The domestic competent authority has issued a policy that clarifies that generally no new buildings above 500 meters are allowed in all places ——
Cool down the "skyscraper heat"
The Suzhou Zhongnan Center, which has been suspended for several years, has a new movement-the height has been reduced from 729 meters to 499 meters. Why is 499 meters? The answer may be in the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Urban and Architectural Features" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") jointly issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission.
The "Notice" makes it clear that in the future "new buildings above 500 meters are generally not allowed, and new buildings above 100 meters should be fully demonstrated and centralized layout", and at the same time, the new high-rise buildings must comply with the "applicable, economic, green and beautiful" architectural guidelines, and must be eliminated Architectural chaos such as "greatness, enthusiasm, and blame" has emerged to achieve unity with the city's form and spirit.
Why should there be restrictions on super high-rise buildings? What do skyscrapers mean for urban development?
Many places are keen to build "skyscrapers"
-China has about 2,000 skyscrapers over 100 meters
Once upon a time, owning skyscrapers was a symbol of urban economic development. China once set off a "skyscraper fever" in many places, struggling to build high-rise buildings.
Nowadays, China has no shortage of skyscrapers. Shanghai has a 632-meter Shanghai Tower, which is currently the tallest building in China; Shenzhen has a 592.5-meter-high Ping An Financial Center; Beijing has a 528-meter-high "China Zun" Beijing CITIC Tower; Guangzhou has a tower with a 454-meter-high Guangzhou The new TV Tower is affectionately known as the "Little Man's Waist"; Xiamen's 300-meter-tall Xiamen Twin Towers is one of Xiamen's iconic urban landscapes...these skyscrapers have become landmarks everywhere. In the eyes of many city managers, one or several super high-rise buildings are a bright business card that displays the image of the city. It can not only display the economic strength of a city, increase its visibility, but also promote the concentration of resources and form a new popular business circle.
The benefits of super high-rise buildings don't stop there. Super high-rise buildings help to improve land utilization. Large cities, especially the central urban areas of megacities, are short of land resources and worth every inch of land. When buildings are developing into the air, they can increase the area of use by increasing their height.
It is worth mentioning that developers and builders also favor ultra-high buildings. For developers, usually in the same area, the price and rent of landmark super high-rise buildings are relatively high, and can even drive the increase in the price and rent of real estate in the area. For builders, the design and construction of ultra-high buildings are more difficult. Obtaining the project itself is a proof of strength. Successful completion will greatly enhance its popularity in the industry. In fact, whether it is some international architectural awards or the domestic "Luban Award", landmark super-high buildings are all frequent winners. In recent years, most of the super tall buildings around the world have been built by Chinese construction companies.
Statistics show that as of April 2020, the number of Chinese skyscrapers with a height of over 100 meters was 1938. According to the ranking of the High-rise Buildings and Urban Settlements Committee of the United Kingdom, 11 of the 20 tallest buildings in the world are located in China.
Super tall buildings have hard constraints
——A number of high-rise projects under construction and planning are lowered in height, and "500 meters" becomes a red line
The tall buildings rising from the ground also put a test on the urban development. In September last year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development proposed in the "Guiding Opinions on Improving the Quality Assurance System and the Quality of Construction Projects" that it is necessary to strictly control the construction of super high-rise buildings, strictly implement the seismic fortification approval system for over-rise high-rise buildings, and strengthen over-limit high-rise buildings. Management of building earthquake resistance, fire protection, energy saving, etc. The "Notice" further clarified that it is necessary to strengthen the management of urban and architectural styles, strengthen cultural self-confidence, continue the urban context, reflect the urban spirit, show the style of the times, highlight the Chinese characteristics, and put forward specific requirements for the height of the building, pointing out that "strict Restrict the blind planning and construction of super high-rise'skyscrapers' in various places, strictly implement the anti-seismic fortification approval system for super high-rise building projects, which is suitable for the city size and spatial scale, and matches the fire rescue capability. "Small and medium-sized cities should strictly control new super high-rise buildings. County houses should be dominated by multiple floors."
The reporter noted that many high-rise projects have adjusted their heights one after another. Prior to this, some organizations compiled and documented the projects under construction and planning. “By 2020, China may have six of the world’s top ten skyscrapers, including the Central South Center with a height of more than 700 meters in Suzhou.” And on April 24 this year In the newly announced plan, the construction height of Suzhou Central South Center has been reduced from 729 meters to 499 meters. It is reported that the construction of Suzhou Zhongnan Center began in early 2014, and construction of all pile foundations was completed in 2015. Shortly afterwards, news of the shutdown was heard, and the project planning plan was announced again five years later.
