[photopress:The_Shanghai_World_Financial_Center.jpg,full,alignright]The unfinished Shanghai World Financial Center has just inched (metered sounds wrong) past the Jinmao Tower to become the tallest building on the Chinese mainland. It is now officially 423.8 meters as opposed to Jinmao’s 420.5 meters.
Now construction work will enter a very difficult phase in the next three months as a trapezoid-shaped hole will be built on the top of the financial center. The hole in the center is designed to help the building withstand earthquakes.
Work on the tower is moving a little slower because the remaining floors have different heights. A Shanghai Youth Daily report said high winds near the upper floors of the skyscraper will make it more dangerous for workers.
The developer, Mori Building, is scheduled to complete exterior construction on September 9 with total completion March 3, 2008. At this point the 101-storey Shanghai World Financial Center will reach 492 meters.
Will it be the tallest building in the world? No. There are lots of contenders.
Taipei 101 Tower in Taiwan is currently the world’s tallest building at 509 meters. Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia had the title for a while at 452 meters.
Best bet to be the next ‘highest building in the world ‘ is the 800-meter or so Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The imprecise measurement is because no one is willing to state it firmly in case someone tries to beat it before it is finished.
The Shanghai World Financial Center, which resumed construction in 2005 after a seven-year delay due to a cash crisis which was part of the wider Asian financial crisis, will be built into a mixed-use tower comprising office, hotel, business, conference and sightseeing facilities.
Source: Shanghai Daily
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