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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (5376)	8/28/2005 12:35:33 AM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

British firm designs Chinese Manhattan Dominic O’Connell SHANGHAI, the powerhouse hub of China’s economic miracle, is planning a big expansion with the construction of a new city the size of Manhattan on its doorstep — and it has chosen a British firm to mastermind the design. Arup, the London-based consultancy, was last week chosen as master planner of the first phase of the multi-billion pound Dongtan “eco-city”, which is being developed by the Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation, the Hong Kong-quoted investment arm of the Shanghai city government. The new city will be built on the eastern end of Chongming, a large island that sits in the mouth of the Yangtze river delta a few miles northeast of the city centre, and close to Shanghai’s new airport. The development will eventually extend to cover some 8,800 hectares, roughly equivalent to New York’s Manhattan island, and is expected eventually to house several million people and a range of new high- technology industries and leisure facilities. Shanghai also claims Dongtan will be the world’s first genuinely eco-friendly city, powered by renewable energy sources and as close to carbon-neutral as possible. “We are absolutely over the moon about this,” said Peter Head, a director at Arup and head of the consultancy’s urban design and development business. “It is a very important deal, not only for us as a company but also for the future environmentally friendly direction of development in China that is being encouraged by the government.” Arup already has a large presence in China, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Its automotive consultancy advised Nanjing Automotive, the Chinese carmaker, on its recent purchase of the assets of MG Rover. Arup clinched the deal last week after an international design competition that began three years ago and intense talks with Shanghai Industrial that have run for more than a year. Head would not be drawn on the likely level of fees from the project, but it will involve a team of 20 Arup staff working full-time. The British firm will mastermind the planning of the first phase of Dongtan, a development that will cover 630 hectares, roughly three times the size of the City of London. It will include a transport hub and port that will accommodate fast ferries from the mainland and the new Shanghai airport, a leisure facility, an education complex, space for high-tech industry and housing. “It is one of the last big spaces around the Shanghai area that is undeveloped,” said Head. Arup expects to have its master plan approved by October next year, with construction to start shortly after. The first phase is expected to be completed by 2010, in time for Shanghai’s hosting of the World Expo that year. “This is very much a showcase project for the Chinese,” said Head. timesonline.co.uk