Atkins is boosting its design team in China to capitalise on the world’s largest emerging market announcing a senior appointee from Foster & Partners (F&P).

Peter Ridley joins the Atkins team in China as a senior design director for Architecture and will help lead the design process as part of a team of over 300 Architecture, Planning, and Landscape professionals split between offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Ridley, who spent ten years as a partner with F&P said: “Atkins is a very well established brand within China, and the opportunity to contribute to the evolution of the company in such a vibrant market place was a very strong draw. The potential for designers really is staggering as there has been a seismic shift in emphasis in China towards low carbon architecture and planning”

Atkins has a wide portfolio of projects in China including the Sonjiang Hotel and Xi’an Airport, which are both currently under construction. Peter Ridley has worked on prestigious projects in both the UK and internationally, including Imperial College business school in London and the Palace of Peace in Kazakhstan. He also has experience operating in emerging markets such as Turkey and Kazakhstan which will prove invaluable to his new role in China.