Mar-2017

WSBE17 Hong Kong: Top-notch Speakers Joining the Well Supported World Class Conference
Hong Kong Green Building Week 2017: Illustrating Our Green Vision with the Community
Urban Experiment for BEAM Plus Neighbourhood: Creating a Vibrant Public Space
New Energy Benchmarking Tool Launched for Commercial Buildings
Five More Product Categories Covered by HK G-PASS
New Hong Kong Green Office Guide Published
Dialogue with Akina FONG: New Experience on Green Building
The Green Hub Visit

Swire Properties’ Journey to Sustainable Development

WSBE17 Hong Kong: Top-notch Speakers Joining the Well Supported World Class Conference

Co-organised by the Construction Industry Council (CIC) and the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC), the World Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2017 Hong Kong (WSBE17 Hong Kong) will take place at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on 5-7 June.

WSBE17 Hong Kong is one of the celebration events of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and fully supported by the Government. Besides facilitating the invitation of representatives from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to officiate at the opening ceremony and deliver a keynote speech, Chief Executive Hon. Leung Chun-ying, and Chief Secretary for Administration Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung will be the Guest-of-Honour and Keynote Speaker respectively. Secretary for Development Mr Eric Ma Siu-cheung and Secretary for the Environment Mr Wong Kam-sing will also join the various sessions of WSBE17 Hong Kong to share on the development of sustainable built environment in Hong Kong. In addition, the Development Bureau, Environment Bureau and Transport and Housing Bureau are sending a number of officials to participate in the conference. The three Bureaux would also showcase the Government’s effort in promoting green building at the exhibition held alongside the conference.

Internationally renowned experts are among the speakers to share their unprecedented insights in Hong Kong. In particular, Ms Christiana Figueres will deliver her keynote speech on the first day of the conference. She has played a vital role in COP21 and was hailed as “the woman who could stop climate change”. She is currently the Vice-Chair of Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy.

On the second day of the conference, Ms Figueres will join a number of renowned experts in the plenary session about climate change and sustainable development, which is led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with the participation of the Government and various international; associations. Details of two Roundtable sessions have been released as well. Experts from Europe, USA, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong will gather to discuss the topics of “Emerging Perspective for Transforming the Built Environment” and “Leadership Driving for the Sustainable Built Environment”.

WSBE17 Hong Kong earlier launched a global call for papers and received overwhelming response. Hundreds of selected papers will be presented during the conference. The three-day conference will host a number of plenary sessions and around 100 parallel sessions delivered by over 400 speakers. A total of 1,800 delegates from over 50 countries are expected.

Don’t miss the golden opportunity to exchange views with experts from around the world. Register for WSBE17 Hong Kong now! Early bird rate is only valid till 30 April 2017.

Click here to visit the WSBE17 Hong Kong official site

Hong Kong Green Building Week 2017: Illustrating Our Green Vision with the Community

This year’s Hong Kong Green Building Week (HKGBW) will take place from May to June to synergise the impacts with the World Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2017 Hong Kong (WSBE17 Hong Kong), in order to engage the public in this international green building mega event. Co-organised by the Construction Industry Council (CIC) and the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) for the fifth consecutive year, HKGBW 2017 introduces a series of new programmes to promote local green building development at the community level.

Two student programmes are now open for enrolment:

Another HKGBW 2017 programme is “Green Building Open House and Tours” to be held from 27 May to 7 June. During the period, a number of green building projects will be open for public visit, and four thematic guided tours will be arranged on weekends for a more in-depth exploration of green buildings. Details of open house arrangement and guided tours will be announced shortly, please stay tuned to our online channels such as the HKGBW 2017 website. Don’t forget to join us on Facebook and Instagram, where you could discover more actions and fun during HKGBW 2017!

Urban Experiment for BEAM Plus Neighbourhood: Creating a Vibrant Public Space

Having difficulties in defining a vibrant public space?

Finding some design principles hard to measure and quantify?

These are just a few questions the HKGBC has come across while developing BEAM Plus Neighbourhood (BEAM Plus ND), the first BEAM Plus tool focusing on the realms of community and public space. To inspire the industry, the HKGBC collaborated with Hong Kong Public Space Initiatives (HKPSI) to carry out a series of urban experiments in Kwun Tong in 2016 as a prelude of rolling out the BEAM Plus ND to the market. The experiments were designed with two ND credits in mind: Placemaking and Local Character (CA 6) and Quality Open Space (SA 7), aiming to shed light on practical ways in designing better public spaces.

Through a systematic approach to engage artists and the community by large, the experiment offers practical tips for practitioners to enliven our public space. Some of the experiment findings are as follows:

To know more about the urban experiment, you may watch the sharing by HKPSI at one of the public seminars for BEAM Plus ND (Chinese only).

New Energy Benchmarking Tool Launched for Commercial Buildings

The Government announced the Energy Saving Plan for Hong Kong’s Built Environment 2015~2025+ in 2015, stressing to further improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings in Hong Kong. The HKGBC Benchmarking and Energy Saving Tool (HK BEST) Series developed by the Council echoes the Government’s call and addresses the needs of industry stakeholders for a rigorous, user-friendly and creditable means of energy benchmarking by which premises owners or management personnel can compare their electricity use, on a like-for-like basis with other premises of the same type. The unique “What-If” function also provides suggestions on setting direction for energy efficiency improvement. By analysing energy performance of the buildings and raising users’ awareness in energy efficiency, the HK BEST Series helps improve business transparency and enhance corporate image.

