BUILDING BAIYOKE 2

KEY DATES & EVENTS

Late 1980s
Project conceived by Khun Panlert Baiyoke.

Early 1991
Official ground breaking. Foundation works carried out by Multiplex RSY Constructions (Australia). Workers began to install 360 concrete piles (driven to 56m depth) before placing a 5m thick mat over the top.

November 1992
Concrete Constructions (Thailand) Ltd took over the project, work on the superstructure began. The contractor achieved 1.5 floors per month using jump forms and pumped concrete, the construction pace quadruple to 6 floors per month after the first 21 floors were built.

1995
Installation of mechanical and electrical services.
Completion of the 19 level parking and retail podium.

August 1996
Concrete pouring ceremony on the tower's 85th floor (tower topped out in early 1997).

June 1999
Official opening of the Baiyoke Sky Hotel

Other Technical Info

•This building contains a total 60,000 cubic metres of cement. Its floor plan is typically 50m square plate with corner columns (one side has open column for external lift). A 30m diametre cylindrical plate begins at the 80th floor.

•Upto 360 piles of concrete were driven through clay into thick sand layer to the depth of over 50m and sealed with a 5m thick mat.

•The building represents one of the most sophisticated uses of concrete in Thailand, with 60N/sq mm (compressive strength) concrete forming the main material for the columns in a lightweight composite structure along with steel box girder reinforcement. The concrete core is surrounded by a square pattern of hollow columns fused together by key studs with an 200mm outer layer of 60N high strength concrete.

•Columns start solid at the base and becoming hollow at the top.

B2 Typical Floor Plate
Civil Engineering International

•The erection of tower was sped up with the use of VSL Climbform self-climbing, modular system for construction of vertical walls. It is the first time VSL Climbform techology was in use in Thailand.

•Concrete were pumped to a 300m height level using Putzmeister pump (the pump previously set world record in high-rise conveying of concrete to a height of 532 metre during the construction of the Riva del Garda dam in Italy). And from the 300m level the concrete were lifted by a Favelle 310D luffing jib tower crane.

•Baiyoke 2 was the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world at the time of completion in 1997. This record was surpassed by CITIC Plaza building in Guangzhao (China) which was completed a year later.

•Site testing shows the building sway to a cycle of about six seconds. Expert sources suggested that the building may have sunk by 40mm during construction and may have impacted on the foundations of several smaller buildings nearby.

•The estimated cost of the project was put at around 3.4 Billion Baht (costed before the devaluation of the Thai Baht in July 1997).

•Initial plans call for a 140m high communication tower to be placed on top of the building (see rendering of the building's 3D model with the proposed telecom tower on top) although the developer has opted for a smaller radio transmission tower.

•Baiyoke 2 was the world's tallest hotel at the time it was completed - but this was never registered in the Guiness Book of World Records. The Burj al Arab Hotel in Dubai which completed a year later is currently the tallest hotel.

SOURCE:
Engineering News Record Magazine (June '96) International Construction Magazine (Nov '94)
Civil Engineering International (May '96)
Engineers Australia Magazine (Oct '96)
VSL News (1994)
Bangkok Post Archive

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