LIFE THERE

LONDON PRESS SERVICE INFORMS

New China Town Built in Old English Style

There is a small part of China that will be forever England, mainly because a new residential community there looks similar to a typical country town in any corner of the United Kingdom.

Called Thames Town, it has been built from a combination of images of familiar UK streets and settings, a mix of traditional – sometimes quaint, but always pleasant – British architecture. And by a company that should know how the place should look – UK consultant engineers and town planners W.S. Atkins. The firm won an international competition to develop the master planning and detail design for the UK themed town, with work spread between Atkins’ offices in England and China.

The “Chinese take-way in reverse” is a replica of a UK town with cobbled streets, a garden maze, castle, a church and even an old pub serving traditional beers. The development cost 200 million pounds and centres on a medieval town square and radiates out through Tudor, Georgian and Victorian styles of architecture.

The pedestrianised walkways are lined with trees, and old-style red post-boxes and telephone kiosks. Oak panelling fronts the Tudor-style boutiques, the pub and the fish and chip shop.

The developers are seeking to attract major UK retailers – such as Next, Sainsbury and Tesco – to make the living experience for the town’s 10,000 residents even more authentic. Thames Town will also incorporate a school, hotel, entertainment and public and private sports facilities.

The settlement in China is more British in some ways than any town in the UK – and that is its appeal to the town’s residents, homebuyers from China’s new professional sectors.

When the themed town is officially opened later this year, it becomes part of commuter city Songjiang on the outskirts of Shanghai where its 17 million residents make it one of the biggest cities on the planet. A new railway will link central Shanghai to Songjiang, home of Thames Town as well as a number of recently transplanted universities.

The new town is a small part of government plans to move hundreds of thousands of people out of overcrowded Shanghai and into China’s newly launched suburbs and satellite zones. Nationally, the wider picture includes mass building to create 3,000 towns and cities, to house some of the 400 million people expected to move from the rural areas of China in the next 15 years.

Most of these new towns will be functional. But in Thames Town modern skyscrapers have given way to Georgian terraced streets, concrete squares have been replaced with English village greens, and winding cobbled lanes chosen over superhighways.

English take-away: Thames Town near Songjiang, Shanghai is a replica of a traditional UK town with cobbled, tree-lined streets. It centres on a medieval town square and radiates through Tudor, Georgian and Victorian styles of homes to attract China’s new professionals.

The one-square kilometre town has half-timbered Tudor-style buildings at its centre, a waterfront of Victorian red-brick warehouses, and an outlying area of gabled 20th-century buildings bordered by hedges, plush lawns and leafy roads. It has its own covered market and a relaxing waterfront area.

Many high-tech firms, including Hitachi and the Taiwanese computer-chip maker Taijidian, are investing in new factories. Most will be in the modern Chinese style. But Thames Town will offer a different home to its residents, most of whom are expected to be China’s rising professional class such as university professors, entrepreneurs and factory managers. The homes are not cheap, a one-bedroom apartment costs about 45,000 pounds rising to 405,000 for a villa.

For Anglophiles in China, this place may be their cup of tea or glass of real ale. The Atkins creation is close to the real thing, as associate director Paul Rice points out a half-timbered Tudor storefront as an example, saying: “This building is based on some of the buildings from the west of England,” he added. “You can see the timber, the clay tiles on the roofs. Although we are building in China in the 21st century, as far as possible we are trying to use the correct materials.

“I think Shanghai is the city in China most open to western developments,” said Paul Rice. “And it’s part of Shanghai’s history. It had the history of the colonial settlements – the French, English, German settlements. So the idea of an English town perhaps picks up on that.”

Paul Rice has been on the project for three years and believes Thames Town works because “it’s a pedestrian-centred town, it’s a real place. It will be a success for its human, very intimate scale.

“The idea is organic growth. Around the medieval centre there is Georgian or Victorian architecture like any town in England, with different heights and materials. There is almost no repetition in the design.”

He rebuts any suggestions that Thames Town is a theme park, a Disneyfied domicile for homesick Brits or Anglophile Chinese. “This is intended as a real town. Thames Town is organic and natural and this project was a chance to build something unique … “a real settlement. It’s a settlement of houses, apartments and also schools, shops, hospitals and bars. It’s a real town. We are aware of the Disneyland implications. This could become a joke if built in the wrong way. But this is a working community … it will be a pleasant place to live.”

Colleague Martin Jochman added: “The Chinese have a huge love of all things English and they liked the idea of a mix of traditional and modern English styles.”

There is even a Gothic church – modelled on one in Clifton, Bristol – its magnificent spire rising over the town and where people can get married, as well as a medieval turreted castle.

People out for a walk are able to drop into bars inspired by Birmingham pubs and inns; shoppers will be able to browse in a covered market with distinct echoes of Covent Garden. As well as football pitches and at least one garden maze, the project aims to create one of the greenest residential areas in the country, with streets lined by London plane trees and yew and hawthorn hedges.

Thames Town is just one construction zone, each with a separate theme. At Anting, seven German architectural firms are creating an “auto-town” complete with a Formula 1 track and a BMW plant. Pujiang will have an Italian flavour complete with Venetian canals; Fencheng will duplicate the Ramblas shopping arcade of Barcelona.

Architectural graduates Ms. Wang and Ms. Shen worked on the project between Atkins Shanghai and Bristol, UK, offices. The Thames Town area development was based on original buildings from south-west England.

Ms. Wang said: “We were involved in studying the original building styles and transferring that knowledge to the project. Differences in construction regulation and building style meant that there were enormous differences in material specification and technique to overcome. This was one of the challenges of the project.”

Ms. Shen added: “In many ways this was a unique building project in China and we had to take our own initiative in solving many of the issues. The cooperation between the different offices in the UK and China was vital to making a successful project.”

Thames Town forms part of a much larger project to build a new city in Songjiang and that will cover 60 sq km. It is expected that up to a million people will live in the city by the end of next year. The area is already home to 40,000 teachers and students at seven universities and this is expected to rise to more than 100,000 teachers and students by 2007.

“People in Shanghai are looking for something different,” said Liu Wei, of the municipal management company. “Our target is young, wealthy consumers who can adapt easily to a new lifestyle.”

By Richard Maino