Work Begins on Shanghai Tower’s Water Leaks

SHANGHAI Tower, the world's second tallest building, has been experiencing serious water leaks.

On Monday 6 July, tenants shared videos of themselves drenched in leaking water, from levels 9 to 60 of China's tallest skyscraper.

According to the tower’s official Weibo page (the Chinese equivalent of Facebook) the leaks were caused by equipment failure within the building.

Building staff immediately began repairs once the leaks became apparent.

Above: Opening in 2016, Shanghai Tower completely redefined the city's skyline.

A thorough inspection of the floor where the leak started has now been conducted. Several elevators were temporarily shut down, affecting many businesses inside.

The Tower's owners claim that some of the video footage circulating online is fake. One video making the rounds on Twitter claims to show a ceiling collapse, but this was actually a shopping centre in Nanning in 2016.

While the striking tower features some of the world’s fastest elevators, the world’s highest observation deck, and has a unique and cleverly designed form that makes it the most sustainable megatall building in the world, the skyscraper has been plagued with challenges in its early years.

Above: The megatall building has faced a series of critical issues.

Since opening in 2016 the tower has grappled with a low occupancy rate and until 2018 remained half empty, causing operating losses of more USD $1.5BN.

Despite this, the tower is an icon of modern China and an architectural landmark. Its twisting glass superstructure soars 632 metres into the air and is likely to remain one of the tallest structures ever built for decades to come.

Many of the building's advocates point to the Empire State Building's history.

The New York skyscraper sat partially empty for many years after it was first completed in 1931 before ultimately becoming financially successful in the early 1950s.