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The Story Behind China鈥檚 600-Metre Abandoned Skyscraper - YouTube
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[Music]
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it's a record china never wanted to hold
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when construction began 13 years ago
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golden finance 117 in tianjin was going
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to be the fifth tallest skyscraper ever
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built
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but today it's probably most well known
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as that building that those
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daredevils on youtube climbed
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despite reaching its full height of 597
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metres in 2015
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the site was suddenly deserted shortly
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afterwards and the project remains
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unfinished to this day
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with communication drying up in 2018 and
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no official word on when or even if the
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project will ever be completed
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many have come to wonder how one of the
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world's strongest economies with the
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fastest rate of urbanization in history
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became home to the world's tallest ghost
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[Music]
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scraper
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proposed back in 2008 when cities across
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china
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were vying for their place on the world
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stage golden finance 117 was to be the
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centerpiece of billionaire pan sutong's
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golden metropolitan scheme
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a 1.8 square kilometer high-end
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residential
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and central business district about
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eight kilometers from downtown tianjin
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with multiple residential and commercial
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towers
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french and italian style manners a wine
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museum
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extensive gardens and even a polo club
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the scheme was aimed at the super rich
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and the landmark skyscraper was to be
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the jewel in the crown
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we mean that quite literally the
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building was to be topped with a
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three-story
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diamond-shaped atrium which would have
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been home to the world's highest
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observation deck
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pool restaurant and skypar
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[Music]
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likened to a walking stick the mixed-use
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tower would contain 128 floors above
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ground
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with 117 of them housing hotel and
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commercial space as well as providing
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the ingenious source of the building's
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name
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11 dedicated to mechanical and
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operational services
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and a further four levels below ground
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unique among many of the world's tallest
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buildings
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golden finance 117 was to be habitable
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up to its highest point
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foregoing the addition of any vanity
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height that seems to become commonplace
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among many of today's tallest
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skyscrapers
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in fact when comparing it with other
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structures purely on the highest
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habitable floor
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the building would have been second only
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to the burj khalifa with just
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half a meter in it lacking any major
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setbacks to disrupt wind loads and with
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its height to width ratio of 9.5 to 1
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exceeding the limit set by china's
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seismic code the building
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should have been highly susceptible to
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lateral forces
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but it was designed to resist them
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not unlike the structural system used at
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malaysia's medeca pmb118
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golden finance 117 was designed with a
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perimeter frame consisting of tapering
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mega columns
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mega braces and transfer trusses all
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supported by
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and tied back to a full height
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reinforced concrete core
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creating a near immovable structure
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but while on the surface the skyscraper
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appeared no different to many of the
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others rising across china at that time
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underneath it seems like the cards were
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stacked against it from the outset
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to maintain the integrity of the chinese
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property market new developers aren't
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permitted to start
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pre-sales on their schemes until
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authorities have inspected and signed
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off on the finished product
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with exemptions typically only granted
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to established and usually state-owned
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firms
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at the time golden properties was a
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publicly listed hong kong-based company
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and a relatively new player in the
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mainland chinese market
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it had to fully self-finance the entire
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10 billion us dollar master plan
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and it wouldn't be able to begin
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recovering its investment until each
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building was completed
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this put the entire scheme in a
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precarious situation from the beginning
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but if the developer was able to put up
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the capital investment and there were no
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major disruptions to markets during
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construction
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then the rewards would be worth it they
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went ahead and construction began on the
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18th of august
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2008.
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while the global financial crisis didn't
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topple china's economy
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it did make it wobble golden feared the
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cooling chinese property markets
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and with substantial investments across
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europe and the us to worry about as well
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construction at golden finance 117 was
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halted in january 2010
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the property market regained its footing
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by 2011
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and with an asset to liability ratio at
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the time of roughly four to one
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the company decided to continue work on
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the tower with the expectation that it
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could be completed
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and ready to start sales as the market
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reached its
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next natural peak the project marched
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skyward
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but the slow recovery of international
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markets compared to china
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put the golden group in a vulnerable
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situation
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with its asset to liability ratio
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reduced to almost one to one
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the company was effectively all in on
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gold in finance 117
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and desperately needed to complete the
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project before the next economic hit
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like something out of a movie after
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staving off
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the worst of the global financial crisis
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june 2015 saw china's
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stock bubble burst wiping a third off
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the shanghai stock exchange's value in a
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month
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and the market volatility persisted
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until early 2016.
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while not a full-blown crisis the damage
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was already done
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with nothing left in reserves to ride
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out the turbulent period
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golden's own share price on the hong
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kong stock exchange plummeted
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and company chairman pan sutong with a
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64
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stake in the business reportedly lost an
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eye-watering
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13 billion us dollars of his own fortune
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the topping out ceremony in september
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was meant to reignite confidence in the
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project
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but by december 2015 all work had ceased
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in 2018 it seemed to restart and hopes
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began to rise
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but the china state construction
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engineering corporation then left again
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taking all of its company's signage with
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it
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on the surface you're probably thinking
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that the fate of golden finance 117 was
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down to a series of unfortunate events
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and a market that tends to favor
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state-owned companies
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but even when it was put up for sale
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with a handful of other golden
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metropolitan assets
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it didn't attract much attention and no
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attempt was made to resurrect it
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it had all the makings of a high-end
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development aimed at the super-rich
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but the project's location on former
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industrial land on the outskirts of one
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of china's second-tier cities
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meant that the appeal for those that
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could actually afford it simply wasn't
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there
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it was like attempting to build new
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york's hudson yards on the outskirts of
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philadelphia
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it's like golden tried to get in early
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on a city it later expected to thrive
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it relied heavily on china's continued
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growth favorable market conditions
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and the builder and they will come
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philosophy
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the firm took a gamble on an ambitious
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scheme
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and lost like pyongyang's
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infamous hotel golden finance 117 looks
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set to stand
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not as a beacon for an emerging city but
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as a monument and cautionary tale of
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over-ambition
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