It took just eight months to build the grand Crystal Palace exhibition centre in 1851. But a proposal by Chinese developers to build a £500m replica of the original Victorian glass and iron structure in a park in south London led to more than two years of talks, only to collapse in March this year.
The failure to secure the deal underscores the challenges in business dealings between China and the UK.
The Hong Kong-based ZhongRong Group had planned to build a “cultural destination” in the spirit of the original with exhibition space, a hotel, conference facilities, galleries and sales rooms — a range of uses its organisers say would have created up to 2,000 jobs.
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