BDP takes lessons from Liverpool One to Shanghai

The Manchester studio of BDP has won an international competition to design a £100m retail development in Shanghai.

The project will see the renovation of a cluster of urban blocks and historic buildings in the Bund Historical & Cultural Conservation Zone into high-end retail, restaurant, leisure, a luxury club and a boutique hotel, that will be known as the Bund X-Change.

Sitting within Huangpu District of the East Nanjing Road, The Bund X-Change, will feature an 'inhabited roof,' that links the differing heights of four groups of protected historic buildings to create a new destination marker in the city. A new commercial building will also be integrated within the existing buildings, and there will be three below ground floors for retail and parking use.

The project win was secured via the practice's rapidly growing Shanghai studio, which is led by BDP Manchester's former director of architecture Steve Gillham. It will be delivered by BDP's team in China in conjunction with the Manchester studio.

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."