China Direct

British Business optimistic about 2020 China market opportunities

Dear CBI Members and Partners,

The British Chamber in China recently published its 2020 British Business Sentiment Survey in Beijing.

The Survey revealed that:

• More than 50% of respondents were optimistic about the China market and intended to continue to invest

However:

1. More UK businesses report that it is harder to do business in China
2. More than 30% feel that they are not treated fairly compared to domestic firms

According to the Survey the top three regulatory issues are:

1.     Cybersecurity & IT restrictions
2.     Accessing and moving company finances
3.     Competition with SOE (State Owned Enterprises) or state-sponsored companies  

For a detailed overview of the Business Sentiment Survey (English & Chinese versions) please access and download the survey here.

Our thanks to partner The British Chamber in China for sharing these insights.

Arup's Beijing ‘Zun’ building reaches for the sky

 

CBI member, Arup has published its latest edition of the Arup Journal. This quarter’s edition includes a feature on the firm’s work on Beijing’s Zun skyscraper, now the city’s tallest building (overtaking another Arup-designed construction, the 330m China World Trade Tower).

The article explores in detail how Arup tackled building a 528m skyscraper in an area with pronounced seismic activity. Arup was the lead structural engineer on China Zun, working with architectural practice Kohn Pedersen Fox.

The building’s intriguing profile – wide at the top and at the base and slender in the middle – is inspired by the zun, an ancient Chinese ritual vessel for drinking wine, which also lends the structure its nickname. Formally, the building is known as the CITIC Tower, after its developer and end user, CITIC Group.

The novel shape means that, of the 350,000m2 of premium office space that it adds to the city’s central business district, an unusually high proportion is in the top one-third of the building. This both provides the client with an abundance of high-level office space with spectacular views across the Chinese capital and makes the most of the building’s narrow site of just 11,000m2.

The unusual shape had implications for the engineering team: Beijing is located in a major seismic zone, although the building is not near any tectonic fault line. Beyond designing for its hourglass figure, the risk of an earthquake added complexity to the engineering design, which needed to keep the building stable during a significant seismic event.

To ensure that the design could be delivered safely, efficiently and cost effectively, Arup engineered a highly efficient tube-in-tube structural support system composed of a perimeter steel megastructure and a reinforced concrete core. The firm also employed advanced digital technology to rapidly assess more than 800 different options for the design in a short space of time.

To read more about how Arup handled this major design challenge, please follow the link.

British Airways first to fly high into Beijing’s new futuristic airport

 

CBI member, British Airways was the first foreign carrier to fly into Beijing’s new Daxing Airport this weekend.

The maiden flight – a British Airways Boeing 777-300 – landed at 10.25am local time, before embarking on its return flight to London Heathrow at 12.10pm.

Noella Ferns, British Airways’ Executive Vice President in Greater China and the Philippines, said: “British Airways is hugely proud to be the first international airline to fly into Beijing Daxing. This stunning and innovative new airport and the world-class customer experience it provides will play an important part of our strategy to increase travel between China, the UK and beyond.”

British Airways will run a daily service to and from Beijing Daxing, with four cabins: First, Club World (business class), World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and World Traveller (economy).

The daily flights to and from Beijing Daxing are:

• BA0039 – LHR (dep. 17.20) to PKX (arr. 10.25 +1).
• BA0038 – PKX (dep. 12.10) to LHR (arr. 15.25).
• To mark the occasion, British Airways is offering a range of special fares between Beijing and London Heathrow selling until 20 November. Return fares for those travelling between now and 31 May will start from ¥870 for World Traveller (economy), with a further reduced fare of ¥480 for those travelling between 27 January and 11 March, and ¥14,170 for Club World (business). Beijing Daxing is approximately 50km from both Beijing city centre and the Xiong'an New Area and only 80km from Tianjin. Transport connections to and from Beijing Daxing include four new highways and both a new high-speed subway and railway line, which will carry customers to Caoqiao or Beijing West stations in around 20 minutes. To read the press release in full, please follow the link.

