A NEW creative park project was launched yesterday in Buji, Longgang District, and will become the biggest of its kind in Shenzhen after completion by the end of next year.

The 100% Design Plaza has a total construction area of 500,000 square meters, equivalent to about 70 soccer fields. The first phase of construction covers 180,000 square meters and will be completed next May, allowing more than 200 design companies and organizations to set up offices.

The main building of the project’s first phase has a basement and seven floors. The basement and first two floors will provide space for offices of life services such as banks, restaurants and convenience stores. The third and fourth floors will house furnishing design companies. Brand-name creative enterprises will establish offices on the fifth and sixth floors, and the seventh floor will serve as a public service platform for the creative design industry, with a creative experience library, a large conference room and several research centers.

Meng Lingmao, vice director of the Shenzhen Industrial Design Profession Association, said preferential policies such as discounted rents and furnishing will be offered to companies and organizations that set up offices in the creative park.

More than 30 design companies and organizations have signed contracts for office space, including Shenzhen Top Design Co., U+ Furniture Co. and Shenzhen Kongwu Design Co.

Meng said a Hong Kong-based furniture design company is seeking an office of more than 300 square meters and an Italian design association has expressed intentions to find venues for its members in the creative park.

Rune Domsten, chairman of DI-ITEK, a Danish electronics industry council, spoke at the project’s groundbreaking ceremony yesterday. Domsten came to Shenzhen to participate in the China International Industrial Design Festival, which opens today.

Domsten said he’s been astonished by Shenzhen’s pursuit of creative industries, and added that the 100% Design Plaza will further enrich Shenzhen with creative enterprises and events, “all of which are destined to produce more novel design ideas and promote communication and cooperation between China and Western countries.”