I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 625 Huacheng Development Joint Bidding

Fang Qingye was a little surprised.

Luo Yun rarely comes to Jinghai Bank. She handles business matters such as loans with her subordinates, and for important company matters, she calls Fang Qingye or Fang Qingye goes there in person.

"Mr. Luo, what a rare guest! Please have a seat," Fang Qingye greeted with a smile.

The two sat down, and Luo Yun took a sip of the tea that Hu Lingling had poured before saying:

"Chairman Fang, you haven't been to Huacheng Development recently. Have you forgotten about us?" His tone was a little reproachful.

I really rarely go there.

Since returning from the United States, he has been busy with matters related to Jinghai Bank and the construction of the building by Tuofang Technology. He has not yet visited Huacheng Development Company.

"I'm just too busy. Of course, I trust you even more. If you can run the company well, I don't need to worry about it. It doesn't matter whether I go or not," Fang Qingye explained with a smile.

"Hey, don't flatter me. I've been so busy lately with the bidding for the Jinghai Bank Building that I'm completely overwhelmed," Luo Yun sighed.

Luo Yun wanted to take on this project and had made that clear to Fang Qingye over the phone.

Fang Qingye clearly expressed her support for this decision, believing that it was best to keep the benefits within the family, and also delegated power to her – everything was to be decided by Luo Yun and the company's leadership team.

However, he was well aware of Huacheng Development Company's shortcomings: it had been established for too short a time and had only been engaged in residential building construction, lacking experience in designing and constructing high-rise office buildings, which were major weaknesses.

"As far as I know, companies such as Zhongnan Group, China Resources Land, and Wanda Group will participate in the bidding, so Huacheng Development has no advantage in this regard. I support your participation in the bidding, but don't expect me to give you any special treatment. Everything will be done according to the proper procedures."

These are the words Fang Qingye once said to Luo Yun.

But Luo Yun doesn't seem to have given up; she's been busy with this matter recently.
"Chairman Fang, I'm here today to report on the bidding process. I just returned from Huijing," Luo Yun said, taking a thick document from her briefcase.

"We have signed an agreement with the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Southeast University to jointly bid. This is our design proposal."

Ah?
Fang Qingye secretly praised Luo Yun for her intelligence.

Lacking experience, the company sought out a long-established architectural design institute to compensate for its disadvantages.

The Architectural Design and Research Institute of Southeast University is very well-known in Jiangsu Province. Founded in the 1960s, it has extensive design experience in the field of office buildings and office buildings. Their masterpieces include the Financial City (Phase II) super high-rise office cluster and the Huijing Jiangbei New Area Research and Innovation Park Incubator Building.

It is estimated that this design institute is also very willing to cooperate with Huacheng Development, as local enterprises have an incomparable inherent advantage over out-of-town enterprises in specific construction.

Fang Qingye carefully reviewed the design plan, which adopted an "ultra-dense steel column + reinforced concrete" structural system. This structure is relatively rare in high-rise buildings in China and can effectively ensure the safety of buildings in natural disasters such as earthquakes.

The glass curtain wall design presents a combination of technology and fashion, somewhat similar to the design elements of the C1 main tower of Phase II of Huijing Financial City, which uses "vertical lines" and "squares".

The space features a flexible design with movable partitions and modular furniture, shared workstations, and a "hot desking" system. Double-wall technology optimizes natural lighting and ventilation.
Fang Qingye looked at it carefully and felt it was good.

Of course, I'm only a novice in this area, and I need expert review from the bidding committee.

“I think it’s pretty good, we can put it up for bidding,” Fang Qingye said.

"Chairman Fang, you can take care of our company then," Luo Yun said with a smile.

Fang Qingye picked up her teacup, took a sip, and smiled without saying a word.

Needless to say?

If the several proposed solutions are roughly the same in terms of design and overall project cost, Fang Qingye would naturally choose Huacheng Company's solution. He wasn't that pedantic.

The bidding conference was held after New Year's Day. Fang Qingye held two sessions in a row. The winning bidder for the Tuofang Technology Building project in Shanghai was the East China Architectural Design & Research Institute, which is also a long-established architectural design institute. Their representative works are Lujiazui Business Plaza and Zhengzhou Longhu Financial Center Donglong Chuangxin Building.

Today, we held the final review of the bidding process in the small conference room of Jinghai Bank.

After review by experts, based on a comprehensive evaluation of various indicators among the seven bidding entities, three schemes were finally selected: the joint design drawings by Zhongnan Group, Wanda Group, and Huacheng Company and Southeast University Architectural Design and Research Institute.

The final decision will now be made by the four bank presidents.

"I am the chairman of Huacheng Company, and according to the bidding regulations, I need to recuse myself," Fang Qingye said with a smile to everyone. "After your discussion and vote, I approve of the final result." After speaking, Fang Qingye stood up and walked out of the conference room.

All three of them wore a wry smile.

This is ridiculous! They've kicked the ball right to our feet!

This is like a leader instructing a subordinate: "XXX is my nephew. You must act impartially and not show him any special treatment because of our relationship."

You have to listen to it the other way around.

Furthermore, these three companies have undergone rigorous review by experts, and their feasibility reports are all dozens of pages long. The three are largely similar, differing only in certain specific details.

Zhao Wenjun didn't hesitate and immediately expressed her opinion: "Everyone has seen the details of these three plans, as well as their respective advantages and disadvantages, so we don't need to discuss anything further. I choose the plan from Huacheng Company and Southeast University."

"Although the cost of this plan is 800 million more than other plans, the overall design is safer. Although our Jinghai area is not a seismically active area, typhoons are frequent every year, so it is always good to be safe."

Does it need to be made so sturdy?
Deng Hui thought to herself, "This is what I'm complaining about."

Of course, she was worried about the money.

"Then let's choose the plan from Huacheng Company and Southeast University," said Chen Danlu.

He doesn't understand architecture, but he doesn't feel much pain about the extra 800 million yuan. Money is earned, not saved!
Moreover, I've learned a lot about interpersonal relationships during the year or so since I returned to China.

"Then let's go with Huacheng Company's approach," Deng Hui finally said.

Even with a two-to-one ratio, I still don't agree with it.

The meeting decision was quickly reported to Fang Qingye, and he was not much surprised by this answer.

Some unspoken rules are known to everyone.

Once the plan is finalized, the next step is to sign the formal contract. This will still be handled by Zhao Wenjun; he only needs to sign the contract at the end.

Both parties agreed to officially begin construction after the Spring Festival.

After finishing her business with Jinghai Bank, Fang Qingye plans to travel to Yanjing next week to attend ByteDance's shareholders' meeting and review the Series B financing matters.

But at this very moment, a crisis was quietly approaching ByteDance.

Huacheng, the Huacheng Daily Building.

(End of this chapter)