Construction halted on china’s tallest building due to risk of collapse

The Ping’an International Finance Centre, located in city of Shenzhen, is set to become the second tallest building in the world. Construction on the project began construction in 2009 but now the development, designed by US architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, has been put on hold after an investigation revealed that the builders had used sub-standard concrete.

The concrete, made with unprocessed sea sand instead of river sand, can corrode steel reinforcements, the Shenzhen Housing and Construction Bureau discovered, placing the 660m-high building at risk of collapse.

But it is not the only project to have used the material. The industry-wide investigation uncovered 15 new buildings in the city were partly constructed from the concrete, with 31 companies in total violating industry rules.

Eight have since been ordered to suspend business for one year, reports Bloomberg.