New less polluting building method tried and tested
The new Shanghai General Hospital was built using the "inverse method."
Shanghai will promote a new construction method that involves less pollution and noise.
The new method has been tried out on the expansion of the city's century-old major hospital.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has listed the expansion of the Shanghai General Hospital in downtown Hongkou District as a demonstration project for its environmental friendly construction process and the innovative "inverse building method."
Under the inverse method, the construction parts under and above the ground are built simultaneously, compared to the traditional way that normally starts with the foundations, according to the Shanghai Construction No. 2 Group, which takes charge of the expansion work.
As part of the expansion, a 15-story new hospital building has been built beside the hospital, whose origins go back to 1864. The hospital grounds are surrounded by old residential buildings and there is limited space for the expansion work, the group said. The new building has three underground stories for offices, parking garages and equipment storage.
"The traditional construction method would disturb the nearby residents as well as the patients," said Long Libo, chief engineer with the group.
However, with the inverse method, all the underground construction was conducted under sealed conditions to cut flying dust and noise.
Furthermore, the completion schedule was reduced to 152 days, compared with 206 days had traditional methods been used, Long said.
