BrazilChina Gezhouba partners with engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald
Global engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald has entered into a strategic partnership with China Gezhouba International Engineering, one of the world’s leading engineering contractors.
UK-founded engineering, management and development consulting firm Mott MacDonald has signed a global strategic collaboration and framework agreement with China Gezhouba International Engineering, a subsidiary of the Energy China Group operating in the design and construction of power plants, dams and transportation infrastructure locally and abroad.
Dr Aijuan Wang, power director at Mott MacDonald, said of the new partnership; “Our past and current work with China Gezhouba and Energy China Group demonstrates how we have overcome many traditional east-west cultural barriers… These agreements will strengthen the relationship between our two companies and facilitate collaboration on a range of clean energy and infrastructure projects going forward.”
Headquartered in London, and with bureaus in Shanghai and Beijing among its 180 principal offices worldwide (including regional bases in Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan), Mott MacDonald operates globally across the core sectors of advisory, built environment, energy, transportation and water, with a particularly strong focus on social and environmental sustainability.
The company’s website states; “We recognise our role in tackling the world's biggest challenges by integrating the economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainable development into our culture and all of our operations.” Last year, the firm was awarded the Sustainability Champion of the Year accolade by the UK’s Association for Consultancy and Engineering.
Sustainable practices
Among a range of other local projects, the consulting firm was previously tapped in China to provide technical advice on the sustainability strategy for the Eco-City project in Tianjin, a $22 billion joint collaboration between the Chinese and Singaporean governments to develop an energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly urban hub catering to up to 350,000 residents.
With features including an innovative public transport and pedestrian-oriented design, natural treatment systems for processing recycled wastewater, and the use of organic waste to produce heat and power, the project aims to become an “international centre for environmental expertise and green innovation, serving as a model for eco cities across the developing world.”
Anne Kerr, Global Head of Urbanisation for Mott MacDonald, said at the time; “Tianjin will have one of the world’s lowest per capita carbon footprints. To achieve this, we’re applying the latest thinking and the best available technologies, and bringing together different design disciplines in an integrated way to achieve trailblazing performance in sustainable living.”
Future horizons
On the firm’s new partnership agreement, Wang also noted China Gezhouba’s operations in the development of smart cities along with its heritage in hydropower projects, including the company’s role as the main contractor for the China Three Gorges hydro-plant, which at a capacity of 22,500MW is the world’s largest power station and is said to reduce coal consumption by some 31 million tonnes per year.
Wang concluded; “This new partnership showcases the golden era of UK-China relations, facilitates collaboration at its finest and opens up fantastic opportunities for both companies to jointly deliver some of the world’s leading infrastructure.”
Elsewhere in Asia, fellow engineering consultancy Surbana Jurong was recently selected to prepare detailed design standards and guidelines for New Clark City, a smart city project being developed in the Philippines to help ease congestion in Manila.
