British building scientists are to help China build sustainable cities in a £200m cooperative research deal signed yesterday.
UK building science centre BRE, China’s top university Tsinghua and one of its largest property development companies Evergrande signed the agreement in London on the second day of the state visit of China’s President Xi Jinping to the UK.
The programme research will develop a pilot sustainable city demonstration in Danzhou, and a green building demonstration zone in Hainan province, BRE said.
From left, Hui Ka Yan, chair of Evergrande Group, Peter Bonfield, chief executive of BRE Group, and Chen Xu, chair of University Council, Tsinghua University (BRE Group)
The programme will also include the development of green standards and improved processes for planning, design, procurement, construction and management of buildings, R&D on new green materials and low carbon products and technologies and a programme of post occupancy evaluation studies.
"Our Chinese partners have the ability to affect real change in the built environment. They currently deliver buildings, homes and communities on an unprecedented scale quickly and cost effectively," Chief Executive of BRE Dr Peter Bonfield said.
"They will take the learning from this collaborative programme and deliver a sustainable built environment without compromising on cost and speed – something that hasn’t yet been done anywhere else in the world. We look forward to playing our part in what will be a transformative research partnership."
Last May BRE Group established an R&D centre in Shenzhen, China to deliver training on a national scale and to promote its services, including certifying buildings to green construction standards using BRE’s BREEAM rating scheme.
