BEIJING | Projects & Construction

[Nordicon]

Originally Posted by Jim856796

That Z15 Tower needs a spire.

No, it looks wayyyy better without...

[hkskyline]

Mainland prices drop as cooling measures bite
16 March 2011
SCMP

Non-stop policy measures aimed at curbing demand and price growth in the mainland property market have finally forced developers to cut asking prices at new residential projects - a clear signal that market-wide price corrections are now under way, analysts say.

"China Vanke, the largest developer on the mainland, started to cut its asking prices at new projects two weeks ago and other privately owned developers have followed," said Alan Chiang Sheung-lai, the head of residential property at consultant DTZ on the mainland.

Kenneth Pak Kei-yuen, a general manager at Midland Realty on the mainland, said price cuts in new suburban projects were becoming common in Beijing.

Among the sharpest of the price-cutting measures so far has been at the second phase development of Sino Ocean Land's Poetry of River residential project in Beijing. The developer is offering a 17 per cent discount for buyers paying in cash, while buyers with mortgage plans will get a 16 per cent discount.

Under the discount scheme, the average asking price of the project was cut to 21,000 yuan (HK$24,920) per square metre this month, 16 per cent below the prices at which flats were sold in the first phase of the project last year.

Pak said other developers were offering discounts of 2 per cent to 4 per cent.

On Monday, China Evergrande Real Estate chief executive Xia Haijun said discounts of between 5 per cent and 20 per cent would be offered on some projects.

Beijing Roaming Wonderland, a project developed by China Vanke and Beijing Urban Construction Group, is offering a 4 per cent discount to full-payment buyers and a 2 per cent discount for buyers with mortgage plans.

Dickson Wong Hung, the chief executive of Centaline Property's China office, said developers had begun to lower their asking prices because banks had tightened conditions on property loans and restrictions were imposed on purchasing second homes. "Previously, about 30 per cent to 40 per cent of buyers in Beijing were foreigners or mainlanders from other provinces. However, we lost these buyers after the government imposed restrictions on buying homes," he said.

According to the firm, the absence of these buyers contributed to a 60 per cent fall in sales on the secondary market in the first half of this month, compared with the same period in January.

"We saw some developers begin to face capital pressure after the banks tightened property-loan conditions early this year. We now expect to see more developers cut their asking prices on new projects in the second quarter."

Wong said property prices in Beijing were now likely to fall by 10 per cent to 15 per cent by the end of this year from their price levels in January, and a similar correction was likely in other first-tier cities.

Alan Chiang of DTZ believed pressure on developers to continue cutting their prices would likely increase in the middle of this year, traditionally a peak season for new releases.

"Currently, most of the new housing supply is large residential flats. But we will see plenty of small and mid-sized flats released on the market in June and July. That will lead to a sharper fall in property prices."

[Þróndeimr]

Home of the future

This is LAVA's (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture) proposal for the Home of the Future, a showcase home for future living, with nature,
technology and man in a new harmony. Its located on the rooftop of a new furniture mall in Beijing and is planned to start construction in late
2011.

An ETFE geodesic skydome provides a year-round microclimate that opens up the home to a garden filled with sun, light and fresh air, away
from the pollution and noise of the city. Visitors will experience fifteen different living spaces, from internal/external bathroom zones to
kitchens flowing to veggie patches and bbqs to sunken bedrooms with dream inducing lighting.

At night the home and the tropical garden turn into an otherworldly experience, with the underlying technology, the electronic veins of the
system, coming to life.

The design is inspired by nature’s efficiencies – corals, cells and bubbles – and creates an environment where technologies are invisibly
integrated to satisfy everyday needs and senses.

Its fluid design and organizational strategy based on cells is easily modified to suit specific requirements.

The Home of the Future integrates the latest improvements in comfort and instantaneous information technology with a space that embraces
nature.

Chris Bosse, Director of LAVA says: ‘The Home of the Future acts as a metaphor for the questions of our times, our relationship with nature,
with technology and with ourselves’.

View renderings in high resolution

[Jim856796]

Originally Posted by Nordicon

No, it looks wayyyy better without...

Then it needs a new design.

[delores]

looks like someones been watching too much avatar.

[CoCoMilk]

thats good lol

Beijing would be like
Ancient + Modern + Future

[Þróndeimr]

Originally Posted by delores

looks like someones been watching too much avatar.

And Tron!

