Sheffield City Council scored the biggest Chinese investment in the UK outside London, with a 60-year, £1B deal that would create hundreds and possibly thousands of jobs. The initial payment of £220M would pay for four or five city centre projects over the next three years in south Yorkshire, according to The Guardian.

The partnership between Sheffield City Council and Sichuan Guodong Construction Group is the first of its kind. The funds will pay for projects of the City Council’s choosing. Because of the long-term nature of the partnership, a whole range of projects becomes viable—but council bosses declined to reveal specifics.

According to the newspaper, however, the first tranche of money will be used to fund the city’s first five-star hotel, as well as new office and leisure developments and both upscale and affordable housing.

In the past 12 months, two other Chinese investments have flowed into the area.

The Bejing Construction and Engineer Group gave £4M to kick-start the building at Middlewood Locks, followed by Hualing Group’s £60M investment in the project, as well as the Thorpe Park business zone in Leeds and a digital campus in Sheffield. [Guardian]