Tianjin Hongqiao Centre

It has long been noted that the construction industry is a conservative one. The old adage, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', is bandied about on a regular basis on building projects across the world. However, the reality is, whether the industry likes it or not, times they are a changin'. With climate change and the call to build sustainably, traditional measures are no longer considered 'best practices'.

This change toward innovative technologies is evidenced in Tianjin, China with the Tianjin Yeland Landscape Real-Estate Development Company. Plans for their Tianjin Hongqiao Centre, consisting of 20-residential buildings, 4-serviced apartments, a shopping center and two floors of underground parking, began in July of 2012. At that time, the Development Company had planned to waterproof the concrete with a traditional surface membrane. However, the project team decided there must be a better solution.

Solution

Kryton decided to provide the team with a sample plate, demonstrating the unique characteristics of Krystol Technology. The developers were so impressed with the result that they dropped the traditional surface applied membrane from the plans and gave the contract to Kryton-China. The underground construction is two floors, buried at a depth of 12 meters (39 ft ). Kryton's Krystol T1 & T2 was used as the waterproofing in the entire 100,000 m2 (1,076,391 ft2) underground parking area, which includes the floors, walls, elevator pits, collecting well and equipment rooms. As is the case with concrete, cracks occurred after drying, which were waterproofed by Krystol Plug and Krystol Bari-Cote.

The first phase of the project was completed in July of 2014. As of writing, the concrete areas remain watertight and are as dry as the 2012 samples.