[hkskyline]

China to invest more than 10 billion yuan in aerospace park
2 April 2011
People's Daily Online

The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation announced on March 31 that it will invest more than 10 billion yuan in constructing the Beijing Aerospace Industrial Park (BAIP) during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period.

It will allow a batch of high-tech projects such as safe city and emergency equipment, the Internet of Things, digital city and satellite applications to settle in Beijing, and achieve industrialization.

The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, its Second Institute and Third Institute as well as its branch company Aisino signed agreements with several Beijing departments to carry out the comprehensive cooperation in launching the construction of the Beijing Aerospace Industrial Park, promoting the construction of the Zhongguancun National Self-Demonstration Core Area and jointly promoting scientific research and industrial development.

According to sources, the concentration of these aerospace high-tech projects in Beijing will provide 15,000 jobs opportunities.

According to the agreements, the two institutes will be in charge of building the Beijing Aerospace Industrial Park, and are expected to finish the first phase of the project by the end of 2012. It is estimated that the total investments in the park will reach 11.1 billion yuan by 2015, and the park will generate gross sales of up to 20 billion yuan.

The park will be divided into nine different areas, namely the Safe City and Emergency Facilities Area, Internet of Things Area, Numerical Control and Industrial Automation Area, Radar and Industrial Irradiation Facilities Area, Unmanned Vehicle Equipment Area, Power Equipment Area, Live Power Line Maintenance Facilities Area, Electromechanical Device Integrated Manufacturing Area, and Microwave Imaging Facilities and Energy-conservation Controller Area.

Aisino Corporation will focus on carrying out emerging industrialization projects including the digital city, radio-frequency identification (RFID), smart card, enterprise informalization, satellite application, and digital media projects in Haidian District, in hopes of using its technological advantages to promote the construction of the core area of the Zhongguancun National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone. The total investments on these projects will reach 1.5 billion to 2 billion yuan during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, and they are expected to bring in gross revenue of 5 billion to 7 billion yuan.

[hkskyline]

Beijing wants private investments in public housing
6 April 2011
Copyright 2011 China Daily Information Company. All Rights Reserved.

Beijing is seeking nongovernment capital to contribute 60 percent of the budget and may encourage it to fund the city's subsidized housing construction, media reported on April 2.

Beijing-based private enterprises may be allowed to build public rental housing on their own land, said Song Yu, vice-director of the municipal development and reform commission.

The municipal government will also broaden the investment fields for private capital funds. The proportion of the total budget that came from private investors rose from 43.2 percent in 2009 after the financial crisis hit the global economy to 57.9 percent in 2010. The city plans to increase that number to 60 percent of the budget this year, according to the report.

In addition, the municipal government will also encourage non-governmental investors to take part in some reconstruction projects, including the reconstruction of shiheyuan, media reported.

[z0rg]

Beijing's vacancy rate keeps falling on huge demand.

After stronger than expected performance last
year, the latter half in particular, Beijing’s office
property market saw a further boom in 1Q11,
demonstrating signs of another prosperous
market cycle. The overall vacancy rate experienced
a dramatic decline of 9.61 percentage
points y-o-y, underpinned by demand from
both indigenous and overseas enterprises with
genuine business opportunity and consequent
headcount increment in the capital. On the other
hand, sustained landlord-favourable market
conditions combined with the increasing number
of tenants with adequate budget pushed rentals
to the highest ever level as of end-1Q11. The office
property investment market remained active
while capital values witnessed significant y-o-y
growth of more than 20% during the quarter.

[...]

Correspondingly, the overall
vacancy rate of Beijing’s office property market dropped by 2.75 percentage
points q-o-q, or 9.61 percentage points y-o-y, to 7.10% as of end-1Q11.
Meanwhile net absorption peaked at 492,905 sqm, with that in the CBD and
Lufthansa areas accounting for 44.70% and 21.91% of the total, respectively.

Charts inside
http://www.colliersinternational.com...-BJ-1Q2011.pdf

0.5 million sqm absorbed during Q1. That's roughly half of the whole floor area of the WTC redevelopment, or 150% of Burj Khalifa's floor area. No wonder why Beijing must extend its current CBD asap, and those claiming Beijing is building too much office space are total idiots.

[azzuracapri]

How far is this from the bird's nest?

[hkskyline]

Beijing underground street development has big potential
2 June 2011
Copyright 2011 China Daily Information Company. All Rights Reserved.

