China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau is once again embroiled in doubts about "engineering quality". A high-end real estate project in Qingdao has been delayed for nearly a year and has not yet been delivered. | Quality | Real Estate

On July 20th, the labor subcontractor of the third section of Shandong Lairong High speed Railway reported in real name that the construction general contractor China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd. was suspected of cutting corners and materials, and there were quality problems in the construction of threaded piles in some roadbed sections of the Lairong High speed Railway. Once this matter was reported, it quickly sparked public discussion, and China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau stated that it will fully cooperate with the investigation.

The public opinion storm has not completely passed, and China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau is once again mired in doubts about "engineering quality". On the 21st, some owners of Jinsha Lefu in the West Coast New Area of Qingdao City, Shandong Province, reported to the Chao News reporter that the Jinsha Lefu A project undertaken by the Fourth Construction Co., Ltd. of China Construction Eighth Bureau is suspected to have quality issues with concrete strength testing, resulting in the house not being delivered on schedule. The owner has provided multiple feedbacks to relevant departments, but there is still no sign of resuming work on the project.

On the afternoon of the 21st, the Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau of the West Coast New Area stated that the Jinsha Lefu project is not due to substandard concrete, but only a few firmware issues, and the engineering project is also progressing. The relevant person in charge of the Fourth Company of China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau stated that everything regarding project testing results, engineering progress, and other issues is waiting for government notification.

Delayed delivery of frontline sea view rooms

Owners send a letter to collectively suspend loans

The Jinsha Lefu real estate project is located in the West Coast New Area of Qingdao City, only 15 kilometers away from the city center, and not far away is the Jinsha Beach Scenic Area. Since 2019, the Jinsha Lefu project has become a hot topic on Weibo due to topics such as "developers self exposing substandard concrete" and "owners sending letters to collectively suspend loans". The property has also become a focus of public opinion in the island city several times.

"If I had known this house was like it is now, I would definitely not have bought it," said Zhang Lin, the owner of Jinsha Lefu, in an interview with reporters. In May 2021, she purchased a residential property with an area of approximately 100 square meters in Building 12 of the Phase I project in Zone A of Jinsha Lefu Community, with a total price of 2.2 million yuan.

"There are a total of 12 buildings in Zone A, of which 5 are in the first phase, namely Building 4, Building 7, Building 8, Building 11, and Building 12. When I purchased, the first phase had already been completed, and it was originally agreed to deliver the fine decoration in September 2022, but it has not been delivered yet. Since 2022, owners have discovered many problems with the buildings, including cracks on the exterior facade and mold on the interior, which has raised doubts about the quality of the houses." Zhang Lin said that as one of the high-end properties in the West Coast New Area, the price of Jinsha Lefu on the second-hand housing website has dropped from 23000 yuan per square meter to 17000 yuan.

There are mold spots inside the houses of the Jinsha Lefu property. It is reported that the total construction area of the Jinsha Lefu project is about 450000 square meters, and the developer is Qingdao Yiweide Trading Co., Ltd. China Construction Eighth Bureau Fourth Construction Co., Ltd. undertook the construction of all buildings in Zone A, Buildings 1-12, with a total area of approximately 250000 square meters. Construction began in 2019.

Zhang Lin told reporters that the Jinsha Lefu project has not been delivered yet, which is related to the quality issues revealed by the developer. On September 6, 2022, the developer issued a notification letter to all property owners, specifying that the concrete strength of all 12 buildings was unqualified. The notification letter stated that the company had delivered the "Notice Letter" to the supervision company on August 31, 2022, and the supervision company issued a "Stop Work Order" to the Fourth Company of China Construction Eighth Bureau; And submit the relevant appraisal report and notification letter to the local government; The company has made multiple negotiations with the Fourth Company of China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau. At present, Jinsha Yuefu has suspended production and sales.

The developer's proactive self disclosure immediately sparked a public opinion storm. On September 7, 2022, the contractor, China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau Fourth Construction Co., Ltd., issued a statement stating that it does not recognize the test results and that the testing party does not have the qualifications.

The developer and the contractor each have their own opinions, and the owners have repeatedly sought help from the housing and construction department. "The economic pressure on the owners is very high now, and they are very worried that the real estate will be abandoned." Zhang Lin revealed that facing the distant "truth," the owners even proposed to collectively suspend loans, hoping to receive attention from the housing and construction department, but the situation has not progressed.

Developers Expose "Poor Engineering Quality"

Government commissioned retesting

Why did the developer self expose "poor quality" before delivery? On the 21st, a reporter from Chao News interviewed Wang Jie, an insider of developer Qingdao Yiweide Trading Co., Ltd.

Wang Jie expressed that there are quality issues with the self disclosure project, which is a helpless move. As the project construction party, he is responsible for the quality of the project for life. Since 2022, a large number of homeowners have reported cracks and fissures on the exterior facade of buildings, suspecting the existence of quality hazards. "In fact, as early as the top sealing inspection of the first phase of the project in 2019, it was found that the concrete strength was unqualified. Later, the contractor made rectification and claimed to have completed the project in 2020, and subsequent projects followed up." Wang Jie introduced that concrete strength is one of the main control items in the construction field. Once unqualified, the service life, corrosion resistance, and seismic resistance of the building will be affected.

