WSBE17 Hong Kong - Special Edition

World Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2017 Hong Kong (WSBE17 Hong Kong) which took place from 5 to 7 June was attended by a total of 1,800 green building advocates, public sector leaders, industry and commercial sector pioneers as well as academics from 57 countries and regions. With the theme of “Transforming Our Built Environment through Innovation and Integration: Putting Ideas into Action”, the three-day event, which included keynotes, plenary sessions, roundtable sessions and 100 parallel sessions with an exhibition alongside, has created a platform for knowledge sharing and forging collaborations for a spectrum of stakeholders to drive towards the sustainable built environment, and welcome the next edition of the global conference, WSBE2020, to be held in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Let’s have a review on this “Olympics” for the green building industry in this special edition of GreenMAG Plus+!

High-level Government Support – Key to Successful World-class Conference
Christiana FIGUERES: Thank you, Mr TRUMP!
The Top Platform for Exchanging Innovative Ideas
Young Minds Spark the Imagination of Green Future
Gala Dinner: Celebration and Recognition of Industry’s Achievement
Concurrent Exhibition: A Showcase of Innovative Products and Solutions
Go Behind the Scenes in Technical Tours
Engagement in Action: Penetrating Green Building Ideas into the Community

High-level Government Support – Key to Successful World-class Conference

With an aim to establish a leadership role of Hong Kong’s green building development in the global arena, the Construction Industry Council and the Hong Kong Green Building Council decided to bid for the hosting right of WSBE17 in early 2014. The Government provided tremendous support throughout the bidding process and with a collaborative effort; Hong Kong won the hosting right.

Since then, the Government has been supporting the organisation of the conference, including the participation in the conference’s Organising Committee and Scientific Committee, as well as Honorary Advisory Panel. It has also facilitated the invitation of representatives from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to officiate at the Opening Ceremony and deliver a keynote speech. In addition, the Development Bureau, Environment Bureau and Transport and Housing Bureau showcased the Government’s effort in promoting a sustainable built environment at the concurrent exhibition. WSBE17 Hong Kong is also one of the celebration events of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Moreover, Chief Executive Hon. Leung Chun-ying was invited as the Guest-of-honour at the Opening Ceremony of the WSBE17 Hong Kong, demonstrating the Government’s strong commitment in sustainable development. A number of officials have participated in the discussions of the conference as well. Apart from the keynote speech given by Chief Secretary for Administration Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, Mr Wong Kam-sing and Ms Christine Loh, Secretary and Under Secretary for the Environment have joined the Plenary Session on Climate Change and Sustainable Development led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Also, the Government submitted over 30 papers and shared their experience in policy and technology development during the Parallel Sessions. Mr Eric Ma Siu-cheung, Secretary for Development, officiated at the Closing Ceremony that marked the conclusion of the first-ever WSBE Conference in Hong Kong.

The unwavering backing from the Government has made the conference a truly world-class event, strengthening Hong Kong’s role in the global movement of sustainable built environment development.

Christiana FIGUERES: Thank you, Mr TRUMP!

Many internationally renowned experts gathered in Hong Kong to share their unprecedented insights during the conference. The keynote speech of Ms Christiana Figueres, Vice-Chair of Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy on Day 1 might be the most anticipated one. Ms Figueres began by responding to the recent announcement of the President of the United States, “Thank you Mr Donald Trump for having provoked an utter tsunami of support for the Paris Agreement and a deeper commitment for climate change than we have ever seen before.” She also talked about “decarbonisation” and highlighted its market opportunities in the fight against climate change. Her 20-minute speech was warmly received by the audience.

Kick-starting the conference, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, Chief Secretary, presented in his keynote speech the strategies and policies that the Government has promulgated for creating a sustainable and liveable Hong Kong. Overseas delegates could understand more about the challenges that Hong Kong is facing and the way forward for this highly compact city. Other keynote speakers included Mr Su Yunshan, Director-General of Department of Science & Technology and Energy Saving on Buildings, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of People’s Republic of China; Prof. Peter Guthrie, Director of Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Cambridge; Prof. Thomas Auer, Managing Director of Transsolar and Professor for Building Technology and Climate Responsive Design, Technical University of Munich; and Dr Raymond Cole, Professor of School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of British Columbia.

