Singapore-based developer CapitaLand has topped out the eighth and final skyscraper of its US$3.8bn Raffles City Chongqing megaproject, which is due to open for business in the second half of this year.
The 1.1 million sq m scheme includes a 250m-long sky bridge, which CapitaLand is calling "the Crystal", which links six of project’s skyscrapers.Â
Lucas Loh, president of CapitaLand’s Chinese operations, said in a press statement: "The successful topping out of Raffles City Chongqing is a milestone in our record of building well-designed integrated spaces.
"It demonstrates our multifaceted capabilities in delivering a vertically-built riverfront urban district seamlessly integrated with a major transportation hub comprising ferry, subway and bus stations."Â
He added that work would now focus on the interior fit-out, including transplanting trees to enliven the Crystal.
The complex occupies the spot where the Jialing and Yanngtze rivers meet (CapitaLand)
The development includes three apartment towers, including two that are 350m high, making them China’s tallest residential buildings, as well as shopping malls, offices and a hotel. To date, 72% of the 772 units have been sold.
The project is being built on Chaotianmen riverfront, at the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze rivers at the centre of Chongqing, a city of some 30 million that has regularly topped the league table of fastest-growing China conurbations.
CapitaLand, which described itself as Asia’s largest diversified real estate group, has been working on the project for the past six years. It is the company’s 10th Raffles City development around the world, and the second to use a horizontal skybridge to proved additional space and connectivity between towers. The first was in Marina Bay in Singapore, which used the same idea on a smaller scale. UK consulting engineer Arup carried out the structural design.
Top image: Work under way on "the Crystal" (CapitaLand)
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