Building recognition and contracts lead the busy market.

China Tall Building Awards

The China International Exchange Committee for Tall Buildings (CITAB) and Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) have announced award recipients for the inaugural CITAB-CTBUH 2016 China Tall Building Awards. With the support of the Architectural Society of China and the Architectural Society of China Shanghai, the first year of the regionally focused awards program (based on the CTBUH worldwide Best Tall Building Awards [ELEVATOR WORLD, February 2016]) saw numerous high-quality projects in the running under six categories of recognition. Awards will be presented at the inaugural China Tall Building Awards Dinner & Ceremony in Shanghai Tower in Shanghai on May 13. For more information or to register, visit china-tall-building-awards.com.

The Overall 2016 Best Tall Building China Award will be presented at the event. Those in the running are “Excellence Award” recipients, shown below with location:

• Asia Pacific Tower & Jinling Hotel, Nanjing
• Bund SOHO, Shanghai
• Hongkou SOHO (Hainan Road Lot 10), Shanghai
• Wangjing SOHO, Beijing

Other building and construction awards are to be distributed to the following:

• Jing An Kerry Center, Shanghai (China Urban Habitat)
• The Mega-Suspended Curtain Wall of Shanghai Tower, Shanghai (China Innovation Award)
• Forum 66, Shenyang (China Construction Award)
• White Swan Hotel, Guangzhou; HSBC Main Building, Two International Finance Centre and Bank of China, Hong Kong; International Foreign Trade Center and Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen; East China Electric Power Distribution Building, Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai Center, Shanghai; and Taipei 101, Taipei (China Tall Building Legacy Award)

Additionally, the China Outstanding Achievement Award was bestowed to Dasui Wang for having played a design leadership role in many of China’s tallest and most iconic buildings from the past three decades. CTBUH explained:

“Wang is the country’s foremost thought leader on the design and implementation of supertall buildings, with experience in both structural engineering and architecture. Among his greatest achievements are the Oriental Pearl Television Tower, CCTV Headquarters, Shimao International Plaza, Shanghai World Financial Center, Tianjin World Financial Center and Shanghai Tower.”

KONE to Outfit Beijing High Rise with 56 Units

KONE has been hired to outfit Taikang Mansion, the new headquarters of Taikang Life Insurance Co. Ltd. in Beijing, with 56 elevators and escalators. The order consists of 34 MiniSpaceTM and 10 MonoSpace® elevators, 12 TravelMasterTM escalators and the E-LinkTM monitoring system. Twenty-five elevators will travel at up to 4 mps, and eight will travel at up to 6 mps. With 45 stories above ground, six underground stories and a four-story podium, Taikang Mansion is in the Chaoyang District and scheduled for completion in December 2018.

Japanese OEMs Look beyond China for Profits

Japanese OEMs, such as Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi, Toshiba Elevator and Fujitec, are increasing their presence in Asian markets outside of China as growth in the world’s largest elevator market contracts, Nikkei Asian Review reported. India is a particular focus, with Mitsubishi Electric planning to add five business and four maintenances offices, and more than double employment to 2,200 by 2020. Its goal is to sell 5,000 units annually, four times the sales of 2015.

Hitachi’s plan is to form joint ventures with local companies throughout Asia, increase capacity at its Thai facility to 3,000 units per year in 2017 and adopt unified specifications for all Asian countries except China, rather than offering different models for different countries. Toshiba Elevator plans to focus on units for low- and mid-rise buildings in India, increasing annual capacity at its Malaysian facility by 25% to 2,000 by 2018 to support anticipated growth. Fujitec recently entered the Sri Lankan market, as well as Myanmar, as it looks to increase south Asian sales by 30%, to US$175 million.

City Launches Elevator Oversight Rules

In light of an annual 12% increase in the number of elevators in the city, Xiamen, China, has launched its first set of rules for elevator oversight, What’s On Xiamen reported. Xiamen has more than 30,000 elevators, approximately 22,900 of which are passenger units. The new rules require annual inspection, a thorough overhaul every five years for elevators older than 15 years, designation of a person in each district to oversee elevators with unclear ownership, implementation of a fundraising system to maintain elevators and requiring property owners to display proof of compliance in elevator cars. Failure to display such information could result in fines of up to US$4,590.

Otis Installs World’s Longest Traveling Double-Deck Elevator

Otis Elevator Korea Co. Ltd. has installed the world’s longest traveling double-deck elevator in the Lotte World Tower (ELEVATOR WORLD, January 2016) in Seoul, South Korea’s tallest building at 555 m. The double-deck elevator travels 496 m from the building’s second basement to an observation deck on the 121st floor. It has a capacity of 54 passengers and makes the trip in 1 min. The system includes a 100-T. traction machine, the first of its kind in South Korea. It also includes 11 SkywayTM elevators with seismic sensors, 19 Gen2® Dynamic elevators and 17 escalators. Four of the elevators are designed for emergency evacuation.