CapitaLand marks topping out of Raffles City Chongqing with structural completion of one of the world’s highest sky bridges

Mall within megastructure to open by 2H 2019 with 450 shops, including flagship stores of China retail icons – NIO, CGV, Yanjiyou and Ole’

An aerial shot of The Crystal after structural completion. Envisaged as the centre of civic activities where locals and visitors from around the world converge in Chongqing, The Crystal houses a rich array of amenities, including a viewing gallery, lush gardens, an infinity pool and restaurants.

Singapore, 25 February 2019 – CapitaLand has successfully topped out the eighth and final skyscraper of Raffles City Chongqing as the Group enters the final lap of preparation works to open the highly anticipated 1.12-million-square-metre (sq m) megastructure in 2H 2019. This achievement follows the structural completion of the development’s 250-m-high sky bridge – The Crystal, which enjoys the distinction as the world’s highest sky bridge linking six of Raffles City Chongqing’s eight skyscrapers.

Mr Lucas Loh, President (China & Investment Management), CapitaLand Group, said: “The successful topping out of Raffles City Chongqing represents a new milestone in CapitaLand’s track record of building well-designed integrated spaces. It demonstrates our multi-faceted capabilities in delivering a vertically-built riverfront urban district seamlessly integrated with a major transportation hub comprising ferry, subway and bus stations. After six years of construction using state-of-the-art engineering technologies, we are proud to present in Raffles City Chongqing an iconic architectural form resembling a powerful sail surging forward on the historic Chaotianmen site. Conceived as a landmark urban renewal project to power generations of economic growth, the megastructure is on track to set sail with Chongqing’s global city ambitions from 2H 2019.”

“Upon Raffles City Chongqing’s structural completion, we are now focusing on the interior fit-out works, including transplanting trees to enliven The Crystal sky bridge, which will feature the tallest observation deck across Western China. Positioned as a must-visit destination for local residents as well as domestic and overseas travellers, Raffles City Chongqing has been garnering strong response from our customers. To date, Raffles City Chongqing has launched three residential towers with a total of 772 units, out of which 72% have been sold. The development’s five-storey shopping mall will house some 450 retailers offering a great variety of fashion, dining, lifestyle and entertainment options. We will continue to engage homebuyers, retailers and companies who are keen to be a part of this prestigious development.”

Anchor retail tenants committed to date include Chinese electric vehicle company NIO, which will open its largest NIO House in Chongqing at Raffles City. More than just a showroom, the 1,500-sq m NIO House also serves as an exclusive clubhouse for NIO car owners. Leading movie theatre chain CGV will operate its national flagship at Raffles City Chongqing. Spanning a massive 5,600 sq m, the multiplex will feature state-of-the-art screens with superior sound quality. Popular bookstore chain Yanjiyou will open a regional flagship at the mall, packed with a lifestyle café and other creative and experiential offerings catering to bibliophiles. In addition, well-known purveyor of fine foods Ole’ will operate a gourmet supermarket with a food hall serving a wide range of fresh produce and international specialties.

Fulfilling its role as an advocate of Chongqing’s rich local culture with more than 3,000 years of history, the mall will feature a dedicated zone to promote authentic Made in Chongqing products such as local delicacies, handicrafts and souvenirs. This is in line with the wishes of local residents, who provided enthusiastic feedback about the development during the popular preview tours conducted by the Raffles City Chongqing project team.

A side profile of Raffles City Chongqing. Inspired by the region’s thousand years of waterway transportation culture, Raffles City Chongqing’s award-winning design takes the form of powerful sail surging forward on the historic Chaotianmen site where Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet.

Occupying 9.2 hectares of site area, Raffles City Chongqing brings together a 235,000-sq m shopping mall, 150,000-sq m of Grade A office space, about 1,400 residential apartments, Ascott Raffles City Chongqing serviced residence and InterContinental Raffles City Chongqing hotel. It has a total construction floor area of 1.12 million sq m and gross floor area (excluding car park) of about 817,000 sq m. The development is strategically located on Chaotianmen at the confluence of Yangtze and Jialing rivers in Yuzhong District. It is also sited at the nexus of three Central Business Districts, namely Jiefangbei, Jiangbeizui and Danzishi.

Raffles City Chongqing comprises eight skyscrapers. Two of these are 350-m-high supertall skyscrapers known as Chongqing’s tallest buildings; one of which also holds the honour of China’s tallest residential tower. The other six skyscrapers are about 250 m tall each. Known as Raffles City Chongqing’s ninth “horizontal skyscraper”, The Crystal is an enclosed sky bridge nestled above four of the 250-m-tall skyscrapers and links two adjacent skyscrapers by cantilevered bridges. Measuring 300 m in length, 32.5 m in width and 26.5 m in height, it is the world’s highest sky bridge linking the most number of towers. Designed by world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie, Raffles City Chongqing’s form is inspired by the historic images of great Chinese sailing vessels and pays tribute to Chongqing’s noble past as a trading centre.

