Architect gets foothold in Far East after winning competition to create 90 ha urban centre near city of Suzhou
Housing designer HTA Architects has become the latest British firm to capture a bridgehead in the Far East after it won a masterplanning contract for a new town near Shanghai, China.

The project, in Suzhou, about 100 miles east of Shanghai, calls for the development of 90 ha of agricultural land for commercial and residential use, which will include a 25-storey tower.

The development, called Suzhou Phoenix City, had been the subject of an international competition. Wiel Arets Architects of Holland and Japanese firm Takamatsu Architects were the last two practices left in the running with HTA.

HTA was unable to comment publicly on the scheme before a deal was officially signed. However, one insider confirmed that the firm had got the nod and was “absolutely delighted”.

The three firms all flew to Suzhou at the end of January before presenting their finished designs for a 500,000 m2 first phase to the client, the Shanghai Sunco Group, at the beginning of this month.

Liu Xiaobo, editor of World Architecture in China and the president of a Chinese consultant company, organised the brief for the competition. It envisages a “creative solution to add value for the property … similar to but larger than the Zaha Hadid-designed SoHo China project”.

One insider confirmed that the firm had got the nod and was ‘absolutely delighted

Hadid’s masterplan for the SoHo China development in Beijing has been billed as a radical move to end the suburbanisation of Beijing. However, at 32.5 ha, it is one-third of the size of the HTA scheme.

HTA’s triumph continues the expansion into the Far East by British construction firms.

Consultant Mott MacDonald has formed a joint venture with an engineering firm in Beijing in an attempt to land contracts for the 2008 Olympic Games in the capital.

Scottish architect RMJM successfully bid for the £400m International Convention Centre for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It is also working on designs for Shenzen University in south-east China and a mixed-use scheme in San Li Tun, Beijing.

In addition, Will Alsop has plans for 100,000 m2 of office space around the Bund river in Shanghai, and for 20,000 m2 of office development in Beijing.