The Salone Contract Tour debuts in Shanghai

Westbund Central, the US$8 billion mixed-use development on the Xuhui waterfront, will act as a case study for the first stopover, dedicated to the evolution of international demand. Hongkong Land, Benoy, MDO and CCD dialogue with the Salone del Mobile.Milano, discussing how major urban developments, decision-making processes and client expectations are changing in the run-up to Salone Contract 2027.

The Salone del Mobile.Milano has chosen Shanghai for the launch of the first edition of the Salone Contract Tour, an international stakeholder engagement initiative that will accompany the debut of Salone Contract 2027. The first stop will take mixed-use development as a lens through which to examine new demand in the contract sector, starting at Westbund Central, Hongkong Land’s US$8 billion development project for a new urban hub on the Xuhui waterfront, comprising over 1.1 million square metres of developable area, featuring a mix of public realm, offices, retail, residential units, hospitality and culture.

The choice of Shanghai reflects the importance of the Chinese market and the scale of the transformation currently under way. China accounts for around 72% of the potential Contract market in the Asia-Pacific region(1), for an estimated value of between 20 and 25 billion euros. Meanwhile, large-scale mixed-use developments, the regeneration of existing buildings, the hospitality sector and new models of living are changing the way briefs, standards, specifications and supplies are defined.

In Shanghai, the discussion will bring together Hongkong Land, Benoy, MDO — More Design Office and CCD — Cheng Chung Design for the talk The Integrated Destination — Designing across asset classes. Westbund Central will thus become a concrete case study through which a broader question can be explored, which is what happens when we no longer design a single hotel, shopping centre, workplace or residential property, but an entire destination in which different asset classes have to function as parts of the same system.

China: a 20–25 billion contract market undergoing a compositional shift

The size of the market is significant, but it is its changing nature that makes China particularly important. Residential properties account for 48% of estimated contract market potential, encompassing traditional residential, rental housing, student accommodation, co-living and senior living. These are followed by offices at 24%, retail at 18% and hospitality at 10%. Mixed-use developments involve a combination of these segments and drive demand for solutions capable of spanning multiple asset classes(2).

Opportunities do not derive solely from new-build projects. Between 2026 and 2030, China plans to commence the regeneration of approximately 115,000 urban residential complexes(3), creating demand for housing, shared spaces, services, amenities and the overall quality of the living experience. The hospitality sector pipeline also remains sizeable: by the end of June 2026, 109 hotel projects were ongoing in Shanghai, while there were 3,588 projects at various stages of development, across China as a whole, of which 2,547 were already under construction(4).This scale generates thousands of decisions regarding guest rooms, lobbies, F&B, lighting, materials, furniture and communal areas.

The growth of branded residences feeds into to this trend, with hospitality, living and design increasingly converging. In Asia-Pacific, the number of branded residence projects has seen 55% growth over the last five years, signalling demand for companies to be able to reconcile international brand standards with the creation of specific identities for each individual project.

For Italian companies, this trend builds on an already significant commercial presence. Furniture sector exports to China hit €364 million in 2025 and €144 million in the first half of 2026(5). However, contract sector exports are driven by different principles to simple product exports: in large-scale projects, decisions start being taken years before handover and involve developers, architects, interior designers, operators, consultants, procurement companies and contractors.