(25 June 2018, Hong Kong) Chinachem Group’s latest landmark in Wan Chai – the Grade A commercial building One Hennessy – is set for completion by Q2 2019, offering businesses premium work spaces. Since prelease opened in May, One Hennessy has drawn an overwhelming response as a number of companies already inked deals. A welcome party was held today by Chinachem Group to celebrate the remarkable prelease results of One Hennessy.
Located at 1 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, One Hennessy is part of the central business districts of Admiralty and Wan Chai. Adjacent to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, world-class hotels, and fabulous restaurants, One Hennessy is situated in a very advantageous geographical location. With the project investment totaling HK$1.68 billion, One Hennessy has 21 floors spanning approximately 315,000 square feet of gross area in total and 12,000 square feet of lettable gross area per floor. Total lettable area reaches around 253,000 square feet for all work spaces and 28,000 square feet for retail shops on G/F – 2/F. While full sea views are available on the upper floors, the first three floors are dedicated to retail shops, restaurants, a post office and a basement car park.
Donald Choi, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Chinachem Group (left) and Liu Cheng-cheng, Founder and Chairman of Kr Space (right) stood in front of One Hennessy.
Since prelease opened in May, One Hennessy has drawn a spectacular response from the market. The renowned co-working space operator Kr Space has preleased seven floors spanning 83,000 square feet for its first office center in the Hong Kong market, while another company from the financial sector has preleased eight upper floors totaling an area of 98,000 square feet. Both tenants have occupied nearly 60% of the total lettable area of One Hennessy.
Donald Choi, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Chinachem Group, said, “Since the prelease, the occupancy rate of One Hennessy’s work spaces has reached 80% in two months’ time. While this has come to us as a huge encouragement, we would like to extend our gratitude to all tenants for their trust and support. We are confident that the occupancy rate will attain 100% when One Hennessy is ready for occupation next year.”
One Hennessy is set to become the latest landmark of Wan Chai with its exceptional exterior design. Donald Choi explained the design concept behind, “The sculptural design of One Hennessy revolves around the concept of a young plant sprouting from the earth and bursting into the sunlight, symbolizing the energetic and motivated working environment. The tunnel-like shape of the building does not block sunlight and wind for better ventilation. An ‘absence’ is designed to match with the urban planning of the city. By ‘creating a presence for absence’, One Hennessy integrates well with the environment to create the highest amount of usable spaces.”
Liu Cheng-cheng, Founder and Chairman of Kr Space, made a trip to Hong Kong to attend the welcome party, where he shared the reasons for selecting One Hennessy as their first center in Hong Kong. He said, “One Hennessy is situated in the prime location of Hong Kong which connects Central with the business districts of Admiralty and Wan Chai, aligning with the strategic approach of Kr Space in developing core city, core region, and core business circle. As Chinachem Group is one of the most reputable developers in Hong Kong which we have great faith in, we have signed a ten-year contract with One Hennessy. By joining hands with Chinachem Group, we hope to set a new benchmark for the co-working community in Hong Kong.”
Kr Space has great confidence in the Hong Kong market. From the perspective of urban planning, the supply of land in developed cities is limited and an inch of land for quality commercial buildings in the central business district values an inch of gold. Liu Cheng-cheng said, “Co-working space provides small and medium sized companies with a comfortable and flexible business environment. By sharing the work spaces, the companies can utilize the available spaces more efficiently and reduced the operation cost while improving the productivity and satisfaction of their employees. In addition, it helps businesses to grow and contribute more to the persistent growth of economy. We believe that co-working spaces will become essential in all the key business districts of Hong Kong and different cities in the near future.”
Liu Cheng-cheng also said, “Kr Space has developed rapidly since its inception in 2014. We are determined to become the world’s top co-working space operator in two years’ time. Entering the Hong Kong market is the first step of our overseas expansion plan. We have been looking for quality Grade A office spaces and it is ideal that more than 83,000 square feet of space is available at One Hennessy. Its prime location at the core business district would allow us to develop a healthy and mature community for businesses.”
Kr Space has inked a ten-year deal with One Hennessy. Liu continued, “The vacancy rate of prime locations on the Hong Kong Island constantly stays at around 2%. Given the high rental cost and renovation fee, renting a co-working space can effectively reduce operation cost for most small-sized companies in Hong Kong with fewer than six staff members. We strongly believe that co-working spaces will provide small and medium-sized companies and teams with flexible and quality business environment and the potential market demand is strong.”
Donald Choi, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Chinachem Group (left) and Liu Cheng-cheng, Founder and Chairman of Kr Space (right) joined a magic performance.
Chinachem Group has been committed to developing premium work spaces for tenants while contributing to the sustainable development and upholding corporate social responsibility. One Hennessy is designed to incorporate both user-friendly and advanced facilities. For example, a baby care room is available on the first floor to offer a comfortable environment for feeding and taking care of babies. To meet the different management and operation needs of companies, there are two dedicated passenger lift zones which not only facilitate security management, but also cater for the flexible working hours of different tenants. There is also a tailor-designed electricity supply system, which makes use of a dedicated outdoor type Emergency Generator (450kVA) with 360L base tank at roof level for high emergency power demand of tenants, especially those from the financial sector. The Building Management System (BMS) is also provided to help monitor and control the building services system and its energy use. In short, One Hennessy is set to become a role model of smart buildings.
In the aspect of sustainable development, One Hennessy is a green building. In addition to electric vehicle charging stations, bicycle parking spaces are also available at the car park to encourage staff members of the tenants to go to work by bicycle. To mitigate heat island effect, the rooftop is covered with low absorptive materials and vegetation. Equipped with state-of-the-art environmentally friendly facilities, One Hennessy can help reduce carbon emission and energy consumption for environmental conservation.
Apart from using different types of environmentally friendly building materials, One Hennessy is designed to adopt natural sunlight. The building exterior is a huge and elegant curtain wall made of glass, which ensures maximum light penetration, and minimum energy loss and solar heat gain. The materials and resources used for the building façade have achieved the internationally recognized LEED Gold Rating for Green Buildings.