Aedas, a Hong Kong-based architectural design company, plans to open six more offices on the Chinese mainland to take advantage of a booming commercial property market. Aedas says it is set to open its Chongqing and Xi'an offices this year and plans to have offices in cities such as Wuhan, Changsha, Shenyang and Guangzhou.

     The past two years have seen Greater China's contribution to the company's profits rise from less than 50% to 70%. The rapid growth reflects Chinese developers are increasing to commercial property investment as the government maintains curbs on the residential segment.

     Aedas also announced that the U-Bora Towers has received an award at this year¡¯s Cityscape Abu Dhabi Awards. U-bora Towers, which is located at the heart of Dubai¡¯s Business Bay, garnered the Commercial, Office & Retail Project Award in the Built category. This is the fifth award won by this project designed by Andrew Bromberg.

     The U-bora Towers development was designed in response to the site conditions and has given equal attention to its three different uses ¨C offices, residential and retail. The office tower forms a sculptural element with plans twist at varying degrees and angles as it increases in height, re-orientating their faces to maximise available views. Fused with the office tower through a 10,000 square-meter public landscaped deck is the residential element, which stays low to maintain a suitable residential scale and offer prime lake views. The building form of the residential element is also unique with a void puncturing through to create an iconic urban gateway for the development.