Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has welcomed a major contract signing which will see Britain design China’s next generation of high-speed trains.

The Minister was reacting to the significant and historic long-term agreement in which London-based design group Priestmangoode was chosen to work with China’s largest rolling stock company Sifang to design, from scratch, the flagship trains .The deal also outlines an eight-year design co-operation between the two companies on understanding the global marketplace as Sifang expands its ambitions outside China.

The contract forms part of China’s massive $300bn programme to build 35 high speed lines across the entire country by 2012, dwarfing rail projects in countries across the world.

The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills said: “The UK creative industries sector is the largest in Europe and enjoys a world-wide reputation for excellence. This contract is fantastic news for Priestmangoode and for British design in one of the largest and fastest growing countries in the world."

The aim is to present China’s Ministry of Railways with an iconic design that will be a global beacon for China’s dynamic development.  Each train will be over half a kilometre long and the 12m long nose section of the trains is one of the most extreme in the world - vitally important for the aerodynamics of the trains that will travel at over 350kph.
The first designs for the distinctive nose of the trains and the interior and exterior designs of the carriages were presented in July.  Priestmangoode presented eight different nose designs, each using an important Chinese cultural symbol.
The Ministry of Railways plans to reveal the design of the new high speed trains towards the end of 2009, and the new trains will be launched officially in October 2010.

Priestmangoode signed an initial contract earlier this year with Qingdao-based Sifang, one of the world’s largest rolling stock companies, to develop concepts for the new high speed trains.  This new contract cements the arrangement between them and will see the existing designs through to production.  It also outlines the larger agreement which will see a team of designers working full time in Priestmangoode’s studio on the project and an exchange of designers between London and Qingdao.  Sifang has ambitions to grow its business in the global design and manufacturing marketplace and this co-operation with Priestmangoode will provide access to a design knowledge and expertise that the practice has built up from many years of working in transport design around the world.

Paul Priestman, who will lead the project at Priestmangoode, said: “This is an amazing opportunity, not just for us, but for the UK’s creative industry.  Working with Sifang throughout this year has been a wonderful experience.  It’s about building a real partnership to develop the new trains and to help them understand the global markets that are opening up for them.  We have signed a long-term contract with them that will allow us to develop a very close relationship.   Here is a huge company, the largest of its type in the world, really embracing design.  It just wouldn’t happen this way in more mature markets like the USA.  What an endorsement for design.  They are hugely enlightened clients.”

About Priestmangoode:

Priestmangoode is a leading UK multidisciplinary design group working in product, environment, transport and packaging design for a roster of significant brands across the globe.  In 2001, the group designed the Virgin Pendolino High Speed train and has since developed an unrivalled global reputation in transport design.  From their award-winning design for the interior concept for the new Kingfisher Airlines to launch design concepts for the Airbus A350 and A380, Priestmangoode leads the international field in aircraft interior design designing for many of the world’s leading airlines and aircraft manufacturers including Airbus, Boeing, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines and Qatar Airways.  The company’s long experience of creating value from design in luxury transport interiors led to a recent commission to design the most cost-effective budget hotel room in the world for Accor’s ETAP and Motel 6 brands.  Priestmangoode’s innovative space-saving designs are currently being rolled out across the entire global portfolios of each brand.  Priestmangoode recently announced a contract to completely rebrand the Turkish Airlines fleet.   

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