Accenture to acquire China auto tech start-up Futuremove Automotive

 

CBI member, Accenture has announced that it has agreed to acquire Futuremove Automotive, a Chinese vehicle connectivity solution provider, to bolster its service offering in digital consulting in smarted connected in-vehicle and mobility services, to meet rising demand from China-based auto clients.

Futuremove Automotive was founded in 2015 by John Wang, a former head of Microsoft’s China auto business, and has been developing a mixture of in-vehicle software packages and a cloud platform for inter-car connectivity. The Beijing-based start up had secured hundreds of millions of RMB in venture capital funding from some of China’s leading technology companies, such as Haier, and listed six of the world’s largest car manufacturers as its clients. Accenture have announced that Wang will join Accenture as a senior executive for its digital transformation solution business, Industry X.0.

Marcello Tamietti, Managing Director of Accenture Industry X.0, said: “The addition of Futuremove Automotive to Accenture will enhance the company’s service capabilities to drive digital innovation in the automotive industry. With the addition of Futuremove Automotive’s expertise, [Accenture] will be able to provide networking and travel services to a wider range of customers, and continue to drive innovation in this key market in China and its rapidly growing new energy vehicles sector.”

According to Accenture, revenue in the Chinese connected car segment is expected to grow at a rate of 16.5 % annually over the next four years. The company estimates that more than 73 million connected cars will hit the roads by 2023, nearly four times the current figure.

CBI Members - Beijing Daxing International Airport

Dear CBI members & partners,

Kindly find a short business briefing highlighting the role of CBI member companies in the new Beijing Daxing International Airport due to be opened on 01 October.

Thank you.

China Direct

Download Aviation - Daxing Airport2

Goldman Sachs applies to take majority control of China JV

CBI member, Goldman Sachs has reported that it has applied to take majority control of its securities joint venture in China, in a move that will bring the US investment bank closer to sole ownership of the company.

Goldman Sachs current holds 33% of its joint venture in China, Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities, which was launched in 2004. The bank is now seeking to take advantage of market access reforms introduced last year that will allow foreign securities firms to take control of their operations in the market. China has over the past few months expedited the opening up of its financial sector, announcing that ownership caps will be removed next year, one year ahead of the original schedule.

In reaction to expedited and greater market access permissions, Goldman Sachs plans to take full ownership of the company as soon as regulations allow, joining fellow CBI members, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS and BNP Paribas, in taking the necessary steps to obtain regulatory approval to take full control.

China’s Securities Regulatory Commission reported that it received Goldman Sachs’ application to raise its stake on Monday.

Arup design excellence incorporated into Beijing's new Daxing Airport

 

CBI member, Arup has reported that it was appointed as the fire engineering consultant by the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design for the new Daxing Airport.

With a surface area of over 700,000m^2, Beijing Daxing Airport is set to be the world’s largest, by measure of physical footprint. Furthermore, it will have an anticipated maximum capacity of 100 million passengers a year, making it one of the world’s most heavily used airports.

Furthermore, the new airport has been designed to be a super transportation hub for Beijing – beneath the terminal building there will be three underground railway stations with a total area of 200,000m² for five railway lines to allow easy transfer for passengers to various means of transportation.

While the flowing, interconnected form of the terminal building creates a stunning piece of architecture, it also presents significant design challenges - as the entire building presents itself as a single vast fire compartment. This is further complicated by the transportation hub underneath, which is seamlessly linked to the airport upstairs.

Arup’s fire engineers took a performance-based design approach and adopted a series of fire protection strategies, including the installation of smoke curtains; as well as fire shutters and fire separation bands, to prevent the spread for fire and smoke from one control zone to another, replacing traditional solid walls that affect passenger circulation. Areas that Arup engineers identified as high-risk areas were fully contained by utilising fire resistant construction techniques.

Arup was also responsible for developing the airport’s evacuation strategy in the case of fire, where the terminal’s vast size and the large number of occupants once again presented a major design challenge.

The escape distance to outside is over 200m for most parts within the Central Zone of the airport. Arup needed to reduce this distance to within 75 metres. The solution, to install 29 emergency stairwells that would not only shorten the distance between the various floors of the terminal, but also divert passenger flow to prevent bottlenecks. However, Arup went one step further, and also devised a ‘smart evacuation plan’ that responds by providing a different egress route in response to the fire's live location.

