Future of Present Highrises in India

Abstract

The advent into the 21st century had brought with it a strong desire to build bigger, stronger and more importantly faster. The race upwards has accelerated but with F.S.I in India not being generally more than 3.5 in contrast to Hong Kong where less than 40 floors is not permitted, there is no more a rational reason to challenge the limits of structures here in India. The fast-paced development of India as visible in its massive expansion of cities, the surge in construction activities, implementation of 14 metro systems with another 15 to 20 in the pipeline, high speed rail corridors with Bullet trains, the freight corridors, highway construction, power plants, chimneys and cooling towers coupled with Government’s ‘Vision of 100 Smart Cities’ & ‘Housing for All by 2022’ mission has turned construction of buildings from the horizontal to the vertical. In this chaotic scenario, high rise towers are mushrooming upwards in our entire major and also some of the smaller cities and they are growing even taller. Also shifting to villages where the agricultural land is the most prerequisite for sustaining life, demands less horizontal expansion but only high-rises which can save agriculture. However, tall structures come with their own sets of problems – for example, tall structures are more vulnerable to seismic and cyclonic effects. Design & Construction are two pillars on which a tall structure must stand - their design should be based on performance based and not prescription based. Tackling their construction practices needs High Strength/High Performance Concrete which can be pumped to a greater heights along with Ready Mixed Concrete having considerable retention time.