The scorched CCTV tower will experience an all-out reconstruction rather than a demolition. Photo: CFP

By Wen Tao

The CCTV tower, scorched by the unexpected fire last year, will get an overhaul rather than a demolition, a contractor from the Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG) confirmed Sunday.

Last February, an inferno gutted the north building of the newly built CCTV headquarters, the would-be site of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Beijing. Debate on how to deal with the ruined building has been going on for almost a year without any official decision until the notice released by the BUCG Sunday.

"The main structure of the building was not seriously damaged during the fire," the announcement read. Insulation in the walls and concrete will be completely removed. About 50 percent of the steel exterior will be dismantled.

An architect at a leading real estate company in Beijing surnamed Chen told the Global Times, "A detailed assessment of a burned steel structure must be carried out before any further moves. That's a common practice."

Chen said he has not read any official reports or media coverage of the structure's assessment yet.

"But if the contractor decided to reshape the building, theoretically, they must have received the assessment allowing them to go on.

It's a big deal," said Chen. On Sunday, passersby could see pillars of rusty steel material on the ground of the burned building.

A security guard said the waste from the ruined walls at the bottom of the building was part of the auditoriums.

An anonymous CCTV director said he does not care about the Mandarin Oriental but that those auditoriums had installed top facilities, including several sets of expensive recording systems. "They were gone with the fire, a big big loss," he said.

Lin Bo, the film director of the Architectural Biennial Beijing, an international architectural exhibition that also covers countries like France and Germany, told the Global Times that he personally thinks the building should be torn down as the steel structure is now irreparably damaged.

"From a commercial point of view, people hold a hostile attitude towards a badly-damaged building. It is devalued at least by 70 percent in my opinion," said Lin. He used the Longfu Plaza as an example. "The plaza is located in the busiest area in Beijing. But after two major fires, it has become a ghost town."

Although there has been no official report stating the future function of building, an anonymous staffer whose company was contracted with Mandarin Oriental said that her company has received calls from the hotel recently. They were told to prepare for check-in next year.

On the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group's official site, the group says the situation regarding the Mandarin Oriental Beijing is "pre-opening."

And the official statement says that CCTV is the owner and developer of the hotel. "Mandarin Oriental has signed a long term contract to manage the hotel and has no ownership interest in the building."

The Mandarin Oriental Beijing Representative office was unavailable for comment.

Regarding the wide-spread gossip saying the demolition of the north building will affect the adjoined CCTV main building, Chen said that he also heard about the possibility but could not make a judgment before seeing the blueprints for the CCTV tower.

The Shanghai-based East China Institute of Architectural Design and Research, along with its Dutch partner in the CCTV tower project, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, refused to give information concerning the project Sunday.