Huaqiangbei File photo: VCG

Professional organizations are continuously monitoring the vibration, tilt, structure and other conditions of Shenzhen’s SEG Plaza in real time in South China’s Guangdong Province. And expert group said on Friday that as of noon, monitoring data appeared normal, not beyond the corresponding standard requirements, according to Shenzhen government’s official WeChat.

Shenzhen skyscraper SEG Plaza will be closed from Friday to all property owners, businesses and tenants for testing and inspection after recently swaying, and will reopen after relevant testing is completed, read a notice from the management of SEG Plaza on Thursday.

The 355-meter skyscraper, the hub of electronic devices in the region, reportedly began swaying again on Thursday noon, leading to the new round of evacuation after its first shake on Tuesday, which immediately put it on the headlines.

Around 1 pm on Thursday, the administration office of the SEG Plaza informed all the merchants on the high floors of the building to evacuate, the Paper reported.

A number of business people on the tower told the reporter with the Paper that they felt shaking on the 35th, 55th and 60th floors around noon time on Thursday. The video provided by the merchants to the reporter also showed that water in the fish tank and the flooring electric fan were obviously shaking.

A staff member with the administration office of the building told the Global Times on Thursday that they have banned all people, including vendors from accessing the SEG Plaza. He could not tell whether there were new wobbles on Thursday.

Despite the wobble and previous ban, many businesses were still busy on the first to sixth floors of the building, with some of them pulling carts to make deliveries from inside, Jiemian News reported on Wednesday, noting that only businesses and company staff were allowed to access to the building.

One mining machine seller told Jiemian reporter that she was not worried about the safety of SEG Plaza, although customers could not get in, her business would only be temporarily affected.

Entrusted by Shenzhen municipal housing and construction authorities, from 9 pm on Tuesday to 3 pm on Wednesday, a number of professional institutions carried out real-time monitoring of the vibrations, tilt and settlement of the building, and the monitoring data showed no abnormal conditions, media reports said. After research by provincial and municipal experts, it is believed that Shenzhen SEG Plaza was shaking up and down rather than swinging from side to side, and it was probably caused by a combination of several factors, including the wind and subway operation and temperature, the Paper reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed source with the emergency management authorities.

There are two subway lines below the building. In addition, the temperature has increased in the last two days by up to eight degrees, which also had a great impact on the steel structure, the report said.

Meanwhile, the main structure of the building is safe, after the expert site survey.

The report is only a preliminary finding and the expert panel is still investigating further, the source said. But experts suggest that a damper system should be considered as the next step to improve wind and shock resistance.

The reopening time of the building is still unclear as further investigation of the structure is underway. 

Completed in 2000 and located at the city's renowned Huaqiangbei Electronics Market, it stands 356 meters tall when the antenna height is included.

According to 2019 data, there were 220,000 employees and more than 40,000 companies within Huaqiangbei commercial area where the tower is located, mainly focusing on electronic components, smart wearable and services.