Following four months of online voting, the plan proposed by the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design - entitled "Energetic Snow and Ice" - won by more than 80,000 votes.

A contract signing ceremony has been held between the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design and the Government of Zhangjiakou - a city located in Hebei Province, around 200 kilometres from Beijing, that will stage skiing and snowboarding events during the Games in six years' time.

The planed Zhangjiakou Olympic Center covers some 50 hectares and features a total floor area of 270,000 square metres, including a 50,000-seat stadium, a 10,000-seat gymnasium, a 3,000-seat natatorium, a 6,000-seat speed skating stadium, and a training centre for table tennis, badminton and other sports.

The design has yet to be finalised according to the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, which intends to further develop the plan in order to make it more economical.

The plan includes transforming Zhangjiakou into an ice and snow theme park in a bid to encourage more people to participate in winter sports.

The Communist Party secretary of Hebei Province, Zhao Kezhi, claimed in March that Beijing 2022 should use the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to reduce substantial levels of emissions in the region.

The Province is home to a high number of steel and coal industries, making it difficult to prevent enhanced emission levels, but Zhao hopes staging the Games will provide an environmental boost to the area.

Hebei plans to reduce coal consumption by 40 million tonnes over the period from 2013 to 2017 amid a series of measures aimed to cut pollution in the region.

The plans also include the setting up of a "renewable energy demonstration zone", as well as the creation of an ecological conservation zone around Zhangjiakou and the planting of a new forest.

Zhao’s claims come despite environmental concerns being raised when Beijing beat rival bidder Almaty in the race for the 2022 Winter Olympics at the International Olympic Committee Session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31 last year.

It comes as a result of the notorious problems Beijing has with air pollution, as well as a supposed lack of snow in Zhangjiakou, which organisers have frequently stressed will not be an issue come Games time.