The Beijing Huapu Centre is located in Beijing's prime Dongcheng District and consists of two 24-storey high office towers on a nine-storey podium of originally both offices and retail. There is 127,500 m2 of mixed office and retail space.
In 2006 Shui On Construction & Materials Ltd purchased the development with the intention of upgrading it to a high-end office building, and converting the podium solely for retail. The main challenge for the project involved upgrading the design with only minimal modifications to the current building structure, as well as seeking design consensus with the original developer.
Beca was engaged to carry out due diligence on the design adequacy, capacities and expandablity of the mechanical & electrical systems, as well as a review on how sufficiently the building standards would meet a quality office building.
Site inspections, design interviews with the original design engineers and a review of the construction drawings were carried out to highlight the design differences and propose new design standards.
Having presented the results Beca made recommendations to the client to seek approval. Beca was subsequently engaged to carry out full design drawings and take the lead in the mechanical & electrical design of this development.
Beca's involvement in this project saw the successful upgrading of a normal office to a quality office building that is able to cater for high demand tenants in the tower blocks, and full retail, including food & beverage in the development's centre podium.