Swire’s Zhangyuan Project Advances Using Robots

In the latest instance of the robots taking over, Hong Kong-based developer Swire Properties has put them to hard work in Shanghai.

To clear the way for the construction of a multi-level underground mall in Zhangyuan, Swire employed robots to move 18 buildings on the site sideways as it prepares for the next phase of development, the South China Morning Post reported.

Using 432 crawler robots, Swire moved 7,500 tons across 18 buildings by 10 meters a day as part of the relocation effort. In total, 40 buildings are being shifted for the construction project.

The effort marked the heaviest such move in the world over the past decade. The Guinness World Record was set when an 18,000-ton structure was moved in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2013. In 2004, the 15,140-ton Fu Gang Building in Guangxi province moved 35 meters sideways, according to the South China Morning Post.

The Zhangyuan project’s second phase, known as the East Zone, will have 430,556 square feet of commercial space above ground as well as 861,112 square feet across three stories below ground.

“The underground work began after the little robots completed their relocation tasks,” Holly Zhang Yuanfu, deputy general manager of site owner Shanghai Jing’an Urban Regeneration Construction Development, told the Morning Post. “Our goal is to carry out renovation and upgrades while fully preserving the historical buildings… Our goal is revitalisation. Demolition was never an option.”

Swire plans to return the relocated buildings to their original positions once construction on the underground mall is complete, though it didn’t provide a timeline on when it expected it to be wrapped up. The developer also didn’t disclose the manufacturers of the robots and the costs involved in moving the buildings.

The first phase of the project, known as the West Zone, opened in November 2022. It contains more than 215,000 square feet of above-ground retail with high-end stores like Dior, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Vacheron Constantin. Swedish high-quality sportswear brand Craft opened its first location in mainland China in Zhangyuan earlier this year, per the Morning Post.

The Zhangyuan project will also feature more than 570,000 square feet of cultural and commercial zones as well as parking facilities and a public transit hub connecting to three Metro lines.

— Chris Malone Méndez