A black Range Rover with tinted windows pulls up at the entrance to Royal Albert Dock — a ragged stretch of land opposite City airport in east London. Xu Weiping descends from the car, flanked by three advisers, and proffers a hand.
The Chinese property developer apologises in broken English for his lateness, but he does not look particularly flustered: there is a mild smile beneath the Ed Hardy sunglasses, which are emblazoned with gold dragons, and he keeps his white iPod earphones in.
Xu has spent the day hunkered down with architects from Terry Farrell and Partners, making changes to his vision for the 35-acre site.
“They are quite hard-working and they pay attention to detail,” he remarks through a translator as we drive to the nearby photoshoot. “But the difference between UK architects and their counterparts in China is that sometimes they are not bold enough.”
Xu is here to shake them up. Until this year nobody had heard of the diminutive 53-year-old, referred to reverentially by his assistants as Mr Xu — pronounced “shoo”. He was relatively unknown even in his home country, where he has built a sprawling office estate on the outskirts of Beijing.
Then, in May, Xu struck a deal with the London mayor, Boris Johnson, to spend £1bn turning the strip of east London into an Asian business zone to rival Canary Wharf. The spotlight instantly fell on him — and he seems to be enjoying it.
Apparently impervious to the icy wind whipping across Gallions Point marina, connected to the Thames, Xu poses for photographs in a light-weight Versace blazer and jeans. The colourful tie is from the Japanese fashion house Kenzo. Seeing my interest, Xu confers with one of his assistants, who nods and turns.
“There is a Kenzo shop in London where it’s always 60% off,” the young man says. “Mr Xu can actually let you know where it is — probably you do not know?”
via Boris’s new best friend is living the Chinese dream | The Sunday Times.
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