The Bolton Council of Greater Manchester announced on August 24th that Chinese contractor, Beijing Construction Engineering Group International (BCEGI) will lead the £1 billion Bolton Regeneration project as a major contractor.

Bolton, with a population of 280 thousand inhabitants and 13 thousand students, is reachable with a 12-minute train ride from central Manchester. The city’s regeneration project is estimated to take 10 years and developed in 5 phases: Trinity Quarter, Cheadle Square, Crompton Place, Church Wharf and Croal Valley, to accommodate 1,800 residential units to be completed by 2030 and create over 7,400 job opportunities.

Bolton Council leader Linda Thomas said the investment and the regeneration project is a huge opportunity to transform the city and its economic development. Bolton Regeneration Ltd, the partnership between Beijing Construction and Engineering Group International and Midia will begin the first phase of construction of Crompton Place shopping center to replace the town’s current Victoria Square, which already secured a value of £250 million of private investments.

Beijing Construction and Engineering Group International will lead the regeneration project and liaise between other companies and investors of the Bolton Regeneration project.

Beijing Construction and Engineering Group Intl has deep roots in Manchester:

BCEGI has invested into 4 major projects in Manchester including its newest project, Bolton Regeneration.

1) Manchester Airport Cluster

In 2013, BCEGI announced its £1.2 million investment into Manchester’s airport cluster city project and its partnership with UK construction company Carillion. Although Carillion declared bankruptcy in January 2018, construction and progress of BCEGI in the airport city project still continues. In October 2015, the airport city project was visited by Chinese President Xi Jinping and received a range of media coverage.

2) Middlewood Locks

In November, 2016, BCEGI partnered with UK Scarborough International and signed a contract of £8.5 million to become the major contractor for Manchester’s residential project Middlewood Locks’ first phase of construction.

Middlewood Locks is located in Salford, Manchester, with a surface area of 240 thousand square meters, a project valuing at £700 million. The project will undergo 5 phases of development, including 2,215 residential units, hotels, commercial space and retail and entertainment facilities. The project was to be one of the largest multi-usage project in UK. Middlewood Locks is invested by a number of overseas companies including China’s Hualing Group, UK’s FairBrair and Singapore’s Metro Holdings. BCEGI was named the top 10 foreign contractors in the UK after its investment into the Middlewood Locks project.

3) Manchester’s St. Michaels

St Michael’s is a multi-usage development in Manchester’s city center, including space for offices, hotels, residences and parks, valued at £200 million. BCEGI is the major contractor and investor of the project with a 21% holdings.

BCEGI is a second line contractor in China, but it has deep roots in Manchester’s market. In 5 years, it has received 4 projects and has shown its leading status on the international platform in mix-used development project and infrastructure development.