Raffles City Chongqing has received an Honourable Distinction for the China Tall Building Innovation Award. It is also Chongqing city’s largest development to be accorded the LEED-CS pre-certification (Gold Level) by the United States Green Building Council, which recognises best-in-class building strategies and practices.

Please refer to:

Annex A for the fact sheet on Raffles City Chongqing;

Annex B for the fact sheet on The Crystal; and

Annex C for the remaining site photos.

Videos showing the megastructure under construction as follows:

Aerial footage of The Crystal

The last piece of The Crystal’s curtain wall being hoisted into place

Beginning of The Crystal’s hoisting process

Annex A

Raffles City Chongqing – Fact Sheet

Property summary

Location	Chaotianmen, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, China
Description	An integrated development with eight towers comprising: - a 73-storey residential tower; - a 65-storey office-and-hotel tower; - two 47-storey residential towers; - two 46-storey residential towers; - a 43-storey office-and-serviced residence tower; - a 40-storey office tower; and - an enclosed sky bridge nestled above four of the towers and links two adjacent towers by cantilevered bridges. It measures 300 m in length, 32.5 m in width and 26.5 m in height. Sitting below these towers are: - a 5-storey shopping mall (L1 to L5) with an open-access roof garden; - a lower ground level comprising a bus terminal and a visitor centre; and - 3 levels of basement car park (B1 to B3).
Site area	9.2 hectares
Construction floor area	1.12 million sq m
Gross floor area (excluding car park)	817,000 sq m
Number of car park spaces (for the entire development)	3,200 lots
Number of shops	About 450
Developer / owner	CapitaLand and Ascendas-Singbridge
Estimated completion date	Opening in phases from 2H 2019
Project development expenditure	RMB24 billion (about S$4.8 billion)

Key consultants

Architects	Safdie Architects P & T Group International Ltd
Quantity surveyor	Rider Levett Bucknall Limited
Mechanical, electrical & plumbing engineer	WSP (formerly Parsons Brinckerhoff Consultants (Pte) Ltd)
Structural engineers	Arup International Consultants (Shanghai) Co, Ltd.

Annex B

The Crystal – Fact Sheet

Known as Raffles City Chongqing’s crowning glory and the development’s ninth “horizontal skyscraper”, The Crystal is an enclosed sky bridge nestled above four 250-m-tall skyscrapers and links two adjacent towers by cantilevered bridges. Measuring 300 m in length, 32.5 m in width and 26.5 m in height, it is the world’s highest sky bridge linking the most number of towers.

Envisaged as the centre of civic activities where locals and visitors from around the world converge in Chongqing, The Crystal houses a rich array of amenities, including a viewing gallery, lush gardens, an infinity pool and restaurants. When darkness falls, it transforms into a giant light beam, illuminating the night sky with a pulsating light show. To ensure the public’s year-round enjoyment of The Crystal’s facilities, design provisions such as air-conditioning, have also been catered for.

The Crystal is made up of a continuous steel structure weighing 12,000 tons and enclosed with a ring comprising about 3,000 pieces of glass panels and close to 5,000 aluminium panels. To erect efficiently, the steel structure is first divided into nine segments – four segments that are built in-situ above the four towers; three middle segments suspended between the four towers that are prefabricated on ground and hoisted into place by hydraulic strand jacks; and two cantilever segments that are assembled in short sections from the two ends of the rightmost and leftmost towers. Hoisting the three middle steel segments of The Crystal – each weighing up to 1,100 tons – to the designated height of 250 m marks a world first.

Fun facts

1)    At 300 m long, The Crystal is longer than Singapore’s tallest building laid on its side. This is also more than three times the height of the Statue of Liberty in the United States, which measures 93 m, laid on its side.

2)    The Crystal’s continuous steel structure weighing 12,000 tons is equivalent to the total weight of France’s Eiffel Tower.

3)    The Crystal will be home to close to 120 trees, which will measure about 9 m in height when they have matured.

4)    The Crystal houses two pools – a 50 m x 8 m main pool and an adjoining 10 m x 8 m children’s pool.
Annex C

Images of Raffles City Chongqing

The last piece of The Crystal’s curtain wall being hoisted into place.

At the topping out ceremony for Raffles City Chongqing’s eighth and final skyscraper, representatives of the project team shovelled wet concrete into a metal container, which was then lifted to the roof of the eighth skyscraper.

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