Sky City Skyscraper project has not been cancelled and Broad Group will soon be proposing construction projects in the USA

Some have claimed that the Sky City 220 story skyscraper project was cancelled (instead of just delayed).

1. In the China Daily site, has an interview with Wang Shuguang, general manager of subsidiary Broad USA.

“The idea is to set up franchises anywhere such as the United States, using the techniques of making sustainable prefabricated construction materials,” Wang said from Broad USA’s headquarters in Hackensack, New Jersey.

“The recent Hurricane Sandy destroyed houses and buildings, and this is where our expertise to build sustainable and safer housing could be needed,” he said, hinting that Broad intends to propose such projects in the US.

Wang wouldn’t elaborate, but he said the company is eager to bring sustainable-construction projects to the US market soon.

Construction is expected to begin early this year of Broad’s 220-story Sky City in Changsha, in Central China’s Hunan province. Once completed, it will rise 10 meters higher – at 838 meters (2,749 feet) – than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, currently the world’s tallest building. Sky City’s construction cost is estimated at $620 million; the Burj Khalifa, completed in 2010, took five years to build at a cost of $1.5 billion.

According to Zhang, sustainable construction will help address the challenges of China’s rapid urbanization, including land shortages and traffic congestion. The materials and techniques used by Broad are “stable and as solid as a mountain” and will help “save the cities and save the Earth”.

Wang relocated from Broad’s office in Henan province, central China, to lead the US operation less than two years ago.

Now 42, the CEO leads about 20 employees at the New Jersey headquarters and a representative office in Los Angeles.

Broad USA was incorporated in New York in the 1990s and moved to New Jersey after its office in the World Trade Center was destroyed in the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.

The subsidiary is mainly a sales provider for Broad Group in the US, serving about 200 business customers that have bought its gas- or waste fuel-powered AC systems, contributing to $15 million in annual sales.

These clients, including Columbia and Princeton universities, appreciate the company’s ideas in energy-saving and green development, Wang said.

2. An article in the Telegram about skyscraper elevators and a rebound in skyscraper construction also mentions the Sky City project

With high-rises in China and Saudi Arabia poised to surpass Dubai’s record 2,717-foot Burj Khalifa, the race to outfit the next generation of super-tall buildings is spurring engineering leaps at Otis, Kone Oyj and their elevator-making competitors in a market valued at $66 billion in 2010.

United Technologies Corp. is working on systems able to stop 16 metric tons (35,274 pounds) of elevator and cable falling from the top of a kilometer-tall tower — equal to a half-full tractor trailer driven off a cliff.

Skyscraper construction is rebounding as the global economy regains its footing after the worst slump since the Great Depression. As many as 24 skyscrapers approaching 1,000 feet may be completed this year, compared with nine in 2012, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. A new round of even loftier structures is on the drawing board.

They include Sky City, a 2,750-foot mixed-use high-rise in Changsha, China, whose builder says it would use prefabricated panels to cut construction time to 90 days, and Kingdom Tower, a proposed kilometer-high skyscraper in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that would soar at least 20 percent higher than Burj Khalifa.

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