By Wang Yanbing

Along with the hosting work of the Expo 2010 Shanghai China is advancing in full swing, the construction of the Expo site has been developing step by step, among which the planning and construction of the Expo Park is no doubt one of the most eye-catching projects and attracts wide attention of the society. Therefore, the journalist interviewed Shanghai Expo Land Holding Co., Ltd., the undertaker of the project. Zhao Keping, General Manager of Urban Engineering Department of this company disclosed something about the construction of the Expo Park.

"The preparation work of the Expo Park was initiated in the early 2006, including approval of the project, planning, recruitment and bidding for design proposal and determination, it has been one year to this day. The construction of the Expo Park has been commenced. We will deepen and detail this design proposal from now on."

According to Zhao Keping, the Park covers an area of about 29 hectors based on the proposal approved last year. The whole project covers many fields with green landscaping as the core integrating conservation of buildings, public roads, sculptures and industrial sites, walls for once-in-a-thousand-year flood protection, reconstruction of former docks, etc. The undertaker has borrowed from the experiences of many other parks and plans to build the Expo Park into a public leisure and play center. And this design concept will also be embodied in the construction to the maximum extent.

The greening of the Expo Park is planned to be completed in the first half of 2008 based on the schedule and 5000-6000 arbors will be planted then; 80% trees and some shrubs will be planted by the end of this year. Meanwhile, the construction of floodwalls will be completed and the reconstruction of waterfront docks will be initiated.

From the "Master Construction Schedule of the Expo Park" provided by Zhao Keping, we have known the detailed construction schedule of some large buildings in the Expo Park. In the face of these names of construction items, we cannot help longing for the completed Expo Park.

"To host the Expo in a cost-effective manner" is the keynote decided at the early stage of preparation for the Expo. Closely around the theme "Better City, Better Life", to save to the greatest extent all resources and complete the construction of the Expo site with right quality, quantity and on time is consistent through the construction of the Expo Park.

Zhao Keping considers that it is necessary to minimize the construction costs under the principle of "to host the Expo in a cost-effective manner" and using local materials is a good method. For example, the undertaker will take full advantage of existing structures and reconstruct them to new green space. Existing waterfront docks that are verified safe will be reserved as much as possible. The largest parts reserved in the Expo Park are the docks.

Moreover, they adopt optimal construction techniques and study out seasonal construction measures. All construction wastes in the park are not transported outward. For example, earthwork of this project needs 600,000m3 earth, while a lot of construction wastes will be produced when the buildings in the park are demolished. They can use the waste earth in the whole park through decomposition processing as base for landform creation. At present, under the precondition of quality assurance, they have made reasonable use of more than 100000m3 demolition wastes, which can save expenses due to the absence of transportation cost and decrease the effects of waste transportation outward upon neighboring environment. Take another example. In terms of planting, the undertaker hurries to plant trees in March just from the viewpoint of the survival of trees. This is of course a higher requirement for the constructors -- planting trees and doing earthworks simultaneously?abut it is indeed a cost-saving method.

What the Expo Park wants to leave to the city is a waterfront green space. Shanghai Expo Land Holding Co., Ltd. expects to leave more expenses to green plants to the city. In terms of utilization of construction materials, they plan to use some non-deluxe hard materials. The designers have been asked to adopt environment friendly materials such as crushed steel slag and new material wood meal instead of conventional materials such as marble and granite. These materials have been tried out in the green space "Xinsongyuan" in Pujiang Expo Home constructed by Shanghai Expo Land Holding Co., Ltd. in order to guarantee their quality and effect.

"As the undertaker of the Expo Park, we cannot settle for absorption and mastery of modern project management thoughts and ideas. We will implement them and introduce specific project management methods and tools to engineering management."

In the construction of the Expo Park, Shanghai Expo Land Holding Co., Ltd. has realized that modern project management is an indispensable support for large engineering construction management. Guided by such consciousness, they have done a lot of works.

In terms of construction, the whole Expo Park involves many disciplines. With a view to such factors as manpower and construction experience, they do field construction management together with the design consultant, construction supervisor and the client. Meanwhile, for the sake of construction quality, they have set up a team of experts from Shanghai Landscaping Administration Bureau, Shanghai Expo Land Holding Co., Ltd. and the greening industry to review key design and construction schemes regularly.

It is gratifying that the whole construction has had a smooth progress by far and everything will be continued according to the schedule.

At the same time, we expect this green space with "human orientation and water-greening harmonization", the Expo Park symbolizing "harmony between man and nature" can be completed as soon as possible. It will become a unique view at the Expo 2010 Shanghai China and offer a new angle to appreciate the landscape of Shanghai.