BDP lands major Shanghai brief

THE Manchester studio of architectural group BDP is to work on a £100m mixed-use scheme in Shanghai.

The Bund X-Change project involves the conversion of a cluster of blocks and historic buildings in the Bund Historical and Cultural conservation zone.

The completed development will include shops, restaurants, a hotel and leisure facilities.

BDP won the job through its Shanghai office which is led by BDP Manchester’s former director of architecture Steve Gillham. The Shanghai office will be supported by the retail and historic building teams in Manchester. The firm is working on building design, landscaping and lighting.

Shanghai chairman, Steve Gillham, said: “BDP has a long history and excellent reputation within all the sectors that China is looking to develop; and projects like Liverpool One demonstrate how we can deliver large scale schemes sensitively and seamlessly.

“The 179 Nanjing East Road cluster of urban blocks, historic buildings, massing and street patterns has provided us with the opportunity to design an outstanding world-class new destination for Shanghai, whilst allowing us to showcase the special talents of our Manchester design team, which we hope will allow us to work towards securing further innovative work in China in the future.”