DHAKA: Dubai’s 828-meter-high Burj Khalifa skyscraper’s title of the world`s tallest building will be history next year when Broad Group`s Sky City is completed.

  The 202-story Sky City will go up in Changsha in central China`s Hunan province. Once completed, it will top off at 838 meters, 10 meters higher than Burj Khalifa.

  Sky City`s construction cost is estimated at $1.47 billion compared to the Burj Khalifa`s $1.5 billion. But the big difference between the two buildings is that the Dubai tower took five years to build and Sky City will take seven months.

  Changsha-based Broad Group, whose core business has been the manufacture of industrial heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, had its groundbreaking ceremony on July 20 for the future world`s tallest building.

  The actual construction won`t start until next April, according to Wang Shuguang, general manager of Broad Group`s US operation, which is based in New Jersey.

  The ambitious plan has drawn skepticism from experts at home and abroad, questioning its approach of using sustainable prefabricated construction materials developed from the company`s core business.

  The building is supposed to go up so quickly because construction workers will only be required to assemble prefab building materials which have been made in a factory.

  Wang said the project will potentially hire some 3,000 construction workers on site.

  During a radio interview, Lu Meng, a Chinese architect, cautioned that too much emphasis on speed means sacrificing "quality". Other critics have called the tower - which will house some 30,000 people with schools, shops, cinemas and basketball courts - a "destruction of cities".

  But Zhang Yue, founder of Broad Group, believes that Sky City contributes to solving some of urban planning`s toughest issues, especially heavy traffic.

  "The Sky City is designed to reduce the city`s dependence on roads and vehicles and thus reduce traffic jams," said Zhang, a 53-year-old former artist who founded the company in 1988 with about $3,000. "It is a revolution of the `zoned community`."

  Some also call Sky City a "destruction of the ecosystem", a criticism that Zhang dismisses as "missing logic".

  "When you build tall, land can be more efficiently used, thus saving more land for trees and fields, which is surely more eco-friendly than low-rise and sprawling cities," he said.

  Still others think the project is a breakthrough on many levels.

Source: chinadaily
BDST: 1414 HRS, AUG 28, 2013
AKA/BSK