On November 29th, owners of 30 buildings in the Beichen Central Park neighborhood in Changsha complained that the ground around their buildings was sinking, with some areas sinking over 2 meters deep. The owners are concerned that this may pose a safety hazard to their homes.
On November 28th, during renovations at the home of Mr. Zhang, a first-floor owner in one of the buildings, construction workers discovered that the ground outside of the building was hollow.
Mr. Zhang told Jí Mù News, “Because our building is backfilled, it’s either not compacted properly or sinking.”
According to Mr. Zhang, the neighborhood was completed in 2022, with owners gradually moving in. There are 2 units in each of the 30 buildings, with 4 households on each floor, totaling 15 floors.
Another owner, Mr. Li, measured an empty hollow space in another part of the building with a wooden stick over 2 meters long, which easily penetrated the ground. Mr. Li expressed concerns about the potential danger if children were to play in such areas.
Ms. Hu, another owner, told Hunan Broadcasting Television that “many owners have noticed cracks in the walls of their homes, which looks very alarming.”
The owners are worried about potential issues arising in their homes and are demanding an explanation from the property developers.
In response, the project manager of the neighborhood’s property management, Mr. Wen, stated on November 29th that the construction team explained that after the main structure was completed, soil needed to be filled between the foundation pit and the main structure. Due to the outward projection of the first-floor windows, the soil was not compacted properly. This situation of sinking occurred over the years. However, the construction team also claimed that this sinking would not affect the main structure.
The explanation from the construction team has been questioned by netizens. Many expressed concerns, saying “Is this not a serious issue? Changsha has had painful lessons before.” Others suggested, “Those who claim there is no problem should buy back the houses at the original price and have their families live in them.” Some commented, “If the developers do not resolve this now, when the buildings collapse one day, the officials and developers will be the ones in a rush.” Questions were raised about the inspection process, with some netizens saying, “How was the inspection conducted? It was passed based on ‘bankability’ only.”
Some netizens criticized the rushed construction of many neighborhoods, stating “Many neighborhoods are rushed and constructed without proper compaction of backfilled soil.” Others expressed fear, saying “This is too frightening.” Some sarcastically suggested, “Go look at the cheap neighborhoods built on former coal mines. They also have backfilled areas where the second floor becomes the first floor, with the first floor as the basement.”
One netizen criticized, “The largest industry, the pillar industry, has such a low quality level. After decades of reform and opening up, commercial fraud is still rampant, and even basic integrity cannot be established. When buying things, the first consideration is whether the store sells genuine products, and one must study and research methods of identification in advance. Deception seems to be the soul of the business.”