To read more about Arup’s involvement in the Daxing Airport project, please follow the link.

BA soon to be flying high from Beijing's new Daxing Airport

CBI member, British Airways has announced that it will be the first international airline to move its Beijing base to the new Daxing airport, expected to open in September.

British Airways will move all operations to Daxing soon after the airport is up and running, starting with direct flights between Beijing and London Heathrow airport, from October 27^th.

British Airways said that the move will help it increase air travel between the UK and China with its local codeshare partner, China Southern Airlines.

Noella Ferns, executive vice president of British Airways in Greater China and the Philippines said: “[British Airways] are very excited to be moving to Beijing Daxing. Not only will the new airport offer our customers flying to and from Beijing a world-class experience, with state-of-the-art facilities including an improved lounge for our Club World and First Customers; but it will also support our ambition to increase leisure and business travel between China and the UK.”

The new airport is approximately 50km from both Beijing city centre and the Xiong'an New Area and only 80km from Tianjin. Transport connections to and from Beijing Daxing include four new highways, two new subway lines and a high-speed railway, which will carry customers to Beijing West Station in under 20 minutes. A new terminal station is set to open in the LiZe Business District in the next few years. Customers transferring to other flights will also benefit from its status as the only through check-in airport for foreign airlines in China.

To read the full press release, please follow the link.

Thyssenkrupp moving business for China Southern

 

 

CBI member, Thyssenkrupp has won a major order to supply 155 elevators and 22 escalators to the new Beijing Daxing Airport. The company will be the sole supplier to China Southern Airlines, one of the key developers of Daxing Airport. At approximately 7.5 million square feet in area, Beijing Daxing Airport will be the biggest terminal in the world when complete, boasting the largest air traffic control centre, aircraft hanger and airline catering centre in Asia.

Peter Walker, CEO of Thyssenkrupp Elevator said:” [Thyssenkrupp] are proud to be among the preferred suppliers for this mega project. China Southern Airlines is one of the most important players in China’s airlines industry, and it is critical to deliver market-leading premium mobility solutions that enable the airline to keep its promise to customers.”

Thyssenkrupp will deliver a mobility solution for the airport that means, despite the tremendous scale of the main terminal, it will take les than 8 minutes to travel from security to the further gates.

To read the full press release, please follow the link.

Siemens opens its first AI Lab in Beijing

 

CBI member, Siemens opened its first artificial intelligence lab outside of Germany in Beijing last Wednesday. The company’s first industrial AI hub in the Asia Pacific region, the lab has been opened to pioneer research into applicable solutions to help Chinese clients counter faltering industrial output across the Mainland.

The lab will house around 50 data scientists, but will be connected to around 800 Siemens researchers and engineers around the globe who will be available virtually to offer applied AI solutions to Chinese clients.

Dr Roland Busch, chief operating officer and chief technical officer at Siemens said, “Artificial Intelligence is a core technology for a successful digital transformation and offers tremendous opportunities for all industries. [Siemens] are excited to work with Chinese customers on their most urgent topics to make production more efficient and raise the availability of systems like machines or trains.”

The opening of the Beijing AI lab was paired with an announcement made by Siemens in Chengdu, that the company planned to open an additional R&D facility within the city, that would partner the Beijing facility by integrating cloud computing into Siemens’ AI solutions service provision.

The Chengdu R&D centre, schedule to open this coming Wednesday, will partner the Beijing lab and help industrial customers digitise their manufacturing processes and integrate cloud computing processes, such as Siemens MindSphere digital platform, into Alibaba’s cloud computing operations for managing industrial output.

Speaking at the event, Zhu Xiaoxun, executive vice president of Siemens China said, “Chinese business clients have great expectations of AI, and are willing to believe it could solve all the problems that they face. [Siemens’ new lab in Chengdu] will be able to help better inform clients about the role of AI in solving specific problems and the kinds of data [factory owners] need to collect to utilise AI to bring about a complete solution [to support their industrial operations].”