There is big room for Beijing to develop underground shopping center and the underground street will bring great business opportunities, said Shigetaka Sato, chairman of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI).

Sato, together with his delegation, visited Beijing from May 18 to 20 and exchanged opinions with Gou Zhongwen, vice mayor of Beijing, Yang Liuyin, secretary of Dongcheng District on the development of underground street. He also made an on-the-spot investigation of the situation in the development of underground street.

According to Sato, developing underground streets will improve the effective use of the land and ease congestion on the ground.

Sato said that underground street development requires a lot experiences and technologies, including the government's urban planning, regulation and standard, architectural technology, disaster management, attracting investment, management of the stores, etc. The government of Osaka and private companies have accumulated rich experiences in developing the underground streets and the underground shopping malls in Osaka are the first-class in the world.

Sato also said that in the future, Osaka is willing to cooperate with other Chinese cities such as Shanghai in the development of underground streets.

"The cooperation with Chinese companies to achieve development in both countries, or investment of Chinese companies in Osaka are increasing", said Sato.

[big-dog]

Block A has topped out



photo from Pan's micro blog (SOHO developer)

Originally Posted by big-dog

Beijing SOHO III project U/C

renderings

video
http://you.video.sina.com.cn/api/sin...82391231/s.swf





























(from beijingupdates.com)

[Julito-dubai]

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/...extra=page%3D1

New SOHO project, 200m high....

[hkskyline]

How will this impact Beijing's urban planning going forward?

Population increases to be biggest worry for Beijing
08:46, July 19, 2011

China's think tanks called on Monday for stricter steps to be taken to control the capital's fast-increasing population and said population pressures are likely to become stronger in the next 20 years.

Population increases will be the biggest worry for Beijing administrators during the period covered by the municipality's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), according to the Annual Report on Analysis of Beijing Society-Building, also known as the Blue Book of Society Building, which was published by the Social Sciences Academic Press on Monday.

Since 2000, the population of the capital has increased by 700,000 residents a year on average.

That is putting strains on the economic, social and environmental resources of Beijing, the report said.

About 61.5 percent of Beijing residents live in six districts in the city's center, where the population density is at 7,837 persons for each square kilometer, according to the report.

Beijing's population density has surpassed London's - at 5,437 persons for each sq km - and Tokyo's - at 5,984 persons for each sq km.

By 2011, 40 percent of the Beijing population consisted of migrant workers who had been officially registered with the municipal government.

In a move to reduce the population pressure on the city, a series of strict limits are expected to be placed on new residents who are considered to be part of the "floating", or migrant, population.

For example, fewer university graduates in 2011 will get Beijing hukou, an official residence permit. The capital plans to only encourage those who have diplomas in fields deemed important to economic development to remain after graduation.

"High housing prices and increasing rental costs have automatically squeezed us out," said Li Yurong, a graduate from Hubei province who was looking for a job that would provide him a Beijing hukou.

"And we couldn't enjoy many public services without having a Beijing hukou."

He said the slogan, "Beijing welcomes you!", which was used during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, is close to becoming ironic for many like him.

"In a move to reduce population pressures, Beijing should get 'low-end industries' and 'low-end workers' to leave the city," said Yin Zhigang, deputy director of the Beijing Administrative College's Beijing population and development research center.

"Some private universities, some hospitals (specially hospitals specializing in treating infectious diseases) and some official departments should also leave the capital," he said.

"Beijing hasn't set a concrete limit on what the population can increase to during the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan because the city failed to meet a previous plan's goal to keep the population within 18 million before 2020," said Liu Jinwei, a researcher with the Beijing University of Technology and the writer of the report.

He called on administrators to adopt policies that treat the floating population more humanely and to reduce population pressures by moving some industries into places around Beijing.

Source: China Daily

[lianli]

Originally Posted by hkskyline

About 61.5 percent of Beijing residents live in six districts in the city's center, where the population density is at 7,837 persons for each square kilometer, according to the report.

Beijing's population density has surpassed London's - at 5,437 persons for each sq km - and Tokyo's - at 5,984 persons for each sq km.

Higher population density than Tokyo!?! Can someone confirm this?

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by lianli

Higher population density than Tokyo!?! Can someone confirm this?

Tokyo is actually not that dense as they have far fewer skyscraper residentials. In fact, there are plenty of low- and mid-rises with quiet alley neighbourhoods. Sometimes it's hard to believe 30 million people live in the bay area.

