Landscape architects McGregor Coxall have won an international competition to design a wetland nature sanctuary envisioned as the world’s very first “bird airport”.

Each year more than 50 million birds fly from the Antarctic reaches to the northern tip of the earth along the East Asian-Australian Flyway (EAAF) seeking food and shelter. However, this corridor is under severe threat from coastal urbanisation and the resultant destruction of bird-friendly habitats.

In response to this, the Asian Development Bank supported authorities in the Port of Tianjin, China, to organise an international design competition for 60 hectare wetland park and bird sanctuary on a degraded landfill site.

McGregor Coxall’s winning proposal for the Lingang Bird Sanctuary will transform this abandoned area into “a green necklace of new parkland” for the city of Tianjin. The studio’s design includes constructed wetlands, parkland and urban forest for birds such as the threatened Black-Tailed Godwit a place to rest and feed while on their 11,000km migration.

Harvested rainwater and recycled wastewater will be collected and moved through the park via a green energy system to ensure the land remains wet enough all year round. A 20 hectare protective forest will be created around the wetlands to protect the birds from intrusion by nearby urban development.

The park will also serve as an outdoor attraction for as many as 500,000 visitors per year. Wetland trails, a lake loop walk, a cycle circuit and a forest path together forming a 7km (4.3 miles) recreational nature trail network. A 3,500sq m(37,600sq ft) visitor education and research centre called the Water Pavilion will be digitally connected to cameras in 14 bird hides, allowing people to observe bird life.

“The wetland design responds to targeted environmental conditions to attract and offer refuge for several endangered bird species,” said the studio in a statement. “The landscape has been specifically designed to support the needs of more than fifty species of birds in three different water habitats, including an island lake with shallow rapids, reed zone and mud flats.

“What we have proposed is the the world’s first migratory ‘Bird Airport.’”

The project is expected to begin construction in late 2017 and to be completed by 2018. It will form part of the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area – a large free market zone formed in the region in 1984.