Fabb
September 29th, 2004, 08:39 PM
Mammoth state-of-the-art greenhouse to bloom in Guangzhou
Pamela Pun
September 30, 2004
One of the world's biggest and most unusually shaped greenhouses, capable of accommodating more than 3,000 plants, will be built in Guangzhou.
The greenhouse will be built in the form of the five-petalled kapok flower and cover up to 10,000 square metres. It has been designed by a French construction company, Richel, which beat 20 mainland and foreign competitors for the contract.
The greenhouse will be used for botanical research and exhibitions, as well as serving as a major local tourist attraction. The South China Botanical Garden, where the greenhouse will be built, already attracts more than 300,000 visitors a year. Guangzhou straddles the subtropical plant borderlands and so the 26-metre high greenhouse will include plants and trees sensitive to cold.
``The design was selected because the kapok flower is Guangzhou's city flower,'' Ren Hai, vice-director of South China Botanical Garden, said Wednesday.
Construction is expected to be completed near the end of 2005.
The French design was chosen because the cost of operation, estimated to be 1.5 million yuan a year (HK$1.4 billion), was lower than other estimates, Ren said. Total investment is expected to be 100 million yuan. Costs will be shared by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Guangdong provincial and Guangzhou municipal governments.
``It will become the largest conservatory in Asia in term of the number of plant species it houses,'' Ren said. Built on 30,000 square metres of land, the greenhouse will have a total indoor floor area of 10,000 sq m.
Bids for the construction contract will be taken through the Guangzhou Bid and Tender Centre in two months. The project was delayed due to Beijing's economy-cooling temporary curb on land development.
However, the greenhouse land was re-designated as agricultural and given the green light.
Pamela.pun@globalchina.com
Pamela Pun
September 30, 2004
One of the world's biggest and most unusually shaped greenhouses, capable of accommodating more than 3,000 plants, will be built in Guangzhou.
The greenhouse will be built in the form of the five-petalled kapok flower and cover up to 10,000 square metres. It has been designed by a French construction company, Richel, which beat 20 mainland and foreign competitors for the contract.
The greenhouse will be used for botanical research and exhibitions, as well as serving as a major local tourist attraction. The South China Botanical Garden, where the greenhouse will be built, already attracts more than 300,000 visitors a year. Guangzhou straddles the subtropical plant borderlands and so the 26-metre high greenhouse will include plants and trees sensitive to cold.
``The design was selected because the kapok flower is Guangzhou's city flower,'' Ren Hai, vice-director of South China Botanical Garden, said Wednesday.
Construction is expected to be completed near the end of 2005.
The French design was chosen because the cost of operation, estimated to be 1.5 million yuan a year (HK$1.4 billion), was lower than other estimates, Ren said. Total investment is expected to be 100 million yuan. Costs will be shared by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Guangdong provincial and Guangzhou municipal governments.
``It will become the largest conservatory in Asia in term of the number of plant species it houses,'' Ren said. Built on 30,000 square metres of land, the greenhouse will have a total indoor floor area of 10,000 sq m.
Bids for the construction contract will be taken through the Guangzhou Bid and Tender Centre in two months. The project was delayed due to Beijing's economy-cooling temporary curb on land development.
However, the greenhouse land was re-designated as agricultural and given the green light.
Pamela.pun@globalchina.com