[hkskyline]

Beijing to establish 'tide lanes' to alleviate traffic jams
16:19, July 22, 2011
People's Daily

In order to alleviate the "tide phenomenon" traffic jams caused by too many vehicles entering Beijing in the morning and exiting from Beijing in the evening, Beijing will study the feasibility of establishing "tide lanes" in major arteries for vehicles entering and exiting from Beijing.

Afterward, the driving direction of the vehicles in the lanes of the major roads could be controlled and the signal lights could also adjust the number of lanes so that the efficiency of the roads would be improved.

In the 26th session of the 13th Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress of Beijing held on the morning of July 21, Liu Xiaoming, director of the Municipal Transportation Committee, made a report on the further work planned for alleviating traffic jams.

Liu said that Beijing will prioritize perfecting the signal system of the driveway stations among the next round of actions and will study the feasibility of setting tide driveways in the major radiating roads for vehicles entering and exiting from Beijing.

"Tidal flow lanes" to ease traffic pressure in Beijing

"Tidal flow lanes" refer to control the run direction of main lanes in conditional roads through changing the giving directions of traffic lights to adjust the number of lanes and increase the service efficiency of lanes in accordance with different situations of traffic flow in morning and evening.

For example, as there is relatively high traffic flow to downtown in the morning, related departments can ease the traffic pressure through increasing the number of lanes downtown and adopt the reverse lane deployment in the evening peak.

The so-called "traffic tidal phenomenon" refers to the traffic phenomenon of high traffic flow to downtown and low traffic flow to suburb every morning, and high traffic flow to suburb and low traffic flow to downtown every evening.

[z0rg]

Samsung will develop a 260m, 57 floor tower close to the CCTV Headquarters. We should open a thread as soon as they release a render.
http://office.focus.cn/news/2011-07-14/1384972.html
http://www.jingoffice.com/news/4766.html

[hkskyline]

Relocation reform to benefit homeowners
Updated: 2011-07-04 06:58
By Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)

Beijing - The government can only ask Beijing residents, whose houses are designated to be demolished, to move out after paying them satisfactory compensation, according to a notice issued on Saturday by the Beijing municipal government.

The notice is a guide on how the Beijing government will implement a new regulation on urban home demolitions that was approved by the State Council in January. The regulation is designed to better protect homeowners' rights and to end forced relocations by governments.

The previous regulation, now abolished, authorized the government to enforce relocations without asking for court rulings, which led to some people who disagreed about the amount of compensation being forced to move out. Some had to move out before they received any payment.

Chen Zhi, deputy secretary-general of Beijing Real Estate Association, said its research showed that many construction enterprises used to cheat residents by promising them good compensation but refusing to pay after they had moved out.

"By stipulating strict procedures, this decision by the Beijing government will guarantee homeowners' rights," he said.

The guide also stipulates that only the government has the right to discuss compensation deals with residents and finally confiscate their houses, a process in which construction enterprises and real estate companies have no right to participate.

The Beijing government must discuss compensation with residents and together they must choose a real estate evaluation institute to estimate the worth of their property, which, according to the regulation, should not be below market price. If no agreement can be achieved, the government will pick an institute through a lottery.

"I see this as an improvement as it lets residents have a say in choosing institutes, and a qualified institute is crucial to making a fair property evaluation," said Wang Xixin, a law professor at Peking University.

"However, transparency during that process, including the lottery, is very important to ensure it is not just a show case."

After a compensation plan is made, residents will be given a 30-day notice, during which they have the right to suggest revisions to the plan. Those who disagree with a final plan can ask for an administrative re-ruling or sue.

The court has the right to force a relocation if a resident who disagrees with the compensation refuses to move and doesn't ask for a re-ruling or file a lawsuit.

Housing demolitions have aroused heated discussion in China, especially since the revision of the previous demolition regulation at the end of 2009, after five law professors wrote an open letter to the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, urging reform.

A series of shocking tragedies in which people killed themselves during forced relocations had captivated public attention.

One person died and another two were injured when three members of a family surnamed Zhong doused themselves in gasoline and set themselves ablaze to protest against a forced demolition in Yihuang, Jiangxi province, on Sept 10, 2010.

Tang Fuzhen, 47, a resident of Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, died in 2009 after setting herself on fire to protest against the forced demolition of her house.