In August 2022, Qingdao Yiweide Trading Co., Ltd., together with the construction party and supervision unit, decided to entrust Qingdao Jianke Judicial Appraisal Center and Qingdao Building Materials Research Institute Co., Ltd. to conduct concrete strength testing on all buildings in Zone A.

The "Qingdao Jianke Judicial Appraisal Center Testing and Appraisal Report" shows that during the testing process, a total of about 420000 rebounds were sampled, and about 2200 cores were taken and pressed. The appraisal conclusion was that "some of the tested concrete strength evaluation values did not meet the design requirements, and the concrete sub projects were evaluated as unqualified" and "some of the tested batches of concrete compressive strength estimation intervals did not meet the design requirements, and the concrete structure sub sub projects - structural entity inspection - structural entity concrete strength evaluation was unqualified." Wang Jie said that on September 1, 2022, the three parties confirmed the testing results. "Because it was confirmed that the testing results were unqualified, China Construction Eighth Bureau Fourth Company paid our company 1.68 million yuan in testing fees."

A few days after the test results were released, the Jinsha Lefu Project Department of the Fourth Company of China Construction Eighth Bureau issued a notice to the owner. The notification denied the testing results and the qualifications of the testing unit, stating that... the Qingdao Jianke Judicial Appraisal Center commissioned by the construction unit does not have the qualifications for building quality testing, and the Qingdao Building Materials Research Institute commissioned by the construction unit did not conduct testing filing, witness sample submission, etc. in accordance with regulations. At the same time, China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau Fourth Company stated that it will, under the supervision and guidance of government industry regulatory authorities, jointly entrust qualified testing units with relevant units to conduct comprehensive testing in accordance with industry standards.

On September 8, 2022, the Huangdao District Construction Engineering Management Service Center, a subsidiary of the Huangdao District Housing and Construction Bureau, commissioned Shandong Provincial Construction Engineering Quality Inspection and Testing Center Co., Ltd. to conduct testing on the strength of concrete in Jinsha Lefu.

Official denial of substandard concrete strength

Claiming that the testing agency is suspected of providing false materials

Some owners of Jinsha Lefu told Chao News reporters that on November 18, 2022, the Jinsha Lefu project department reported the results of the building's testing. "The provincial testing center announced the testing results, and 97.3% of the load-bearing capacity met the regulatory requirements, while 2.7% did not, meeting the design specifications. According to current data analysis, there is no significant impact on the overall load-bearing capacity, and some components need to be treated."

Wang Jie does not agree with the test results. "We have been requesting testing reports from the housing and construction department for evaluation and progress, but they have all been rejected."

On the afternoon of July 21, 2023, a reporter from Chao News called the Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau of West Coast New Area as an owner. The staff in charge of the Jinsha Lefu project stated that China Construction Eighth Bureau was reported to have cut corners and had no contact with the project during high-speed rail construction. "The problem of cracks and cracks mentioned by the owners is caused by a long shutdown time without maintenance and protection, and it is not a problem after the project resumes work. The Jinsha Lefu project is not a substandard concrete project, only a few firmware problems. The developer's commissioned testing report in August 2022 has been invalidated due to the testing agency's suspected issuance of false certification documents. The case is currently in the litigation stage."

At the same time, Zhang Lin told Chao News reporters that on November 24th last year, the Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau of West Coast New Area issued a notice stating that due to the false quality appraisal conclusion of Jinsha Lefu, Qingdao Construction Engineering Quality Testing Center and Qingdao Building Materials Research Institute Co., Ltd. were removed from the construction market of West Coast New Area. The reporter noticed that the report is currently unable to be displayed on the official website of the West Coast New Area.

On the evening of the 21st, a reporter from Chao News called the person in charge of the Qingdao Jianke Judicial Appraisal Center, who confirmed that the prosecution believed that they provided false materials during the testing of Jinsha Lefu. The case is currently in the litigation stage. "I don't think we provided false materials, we provided corresponding evidence to the court, and the final judgment of the court shall prevail."

Regarding the attitude of developers who do not recognize the retest results, the staff of the West Coast New Area Housing and Construction Bureau stated that the inspection report they entrusted to the Shandong Provincial Construction Engineering Quality Inspection and Testing Center is very authoritative. After being verified by the most authoritative experts in China, the results are beyond doubt. However, it is worth mentioning that previously, Shandong Construction Engineering Quality Inspection and Testing Center Co., Ltd. was fined 20000 yuan by the market supervision department for issuing false testing reports.

Wang Jie provided the reporter with an expert opinion document on the previous test results of buildings 1 to 12 in Zone A of the Jinsha Lefu project. Experts believe that due to various issues such as incomplete testing content and incomplete monitoring depth in the appraisal reports of various institutions, it is proposed that experienced and authoritative professional construction engineering quality and safety appraisal institutions can be commissioned by the court to conduct comprehensive testing and appraisal of the Jinsha Lefu project.

On July 22nd, a reporter from Chao News called the relevant person in charge of the Fourth Company of China Construction Eighth Bureau regarding the nearly one-year housing quality dispute issue of the Jinsha Lefu project. The person in charge responded, "Regarding the project testing results, engineering progress, and other issues, everything is waiting for government notification." The reporter then hung up the phone.

The reporter also consulted with the Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau of the West Coast New Area about when the property can be delivered. The staff stated that it is currently being promoted and the specific time cannot be determined yet.