Shanghai Lujiazui Finance District will construct 45 more business buildings during the 12th Five-Year Plan. The new area will top 3.5 million square meters on the ground, as large as “Small Lujiazui”, the central business area of the zone.

The strong thrust of industry development promotes the expansion of Lujiazui.

Skyscrapers in financial streets

People who visit Lujiazui for the first time like taking photos under the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. On the other hand, photographers familiar with Pudong prefer to go to Puxi to take photos of the Huangpu River, where they can get a better view of “Small Lujiazui”.

A visitor takes photos of skycrapers in Lujiazui. [Photo by Zhou Dongchao / Asianewsphoto]

Looking at Lujiazui from a different perspective can provide some unique views. Standing by the stainless steel sundial sculpture in Yanggao Zhonglu and looking northwest, visitors can see high buildings on both sides of Century Avenue. The Shanghai World Financial Center and Jinmao Tower reach to the sky, and Shanghai Tower, which will be more than 90 stories tall upon completion, is set to exceed the World Financial Center.

A high building is like a vertical financial street. Equipped with smart office facilities, hotels and restaurants, the buildings attract many financial institutions, multinational headquarters and professional service organizations. Settling down in a landmark building can represent the strength of a company to some extent.

Owning their own building

According to data provided by the management committee of Lujiazui, the area of commercial buildings in Lujiazui reached 2.95 million square meters at the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan. Office buildings covering 600,000 square meters have been completed in recent years, but the increasing speed could not cover the new demand. Specifically, many firms want to their own landmark building in Lujiazui. The supply of business buildings has faced a shortage for nearly two years.

Shanghai will expand its services to promote financial innovation and global influence in Shanghai’s financial market, according to the city’s 12th Five-Year Plan for international financial center construction.

Aiming to become the top international financial center, Shanghai hopes to establish its central status in global renminbi product innovation, transaction, pricing and auditing.

The headquarter for Bank of China’s renminbi trading business settled in Lujiazui in March 2012. More large State-owned commercial banks plan to set up branches or offices in Shanghai. Management upgrades and business expansion has led to a shortage in office space.

Binjiang Financial City in Lujiazui, which is under construction, plans to construct eight high-class buildings along Yincheng Road. It can hold 8 to 12 regional bank headquarters. China Construction Bank and China Agriculture Bank have settled in Shanghai’s Pujiang Brilliance Twin Towers.

Alibaba Group (Alibaba) and Taikang Life Insurance Company (Taikang Life) have subscribed to two buildings in Pudong Financial Square that started construction in August last year.

Taikang Life will transfer its asset management business to Shanghai and combine its insurance, capital and currency markets. Alibaba plans to open their e-business and Alipay business in Lujiazui.

Ten projects and six areas

With the growing demand for buildings, Lujiazui has selected 10 key projects for construction. They are high-class, large-scale investments with strong regional influence, like Shanghai Tower and the International Financial Center. The projects cover an area of 400,000 sq m and 2.44 million sq m on ground, 70 percent of the total commercial buildings in Lujiazui during the 12th Five-Year Plan.

Lujiazui Finance District will also develop six key areas, including the core area of “Small Lujiazui” and Binjiang Financial City.

The industrial development requires more space for growth. The function of the financial city will be further advanced when new commercial buildings are completed and put into use.

Shanghai New York University will welcome the first batch of new students from around the world, and train more international talent for the financial city by 2014.

Shanghai Tower will be completed and attract more institutions by 2015.

Shanghai International Financial Center will be completed, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange and China Financial Futures Exchange will locate there by 2016. Its public areas will mainly act as a museum, exposition, and media center and provide financial education to people.