The Top Platform for Exchanging Innovative Ideas

The Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) Conference Series is considered to be the pre-eminent international conference series on sustainable building and construction. The series is held on a three-year cycle and maintains a core emphasis on peer-reviewed papers and presentations of regional policy papers. WSBE17 Hong Kong concluded the 2015-2017 conference cycle by embracing all the top findings from the 20 regional conferences held in 2016. Moreover, WSBE17 Hong Kong has called for more papers for review by the International Scientific Review Panel. In the end, about 400 top papers were presented in around 100 parallel sessions during the three-day conference. To facilitate focused and in-depth discussions, papers are grouped into 12 Conference Tracks according to themes and discussion areas. Delegates could easily identify and join sessions on areas and topics they are interested in.

A number of special sessions were held during WSBE17 Hong Kong to facilitate dialogues on a better built environment among influential figures in the industry, including the Plenary Session on Climate Change and Sustainable Development on Day 2. Chaired by Mr Curt Garrigan, Cities and Buildings Programme Manager of UN Environment – Economy Division, the discussion was joined by Mr Wong Kam-sing, Secretary for the Environment; Ms Christine Loh, Under Secretary for the Environment; Ms Christiana Figueres, Vice-chair of Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy as well as representatives of World Resources Institute, United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat), International Energy Agency, International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment, the 10YFP Programme on Sustainable Buildings and Construction, World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the Directorate for Housing, Urban Development and Landscape of France.

Two Roundtable Sessions were also held to discuss the emerging trends and practice-focused viewpoints on leading the changes to transform the sustainable built environment. Moreover, set against a backdrop of China’s rapid urbanisation and ongoing economic development, four special Mainland China Sessions investigated issues specific to green retrofitting technologies for buildings in China, challenges and opportunities brought by skyscrapers in the tier one cities, and the newly released assessment standard for healthy building, etc. Hot issues in different countries were investigated at the other four dedicated Regional Sessions. Representatives from all 20 regional conferences participated in open discussions about the significance of current conditions, initiatives, and trends in their regions. The opportunity to learn from one another was greatly valued by participants.

Young Minds Spark the Imagination of Green Future

Innovation is a key element of WSBE17 Hong Kong, and young minds, therefore, were very welcome to be part of this global event. The International Youth Competition was organised for students and young professionals from all over the world to present their brilliant ideas, projects and action plan for a better future. The competition received around 100 entries coming from multidisciplinary teams of tertiary students in 25 countries worldwide. Eight finalists were selected by the jury panel consisting of local and international experts, and made the final presentation during the conference. The teams’ outstanding proposals were recognised by customised awards.

Award	Team
The Most Innovative Module Design Award	Adaptive Integrated Module (Russia)
The Best “Living” Building Award	C3 Farming (Hong Kong)
The Most Holistic Super-high-dense Neighbourhood Award	Kowloon City Castle 2.0 (Hong Kong)
The Most Innovative Urban Sustainability Award	Long for Sustainability (Hong Kong)
The Best Sustainable Rehabilitation of Heritage Area Award	Preserve and Update (Mainland China)
The Most Integrative Waste-energy System for Buildings Award	Bio-gas from Waste (Hong Kong & Mainland China)
The Most Culturally Sensitive Concept Award	The Green - Blue City - Amazon Referent (Ecuador)
The Most Innovative Urban Assessment Concept Award	Urban Framework (Germany)

Gala Dinner: Celebration and Recognition of Industry’s Achievement

The Gala Dinner was held on 6 June. Chief Secretary for Administration Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung was invited to officiate at the Gala Dinner. Apart from addressing the guests, he presented awards to the Architectural Services Department, Hang Seng Management College and Swire Properties Limited, to recognise their efforts in achieving the highest numbers of BEAM Plus Final Platinum Projects. Meanwhile, Secretary for Development Mr Eric Ma Siu-cheung and Secretary for the Environment Mr Wong Kam-sing also presented awards to recognise projects that obtained highest BEAM Plus scores in various building categories. The Gala Dinner was warmly attended by 400 key industry players from all over the world. Delegates gathered to network and celebrate the success of the conference.