Following the footsteps of HKGBC Benchmarking and Energy Saving Tool for Office Occupants (HK BESTOO) and Office Buildings (HK BESTOF), the HKGBC Benchmarking and Energy Saving Tool – Commercial Buildings (Office/Retail) (HK BESTCOM) has been launched in December 2016. The new tool is integrated with the HK BESTOF, enabling the combined web-based tool to cater for office buildings, retail centres, and commercial buildings with a mix of both office and retail. Credits can be gained under BEAM Plus Existing Buildings V2.0 for commercial buildings accredited by HK BESTCOM.

The assessment for HK BEST Series will be carried out by professional HK BEST Authorised Assessors (BESTAAs). According to the assessment result, the HKGBC will issue different ratings as recognition. For details of BESTAAs, please visit: http://hkg-training.hkgbc.org.hk/detail1.php?serial=207

Details of the HK BESTCOM can be found here: http://hkbest.hkgbc.org.hk/com/index.html

Five More Product Categories Covered by HK G-PASS

The new categories are now ready for application. There are currently 25 product categories under HK G-PASS, covering the most common products in the market. Suppliers are welcome to apply for accreditation to give your products a competitive edge in the green market.

HK G-PASS website: http://hkgpass.hkgbc.org.hk/

New Hong Kong Green Office Guide Published

The Council has just published the Hong Kong Green Office Guide, which provides green guidance to stakeholders including the owners, property facility managers and occupants of office premises. Introducing environmental benefits, opportunities and best practices with dozens of local successful case studies as illustrations, the new guidebook is a practical reference for making offices green.

Together with Hong Kong Green School Guide, Hong Kong Green Shop Guide and Green Tenancy Driver for Office Buildings, the series of user-friendly guidebooks published by the HKGBC aims at assisting different sectors to adopt green building and sustainability practices for a joint effort to transform our built environment.

The electronic version of the Guide can be downloaded here.

Dialogue with Akina Fong: New Experience on Green Building

Former news anchor Ms Akina Fong emceed at the BEAM Plus Platinum Project Certification Ceremony 2016 held last December. After this first collaboration, the Council invited her to share her views on green buildings and how to practice green living and green office at the e-Magazine on BEAM Plus Online Exhibition. Please check out the three e-Magazine articles, and don’t forget to explore the latest green building projects at the Online Exhibition website!

BEAM Plus Online Exhibition is now showcasing over 65 BEAM Plus green building projects. Check them out: http://greenbuilding.hkgbc.org.hk/

BEAM Plus e-Magazine (Chinese version only)

The Green Hub Visit

The HKGBC Student Ambassadors and Friends of Green Building visited the Green Hub on 4 February to learn more about the role a green building plays in balancing the ecological environment and conserving the culture. Participants were impressed by the revitalisation project of this heritage building.

Built in 1899 and now a Grade 1 historic building, the Old Tai Po Police Station was transformed into the Green Hub through a revitalisation project in 2010. It has been awarded the Grand Award and Special Citation in Eco-Service Infrastructure Network in the Green Building Award 2016 and an Honourable Mention in the 2016 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

If you are interested in visiting green buildings and getting updated about the latest green building development, please register to be the “Friends of Green Building” for FREE. Click here to register now online.

Swire Properties’ Journey to Sustainable Development

Swire Properties Limited is a developer, owner and operator of mixed-use properties in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the US. For over 40 years, we have taken a long-term approach when developing our business, aiming to create value by transforming places into vibrant, sustainable communities, while retaining their character and enhancing lives.

To further our commitment to sustainable development through this creative transformation process, we have developed a new Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 (SD2030) which is built on five strategic pillars: Places, People, Partners, Performance (Environment), and Performance (Economic). With a robust sustainable development management structure, this strategy aims at integrating sustainable development into every facet of our business, with specific 2020 and 2030 goals to help improve our sustainable development performance over time, stimulate innovation and deepen our engagement with our partners and the wider community.

The Taikoo Place redevelopment project exemplifies our all-rounded efforts as set out in the SD2030 strategy. The project involves the phased construction of two triple Grade-A office towers: One Taikoo Place and Two Taikoo Place. We adopt an integrated design approach, which positions sustainability at the centre of the design process and brings a multidisciplinary design team together from an early project stage to encourage innovation and the application of new technologies. The design will introduce an elevated air-conditioned walkway linking the surrounding buildings to enhance connectivity, and create two new open public spaces where people can gather. The open space and the buildings are carefully situated to create new wind corridors that will introduce natural ventilation and improve micro-climate.

In One Taikoo Place, one of the new office buildings, we plan to employ innovative solutions such as the use of the first waste-to-energy tri-generation system in an office tower in Hong Kong. This biodiesel-powered generator can use waste cooking oil to produce not only electricity, but also heat (to provide hot water in the building) and chilled water (for the building’s air-conditioning system).

Swire Properties is at the forefront to improve building energy performance. We target to reduce our annual energy consumption in 2020 by 64 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year for Hong Kong portfolios compared to a baseline set in 2008. From 2001 to 2015, we managed to reduce 16% electricity consumption despite a 16% increase in gross floor area in our Hong Kong portfolio. Apart from various energy reduction improvement works, we have also provided free energy audits for our tenants since 2008. Consequently, our energy use intensity in our Hong Kong portfolio decreased by nearly 28% from 2011 to 2015.

Swire Properties’ long-term commitment to sustainable development has achieved considerable international recognition, with our inclusion in five leading regional and international sustainability benchmarks, including our first-ever listing in the FTSE4Good Index, a key reference for investors globally. In February 2017, we received the “Energy Management Initiative Award” from the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards 2017. Dr Raymond YAU, General Manager, Technical Services and Sustainable Development said, “This award recognises our long-term efforts in the area of energy management and adoption of a robust knowledge-based energy management system.” Last year, Swire Properties won the “Green Building Leadership - Grand Award” of the Green Building Awards 2016, which recognised our role as an industry leader and our contribution to green building in Hong Kong.

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