came across my mind was why is this happening to Taipei 101 again," she said.
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