It was all over in 30 seconds. A nearly-complete 13-story apartment building in Shanghai China fell over in June, while remaining basically intact. The worst part is that a construction worker was killed, raising concerns about China's construction standards. Seven people in charge of the construction were arrested for causing a major accident.
The building, located in Shanghai's southwestern Minhang district, fell after the ground gave way on one side of the building, due to excavation of an underground parking garage. My personal recommendation is to always build the underground garage first, before constructing the building above it.
Parking World recently reported that China will be the largest car buyer in 2009. The China Passenger Association predicts full-year auto sales will grow by 44% over last year – to 13.5 million – making China the world's largest auto market. More cars will inevitably lead to more parking infrastructure, which could be a huge potential problem because China's construction industry has been gaining a reputation for poor quality and materials.
A picture says a thousand words, and in this case some of those words are: construction regulations must be improved in this rapidly growing economy. Some of the other words are probably expletives uttered by the unfortunate people who planned to reside in this building.
Pete Goldin
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