Beitun New City by Buro Happold and Barton Willmore Design

Beitun New City, North West of China, will be an environmental-friendly eco-city which purpose is to accommodate a population of 250,000 by 2025, that is to say much more than the existing 30,000. The goal is to reach the number of 500,000 people in the long term. It will support transport and infrastructure. A new rail line will link the old town to the new city. Beitun New City will be divided into 'one garden and two districts.'

Beitun New City © Barton Willmore Design and Buro Happold

The architectural style will mix influences from northern Europe and from the Kazak nationality. According to Liu Yi, an official from the Beitun New Area Construction Headquarters, "The area will be converted into an environmentally-friendly, energy-saving eco-city with forest cover exceeding 60 percent. The highest building will not exceed four stories with a low density distribution."

Beitun New City © Barton Willmore Design and Buro Happold

The master plan was drawn by the joint venture composed of Buro Happold and Barton Willmore Design. Buro Happold provides the engineering input for the masterplanning while Barton Willmore the architectural input. The focus will be energies, water, waste, and transportation, as Buro Happold Infrastructure Group Director Daryl Johnson says: "when looking at water, we could improve a lot of things at once; ecology, river quality, insect problems, flooding. We used one huge integrated strategy".

Beitun New City — Land use and Massing Diagram © Barton Willmore Design and Buro Happold

Both Barton Willmore and Buro Happold are considering the option of using the river to provide a setting for parks, public buildings, high-quality residential, leisure and employment facilities. Building height will be constrain to a maximum of 8 storey which will ensure a perimeter and core accessible to all.

Beitun New City, © Barton Willmore Design and Buro Happold

Beitun New City is expected to become a political, economic and cultural center which aim is to replace Aletai as the area's capital. The area where the city is developed is flat and spacious with dense forests.

Beitun New City, © Barton Willmore Design and Buro Happold

Nick Sweet, a partner of Barton Willmore says that the master plan goal is "to expand a major city in a key growth area in China. [The Joint Venture] intends to draw on expertise from both the UK and Asia to ensure that Beitun is developed in a way which will ensure the needs to residents, businesses and the environment are considered."

Beitun New City, © Barton Willmore Design and Buro Happold

Building facts
Project: Beitun New City
Client: Beitun Development Board, Government of the People's Republic of China
Masterplanner: Barton Willmore Design Ltd
Engineering: Buro Happold
Services: Flood assessment, Highway design, Hydraulic & hydrological analysis, Sustainability & alternative technologies, Transport modelling, Urban planning & design, Utilities design
Sectors: Masterplanning & regeneration Waterfront development
Key people: Andrew Corner, Daryl Johnson

Source: Barton Willmore Design, Buro Happold, New Civil Engineer, Chinadotorg