Concurrent Exhibition: A Showcase of Innovative Products and Solutions

Apart from the discussion sessions, about 40 exhibitors participated in the exhibition of WSBE17 Hong Kong to showcase the use of latest technologies, innovative products and visionary policies in transforming the built environment.

The booth for the WSBE17 Hong Kong Organisers, CIC and HKGBC, was located at the centre of the exhibition venue. The recyclable wooden structure resembled the shape of a tree, symbolising the close proximity of the urban landscape and the natural environment of this city. The booth featured an overview of Hong Kong’s built environment and highlighted Hong Kong’s green building assessment tool BEAM Plus. Renowned architect and a keen sketcher, Mr William Tseng, was invited to design postcards featuring 11 award-winning or platinum rated local green building projects. The postcards were popular among overseas and even local delegates and the Organisers heartily helped them to mail these postcards to their hometown with their green message to friends or relatives! In addition, the Development Bureau, Environment Bureau and Transport and Housing Bureau showcased the Government’s policies and projects in creating a sustainable built environment.

Other showcases in the exhibition included the application of virtual reality, automatic controls, various green solutions and green construction materials. The exhibitors altogether staged a comprehensive showcase of how to transform our built environment by putting ideas into action.

Go Behind the Scenes in Technical Tours

A total of five technical tours were organised on 8 and 9 June for WSBE17 Hong Kong delegates to explore the green side of Hong Hong’s high rise urban landscape.

Four of the tours took place in Hong Kong, covering a number of BEAM Plus Final/Provisional Platinum and award-winning green building projects in Hong Kong, such as Construction Industry Council ZCB, Hang Seng Management College, Hong Kong Science Park Phase 3 and T · PARK. Delegates also visited Wah Ha Estate, PMQ and King Yin Lei, which showcased Hong Kong’s effort in heritage conservation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings. The Shenzhen technical tour visited Shenzhen Institute of Building Research (IBR) Headquarters, Shenzhen International Low-carbon City and Tianan Cloud Park, offering an overview of the implementation of new sustainable technologies under China’s rapid development.

The tours provided a great opportunity for the participants to learn more about the challenges of creating sustainable built environment in urban areas, and how innovative green building design and technologies could be applied to high-rise high density and highly compact cities.

Moreover, an eco and cultural tour brought delegates to Lai Chi Wo, the north-eastern part of rural Hong Kong, offering an experiential learning opportunity on biodiversity conservation and local farming culture.

Engagement in Action: Penetrating Green Building Ideas into the Community

The 2017 edition of Hong Kong Green Building Week (HKGBW), co-organised by the CIC and HKGBC was advanced to May and June to synergise with WSBE17 Hong Kong, so as to strengthen public participation in creating a sustainable built environment. One of the programmes, the English speaking contest Green Ambassador Pitch themed “Act on Climate Change – Together, Now!”, was held on 7 June at the conference venue. A total of six teams of Form 6 students who just finished their university entrance exams presented their ideas on how to get the people around them involved in combating climate change to the judging panel and green building experts from all over the world. Upon judging panel assessment and audience voting, the team from Ying Wa Girls’ School won the Best Presentation Award with their plan to minimise the use of plastics by encouraging the public to use mobile app to record the number of days without consuming any plastic bottles. The team hoped to drive behavioural changes in daily life through the app.

In addition, winning entries of two student contests were exhibited during the conference. The entries of “Hong Kong – My Green City” Drawing Competition for Primary School Students, another HKGBW 2017 programme, presented children’s visions of a green Hong Kong. Champion entries were also printed on the WSBE17 Hong Kong conference bags so each conference delegate could bring home a “souvenir” with the visions of Hong Kong’s younger generation. Another student contest was “My Green Space” Green Building Competition for Schools. The theme this year was My Ideal Green “HOME”. Through building models, proposals and drawings, students were encouraged to present their creative ideas on applying green buildings concepts in real-life built environment and develop their ideal green space. The activities not only showcased the young generations’ creativity and visions, but also enabled the conference delegates to take a break from the professional discussion, and review sustainable development through the children’s eyes.

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