Not only the Suzhou Central South Center, but many buildings under construction or under construction are all lowered in height. The Wuhan Greenland Center has been reduced to 475 meters from the original plan of over 600 meters; the Shenzhen Luohu China Resources Lake Beta project has been reduced to 500 meters from the previously announced 830 meters; the Xi'an China International Silk Road Center Building has been reduced from 501 meters to 498 meters, down by 3 Meters, just below the height limit of 500 meters; the height of the super tower of the main building of the super high-rise project in Chengdu Tianfu New District has been changed from 677 meters announced in 2017 to 489 meters...
According to Duan Jin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at Southeast University, the "first half" of China's urbanization has made great achievements. At the same time, problems such as chaotic architectural styles, lack of urban culture, a thousand cities, and low environmental quality gradually emerged. The problem of urban and architectural style management has attracted widespread attention from the country and society in recent years from a new height of cultural self-confidence. In response to these issues, the "Announcement" has further clarified the management focus, system grasp and implementation of the transmission mechanism, which has taken a solid step for better governance of the city and architectural style.
Farewell to the "Skyscraper Competition"
——Super high-rise buildings have high construction costs and high maintenance requirements, and excessive pursuit can easily lead to waste
For today's Chinese construction industry, building skyscrapers is not technically difficult, and it is more important to consider whether it is necessary.
Song Yehao, a professor at the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, believes: "There are a lot of skyscrapers in China, accounting for a large part of the global total. The housing construction department should restrict the construction of super high-rise buildings." He said, "Building super High-rise buildings can indeed alleviate the shortage of land. But for many cities and regions, the existing land development intensity is not so great, and there is no need to build super high-rise buildings. Enterprises, governments and other relevant parties often come from their own This kind of impulse arises from the considerations. Super high-rise buildings have high construction costs and high operation and maintenance costs, but the return of rents and selling prices is not necessarily ideal, and they are also faced with the challenges of unpredictable special circumstances such as fire safety. ."
At present, most skyscrapers in China are office buildings or hotels. According to a report from DTZ, the overall office vacancy rate in China’s first-tier cities rose in 2019, reaching its highest point in nearly 10 years, averaging around 10%. The average office vacancy rate in second-tier cities is higher, averaging around 28%.
Wei Dong, head of the China Research Department of DTZ, said: "In cities with a high vacancy rate, super high-rise projects will face heavier sales or rental pressure after completion. Once investment difficulties occur, fiscal austerity will lead to large-scale applications for early development projects. If the amount of loans cannot be repaid, the investment risk will increase. Although the high vacancy rate in these cities is not necessarily caused by super high-rise buildings, it is undeniable that the overall volume of super high-rise buildings is huge and easily A 100,000 square meter project needs a longer digestion cycle to be put on the market. If the developer’s financial strength is difficult to support long-term holding, most developers will choose to resell the project, and once the project is sold, the project quality will be within a short period of time. Fall quickly."
Regardless of the construction cost or the maintenance and operation cost in the later period, skyscrapers have higher requirements for the economic development of a city. Li Yujia, chief researcher of the Guangdong Housing Policy Research Center, pointed out that the appearance of super high-rise buildings looks beautiful, but the cost-effectiveness of living and office is the lowest. First, the public pool is too large and the area used is small; secondly, the maintenance cost of super high-rise buildings is very high, and the expenses for elevators, insulation, lighting, cleaning, and properties are about 2 times higher than ordinary residences; finally, super high-rise buildings are "three "High" is one of the largest sources of high consumption, high cost, and high carbon emissions.
In addition, the all-glass curtain wall used by most skyscrapers is easy to refract sunlight and exacerbate the urban heat island effect; firefighting facilities have technical bottlenecks to respond to the firefighting needs of skyscrapers, and there are still a series of problems that need to be solved urgently.
Industry insiders pointed out that a city without strong economic strength cannot build, operate and maintain skyscrapers. But excessive pursuit of skyscrapers and even a kind of "race" will inevitably lead to waste. As the country restricts super high-rise buildings, the "skyscraper fever" will really cool down, and it is expected to guide Chinese urban construction into a more rational and pragmatic stage.
Xu Peiyu