Broad sticks to 90-day completion target

CHINESE developer Broad Sustainable Building Co Ltd (BSB), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Broad Group based in Changsha in Hunan province, China, insists that it will deliver its 220-storey Sky City within the targeted 90 days rather than 210 days as reported by some online news portals.

Juliet Jiang, senior vice president of Broad Group, told Get Real that the company’s plan to construct its 838m skyscraper by the Xiangjiang River in Changsha city “will go on as planned with the completion of five storeys a day”.

“We have not issued any press statement on this and it will go on as planned ... we have not said anything about 210 days,” said Jiang, adding that the company is still waiting for approval for the project from the Chinese government.

On New Year’s Day 2012, Broad shocked the world when it released a time-lapse video on its 30-storey achievement in a mere 15 days or 360 hours that quickly went viral.

Following that, the company announced its plan to build in 90 days the world’s tallest tower after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the current record holder.

Designed by the same architects of Burj Khalifa, Sky City will use BSB modular technology which features 95% factory prefabrication with a construction pace of five storeys a day.

The skyscraper, which Jiang describes as a vertical city, will cover a gross built-up area of one million square metres (approximately 11 million square feet). About 200,000 tonnes of steel will be used to construct the skyscraper which will have 104 electricity-saving auto-power generated lifts.

It is designed to house 31,400 people in its various components, which will include residential units, hotel, school, hospital, offices, shops and restaurants. According to Broad, about 83% of the space will be occupied by the residents.

Sky City will be equipped with eco-friendly features such as Broad’s unique technologies of 15cm thermal insulators, fourpaned windows, fresh air heat recovery system, non-electric air conditioners, cooling-heating power system and LED lighting.

A special feature will be the company’s unique fresh air machine which will provide three-stage air puri cation, seven times per hour exchanges and 100% fresh air by eliminating cross contamination.

Among its safety features, the steel structure will be able to withstand earthquakes of up to 9.0 magnitude, be fireproof resistant for up to three hours and will have 10 fire escape routes for evacuation of a floor within 15 minutes during an emergency.

Besides the stunning 90-day completion target, another extraordinary feature is that the construction cost of Sky City will be less than US$1,500 per square metre (RM296psf) – ten times less than the cost for Burj Khalifa, which was US$15,000 per square metre (RM4,400psf).

Describing the BSB technology as “far superior to traditional building methods”, Jiang said the company has constructed 20 buildings in China using the method and has established six franchise partners in Ningxia, Shangdong, Hubei and Fujian provinces.

The company is currently increasing its franchise partners to 150 with more Chinese and international partnerships, including from Malaysia.

With the licence, said BSB, the system’s proprietor, a franchisee will be able to “recoup its capital within two years”.

“Our franchisees in China managed to recoup their capital within two years … the Malaysian franchisee can expect a similar return but it’ll depend on its annual output. The more that it produces, the quicker the payback,” Jiang said.