The UK’s energy efficiency and electric vehicle markets look set to receive significant boosts through deals signed as part of the country’s trade deal with China, valued at hundreds of millions of pounds.
UK building science centre BRE is to partner with Tsinghua University and property development giant Evergrande on a £200 million built environment science deal, while in a separate agreement China’s BYD will partner with British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis to build up to 2,000 electric buses over the next decade.
The collaborative research agreement involving BRE has been designed to support China’s sustainable urbanisation and national green building programme and will see a pilot “sustainable city” project built in Danzhou, as well as a “green building demonstration zone” in China’s Hainan province.
The project will look to boost the green standards and improved processes for the planning, design, procurement, construction and management of buildings, including research and development relating to green and low-carbon materials and technologies.
Dr Peter Bonfield, chief executive at BRE, said that China could “affect real change in the built environment” given the country’s ability to deliver homes and communities “on an unprecedented scale quickly and cost effectively”.
“They will take the learning from this collaborative programme and deliver a sustainable built environment without compromising on cost and speed – something that hasn’t yet been done anywhere else in the world,” Bonfield added.
Meanwhile BYD’s deal with Alexander Dennis will see the two companies develop an initial batch of 200, 12-metre single deck electric buses each year over the next decade as part of a deal valued at around £660 million.
The two parties are also in advanced discussions to extend the deal into double deckers, which the two believe could triple the scale of the deal to almost £2 billion.
“The combined strengths of BYD and ADL create a powerful new alliance and I look forward to our business relationship flourishing in the years ahead. It is a fine example of British-Chinese co-operation and two innovative companies working together to create cleaner, greener transport solutions,” Colin Robertson, chief executive at Alexander Dennis, said.
The deals comprise a large number of agreements announced as part of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s state visit to the UK this week, the most prominent of which being the multi-billion pound deal for the development of the controversial Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor. Various other trade deals are expected to be announced in the coming days.