Watch 15 Skyscrapers Blow Up Simultaneously In Mass Demolition

Engineers love to use the term, 'going back to the drawing board'. This means reimagining your ideas, addressing issues that plague your current designs, and making a fresh start. But when your current project is only half-completed skyscrapers, you may resort to the power of explosives to give you a clean slate before you can work on your new ideas. A video on YouTube shows how 15 buildings were simultaneously brought down in southwestern China.  

According to Taiwan News, these buildings were part of the unfinished Liyang Star City Phase II project. Initiated in 2011, this project saw frequent interruptions to its completion even after ownership changed over the next few years. Even after the government intervention, the project did not resume until late last year, when a real estate company bought the rights to the property for a fee of 979 million yuan ($154 million). 

Local media reported that the real estate company determined the delay in construction activity meant that the project could not meet the current market demands. Additionally, the building foundations were exposed to rainwater and were beyond repairs. So, a decision was taken to demolish the buildings using explosives since that would be the most time-efficient method. 

The blast zone covered approximately 5.38 million square feet (500,000 square meters) area, the largest single-site demolition in China, and about 2,000 households were evacuated for the explosion. 4.6 tons of explosives were placed at 85,000 blasting points in the 15 towers and it took just 45 seconds for the skyrises, except one, to be brought to the ground. 

The last standing construction, akin to the Leaning Tower, drew sharp praise on social media, some even commending it for the superior quality of construction. it will eventually be brought down, but not with explosives, local media reported.