Print

Mail

wiki links

Shanghai begins on new tallest building

Construction projects are grinding to a halt as financing runs dry elsewhere in the world, but in China’s biggest city, they are still going strong.

Yesterday, Shanghai officially began work on what will become its tallest skyscraper — a 632m tower in the city’s Lujiazui financial center that will tower over the current highest building, the recently completed 490m Shanghai World Financial Center.

While China’s economy is slowing and exporters are feeling the pinch, the sinuous glass building — to be called the Shanghai Tower — is one of a slew of government-funded construction projects to stimulate growth and create jobs.

“Launching construction at this time will help boost Shanghai’s confidence in fighting the financial crisis,” Gu Jianping (顧建平), manager of city-owned Shanghai Tower Construction and Development Co, told reporters in Shanghai.

“This is a wonderful time for this project to start,” says Arthur Gensler, chairman of San Francisco-based Gensler Architecture, Design and Planning Worldwide, which designed the 120-plus floor structure that is due to be completed in 2014.

Slumping demand has pulled prices for materials such as steel down by some 30 percent, he said in an interview on Friday.
This story has been viewed 724 times.