A heritage building on the Bund will undergo a facelift and be
developed into a commercial complex this year, project officials
said yesterday.
The building, originally called Ewo Building, is at 27 Zhongshan
Road E1 near Beijing Road E.
It was built in the early 1920s and used by a British trade
company.
After 1949, the city government claimed ownership of the
building. It is now known as the Foreign Trade Mansion and is being
used by a local state-owned enterprise as its office building.
"After the facelift, the building will be much stronger and more
energy-efficient," Xu Changfa, a designer of the Shanghai Xiandai
Architectural Design Group, said yesterday.
He said the eight-story building featured British architectural
style with large arched windows and gates made of giant stones on
the ground floor.
Double-glazed windows will be installed to make the building
more energy-efficient and exterior air-conditioners facing Beijing
Road E will be removed.
Instead, it will have a centrally controlled air-conditioning
system and, an automatic fire control system.
A major challenge for the project is to re-consolidate its
structure and foundation. When finished, the building would be able
to resist an earthquake of a magnitude of seven on the Richter
Scale.
Project insiders said the overall expense of the facelift would
reach 80 million yuan (US$11.05 million).
Xu declined to comment on which company would rent the building
after the facelift. Previous reports said a US-based fashion
company had agreed to move in.
(Shanghai Daily January 22, 2008)