Shougang Group became the Official Urban Regeneration Services Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on June 5, 2018.

Zhang Jiandong, Vice Mayor of Beijing and Executive Vice President of Beijing 2022, and Zhang Gongyan, Board Member and General Manager of Shougang Group, signed the partnership agreement in a ceremony held at the Beijing 2022 headquarters, which was renovated from old industrial buildings of Shougang Group.

One of the largest manufacturing companies in China, the facilities in Shougang Group's headquarters in the west of Beijing were shut down and re-located to Hebei province as part of the Chinese capital’s plan to restructure its economy and reduce pollution for the 2008 Olympics.

The signing ceremony on Tuesday was attended by a number of Olympic and Paralympic guests, including Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Yu Zaiqing, Vice-President of IOC, and Juan Antonio Samaranch, Vice-President of IOC and Chair of the Coordination Commission for Beijing 2022.

Beijing 2022 Executive Presidents Gou Zhongwen (Director of General Administration of Sport), Chen Jining (Mayor of Beijing), and Zhang Haidi (Chairwoman of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation) also attended the signing ceremony.

Zhang Jiandong, Vice Mayor of Beijing and Executive Vice President of Beijing 2022, thanked Shougang Group for providing Beijing 2022 staff with a “cozy work environment” and spoke highly of its success in urban regeneration and reutilization of old industrial facilities.

“Beijing 2022 will actively promote Shougang Group and make sure that the company fully enjoys the wide range of benefits that come with the Olympic brand, so that it achieves more growth and becomes a new landmark of urban regeneration in Beijing,” Zhang said.

Zhang Gongyan, Board Member and General Manager of Shougang Group, said becoming an Official Partner of Beijing 2022 would be a boost to Shougang’s efforts in finding a new model of growth.

“Shougang will certainly become a great example of urban development facilitated by the Olympic Movement and of rejuvenation of industrial areas,” he said.

Beijing 2022 has been headquartered in the Shougang compound since May 2016, with office buildings retrofitted from such industrial facilities as “silo,” “bunker,” and “transfer station”.

Beijing 2022’s Snowboard Big Air venue, one of two new competition venues in the Beijing competition zone, will be built in the Shougang compound, next to four cooling towers and a large lake.

Training centers for winter sports like short track speed skating, ice hockey, and curling are also being built in Shougang, in addition to a museum and recreational spaces.

President Bach, President Parsons and other Olympic and Paralympic guests are in Beijing for the PyeongChang 2018 Debrief, a forum to celebrate and debrief on the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 and to discuss ways to innovate the following Games editions in the spirit of Olympic Agenda 2020.

Since its launch in February 2017, Beijing 2022’s Marketing Program has seen great success. A total of six Official Partners have been signed so far, including Bank of China, Air China, Yili Group (dairy products), ANTA (sports apparel), China Unicom (telecommunications), and Shougang Group (urban regeneration services).