Savant to manage major £150m Moscow scheme

International practice Savant has won a role to oversee a £150m new Chinese-backed centre in Moscow. The CBC Park Huaming will be the largest Chinese investment in Russia to date and comprise offices, conference facilities, a hotel, flats and entertaiment facilities. The scheme will be surrounded by a traditional landscape park and will promote trade between Russia and China.

The development will cover 8.2 hectares and the buildings will amount to 200,000m². The works will be carried out in two phases, the first one to be completed by mid-2009 and the second one by 2010.

The project was originally sparked from the conversations between the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the former Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji in Moscow in 2001. The Chinese State Council subsequently set up a bespoke company, China Huaming International Investment Corporation, to drive and develop the project.

The centre is expected to house not only Chinese but also Russian and international companies. It is anticipated to significantly boost the economic and social development of the city.

The China Architecture Design and Research Group, appointed through an international architectural competition, will be designing the centre, assisted by the local Moscow based practice Mosproekt 4.

Savant has been initially appointed to provide full project and cost management services, including management of the design and tender process, on the first phase of the project, comprising a multifunctional complex of 128,000m² and the Chinese landscape park. Savant's project team consisting of 21 professionals will be led by Senior Project Manager Hannu Ropponen.