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838 meters! Changsha's tallest building in the world enters environmental assessment
2019-12-18
It seems it really has to be built! The world's tallest building located in Wangcheng District, Changsha City — "Sky City" has recently been submitted to the Environmental Impact Assessment Center of Hunan University for environmental review and made public to the citizens.
It really might be built! The world's tallest building located in Wangcheng District, Changsha City — "Sky City" has recently submitted its environmental impact assessment to the Environmental Impact Assessment Center of Hunan University and made it public to the citizens.
Land acquisition procedures have not yet been submitted.
"Two or three people have called to inquire." A staff member from the Environmental Impact Assessment Center of Hunan University said that since the announcement on August 27, the center has received three calls, two of which were to confirm whether "Sky City" will actually be built.
"Starting the environmental assessment means the project at least has some form of progress," the staff member said. "Before construction begins, many steps such as energy evaluation, fire safety evaluation, and blueprint approval must be completed; environmental assessment is just one of them."
"The premise for the environmental assessment is that land acquisition procedures are complete. If the other party cannot complete the land acquisition procedures before the expert review meeting at the end of the month, the environmental assessment can only be suspended," the person in charge said. "After the environmental assessment passes, it is unknown when the government will approve construction."
Another call asked whether demolition would be involved. The person in charge said that "Sky City" is located in the core area of Binshui New City, Wangcheng District, Changsha — the Daze Lake area, which is currently farmland, so no demolition is needed.
Daily garbage is cleared, exhaust gases are discharged to the surface.
This environmental assessment targets pollution during construction and operation phases. The person in charge of the assessment said the pollution "has very little impact" and should pass the expert review meeting.
After the building is completed, rainwater and wastewater will be recycled through reverse osmosis, domestic sewage will be discharged into the municipal sewer, and solid waste will be sorted and collected in a garbage transfer station, then handled uniformly by the district sanitation department, cleared daily.
The two underground basement levels will accommodate 4,000 parking spaces, and a large amount of exhaust gas will be mechanically directed to the surface for discharge. "First organize expert review, then report to the Wangcheng District Environmental Protection Bureau for approval; passing should not be a big problem," the environmental assessment person in charge explained.
Today, a staff member from Broad Sustainable Building said in an interview, "It is currently in a confidential stage; any information about 'Sky City' is not suitable for public disclosure, and we will not confirm any online discussions."
The public who have opinions on the environmental assessment of this project can call 0731-88821413 or email ceia@hun.cn before (and including) September 5 to express their views.
"Sky City" file
Construction period
7 months, including the entire process of foundation, production, installation, and decoration. Installation can be completed within two months. "95% of the work is done in the Broad factory, installing 5 floors per day."
Total investment
According to an employee of Broad Sustainable Building, including land acquisition, infrastructure, production, and steel structure installation, the total investment is 4.2 billion yuan.
Land area
17,000 square meters, with 1 million square meters of above-ground construction, equipped with 104 elevators, accommodating a total of 31,400 people.
Building height
220 floors, including a 101-meter-high antenna, with a total height of 838 meters, 10 meters taller than the current world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Key issues
Fire protection?
Broad Sustainable Building claims to use a steel structure system for fire isolation and protection, with a fire resistance of 3 hours, and 10 escape routes allowing all occupants to evacuate within 15 minutes.
"Fire rescue in high-rise buildings is a global challenge," a firefighter expressed concern. "Firefighting ladders generally only reach 100 meters high; buildings taller than this cannot be rescued from above. Although all-steel structures have better fire resistance than reinforced concrete, they soften and deform under extreme high temperatures, failing to fundamentally solve fire resistance issues. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York were steel structures and collapsed during the fire."
Earthquake resistance?
Broad Sustainable Building states that the Earthquake Research Institute of the China Academy of Building Research conducted seismic tests on their 7-story and 30-story 1:4 and 1:10 "equivalent models," accurately verifying that Broad's seismic resistance reaches level 9. However, a senior architectural design expert disagrees with the claimed level 9 seismic resistance, saying the institute's conclusions only apply to the test models corresponding to the buildings. "You can't say that two buildings have the same seismic performance just because their construction technology is the same. Once the number of floors or shape changes, structural performance differs, sometimes significantly."
Cost?
A senior evaluator in Changsha's real estate industry said, "The building uses about 200,000 tons of steel, and excluding land costs, the construction cost has exceeded 4,000 yuan per square meter." The tallest building in Shanghai — the Jin Mao Tower — has a daily management and maintenance cost of 1 million yuan. Window cleaning is also a major expense; the Jin Mao Tower's curtain wall covers 8,000 square meters, and it is said that two window cleaning machines working continuously take a year to clean all the glass once. "Sky City" is also said to use a glass curtain wall structure.
