John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, was in China last week to witness the signing of an agreement between Arup, the engineering and design consultancy, and the Shanghai Industrial Investment Company (SIIC) to provide a renewable energy supply for a new environmentally sustainable city that will be built on an island near Shanghai.
Arup has already agreed with SIIC to carry out the master planning of the built environment for the Dongtan eco-city. Dongtan is to be built on Chongming Island at the mouth of the Yangtze river. It is currently a large area of mostly agricultural land but will be developed as an extension to Shanghai and will be connected by a bridge.
Prescott said: "Dongtan shows the economic and social potential of investing in sustainable development. The first phase is a 630 hectare site where 50,000 people are expected to live.
It's going to be an economically and environmentally viable city, powered by renewable energy and as carbon-neutral as possible." Dongtan was "a wonderful opportunity for China to demonstrate to the world how to approach ecologically sound city design", he added.
Arup has collaborated with the University of East Anglia, which has a team developing renewable energy technology. Peter Head, a director of Arup, said: "This agreement confirms the intent of SIIC and Arup to achieve the ambitious target of powering Dongtan with renewable energy."
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