Plans for a new business hub in London hosting Asian businesses continue apace

Eight months after a Chinese company announced plans to transform a derelict dock in East London into a business center that hosts the European headquarters of Chinese businesses, it says it is making rapid progress to deliver on its promises.

"We are completely on track," says Xu Weiping, chairman of the developer Advanced Business Park.

"I'm very happy with the progress. Investing in the UK required a lot of solid research and preparation, and everything else has followed smoothly and systematically."

The aim is for Asian Business Park to create a springboard for Chinese businesses' international expansion.

The $1.51 billion (1.16 billion euros) project aims to transform 14 hectares of the historic Royal Albert Dock into an office complex over the next eight to 10 years.

The park's hosting the European headquarters of Chinese businesses will greatly benefit the local economy, Xu says.

This concentration of Asian businesses will also make the park attractive for European companies that wish to trade with or invest in China, and some may also like to take office space there, he says.

"A business hub designed for headquarters is a new concept, but one already tested in China. One example is the concentration of business headquarters in Beijing, which has transformed the local economy over the past decade."

The private ABP, founded in 2003, has a record of investing in and transforming large areas in need of regeneration. It now has projects in Beijing and in Haining and Qingdao in eastern China, and Shenyang in northeastern China.

ABP chose London as the first stop on its road to international expansion, and Xu says it hopes to take the same concept of hubs for headquarters to other European countries such as France, Germany and Italy before branching out beyond Europe.

The Asian Business Park in London was announced at a news conference in May attended by the mayor of London, Boris Johnson. It is expected to generate 20,000 jobs.

Royal Albert Dock, which opened in 1880 in East London, was the first to use electricity and was also equipped with what were then the latest cranes and steel winches that unloaded tobacco from the United States, as well as fruit and meat from continental Europe.

But as Britain's shipping industry declined in the 1950s, the dock became run down, and the last ship set out from there in 1980. The area's decline is something ABP hopes to reverse.

Xu says that his team is working on a master plan for the construction of the site and will give it to the London authorities for approval in March. It is hoped that they will approve the plans within three to six months, and Xu says he expects construction to begin in August.

As the groundwork continues, Xu's team has been promoting to Chinese and other Asian businesses the opportunity to locate their European head offices in the business park.

"It can reduce the cost of trade for both Chinese and European businesses," he says. "It will benefit European businesses that want to do business with China, because they can do so on their doorstep instead of having to travel thousands of miles."

By gathering Asian businesses in a central location, Xu says, his team at the business park can also provide back-office support functions to them, including those specifically in demand by Asian businesses.

Xu hopes the Asian Business Park will complement London's two existing financial centers, the old Square Mile and the more recently developed Canary Wharf, because, he says, Asian Business Park's back-office support will be more modernized and the hub will have a stronger Asian focus.

It will benefit from its proximity to London City Airport, making it more convenient for business travel to the Continent, which will be a bonus for Asian businesses that locate their European headquarters in London.

The fact that the park is being built from scratch means it will have the latest information technology and other office facility support, making operating businesses more efficient.