The school will accommodate 100 children in a small town located 10km from the city which was destroyed by the Richter 7.8 earthquake in May 2008.

Feng Bai, director general of the Education Bureau of Li Zhou district, Guangyuan City, expressed his gratitude to the firm.

"Outside assistance has been a real driving force in getting the region back on the road to recovery following the earthquake. Getting the children back to school and continuing with their education was one of the best ways to help them put this tragedy behind them and get on with their lives," he said.

Norton Rose Group CEO Peter Martyr said: "The enormity and tragedy of this earthquake caught the attention of the whole world but it was the plight of the region's children that was most distressing."