• Hong Kong bagged two champions at the World Green Building Council’s regional awards

    5 October 2018

    (5 October 2018, Hong Kong) World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Building Awards is a biennial awards programme which celebrates iconic green buildings, up-and-coming innovators and inspiring companies with the objectives of driving change and creating a better future throughout the Asia Pacific region. Two pioneers from Hong Kong, Swire Properties Limited (Swire Properties) was awarded the Business Leadership in Sustainability whereas Ms Mary Chan from DLN Architects Limited (DLN) won the Women in Green Building Leadership Award in Singapore on 6 September 2018. Both parties have made outstanding contributions to the sustainability of Asia Pacific’s built environment, fought off intense competition to be crowned champions of the Asia Pacific Leadership.

    Swire Properties won the Business Leadership in Sustainability Award, an accolade which rewards companies that push boundaries, integrate sustainability into their business models and make an outstanding contribution to a sustainable built environment, and the Better Places for People Special Recognition which spotlights companies that have truly embraced health and wellbeing practices, in line with the aims of WorldGBC’s Better Places for People project.

    In 2016, the vision of Swire Properties for creating vibrant high-quality sustainable communities was made concrete through a refreshed Sustainable Development 2030 Strategy (SD 2030). This long‐term plan aims to ultimately create vibrant high‐quality sustainable communities. The strategy focuses on five core areas, including “Places”; a proactive investment in “People”; and long‐term mutually beneficial relationships with their “Partners”. In terms of targets, the company has set realistic goals based on existing building performance data ‐ derived from established robust management systems and comprehensive energy and EHS systems.

    Last year, Swire Properties joined the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World), the only developer and multinational corporation, from Hong Kong and Mainland China, to be included; further consolidating the company’s position among global sustainability leaders in the real estate industry.

    Juror Milag San Jose-Ballesteros, Regional Director (East, Southeast Asia and Oceania), C40 Cities said: “Swire Properties has demonstrated strong commitment and leadership through its laudatory efforts in ensuring the implementation of the strategy through investment in people and collaborative partnerships anchored on concrete data and science-based targets.

    Particularly impressive is the alignment across the different parts of the organization in realising the vision – including executives, senior management and members across various teams. In addition, they had shown clear focus in ensuring that health and wellbeing of their employees and occupants are addressed, from physical to mental wellbeing through various engagement programmes.”

    Joelle Chen, Regional Head of WorldGBC’s Asia Pacific Network added: “Swire Properties’ outstanding commitment to sustainability and the green building movement raises the bar for other industry players to follow. We are particularly impressed in the way they engaged their stakeholders and their focus on health, wellbeing and productivity of their employees. A well-deserved winner of the Business Leadership in Sustainability Award and the Better Places for People Special Recognition.”

    Guy Bradley, Chief Executive of Swire Properties said, “To be recognised as a top industry player for our sustainability efforts is immensely rewarding. Our SD 2030 Strategy has helped us push the envelope to achieve a more sustainable future in our industry, and our people have been instrumental to this success. We will continue to embrace our innovative spirit to keep creating vibrant places for our communities and to lead the way in the green building movement.”

    At the same time, Ms Mary Chan from DLN won the Women in Green Building Leadership Award, a new award for 2018 presented to an inspiring female leader in the green building movement. In a traditionally male-dominated industry, WorldGBC wishes to recognise the pivotal role that women play in nurturing and activating their communities and delivering change.

    Chan has been an architect for nearly three decades, and have lived and worked across many different countries such as Hong Kong, Canada and Singapore. In Hong Kong, she was instrumental in the early days of green building development, spearheading public education and engagement for the next generation. She initiated the Hong Kong Green Shop Alliance which comprises 23 developers and 132 shopping malls to date, as a collaborative initiative to foster a greener shopping environment in town. In addition, the Hong Kong government has engaged the Alliance to promote environmental policies.

    Juror Milag San Jose-Ballesteros proclaimed: Mary Chan embodies a green leader who embraces the principles of sustainability in the built environment both through her professional and personal endeavours. Bringing her expertise and affiliations to fore, she has worked tirelessly and advocated successfully for better regulations for more green building development in Hong Kong. Her leadership and commitment to green buildings and developments comes across as a strong crusade that finds its way through her various projects and personal initiatives.”

    Joelle Chen opined: “Mary Chan’s leadership and vision is an inspiration to the World Green Building Council and to all aspiring women leaders in the green building industry. I congratulate her wholeheartedly as the winner of the inaugural Women in Green Building Leadership Award.”

     

    Mary Chan, Head of Sustainable Building Research and Assistant Director of DLN Architects Limited remarked: “It is my honour to receive this award which is an important recognition of women’s contribution in the advancement of green buildings. I wish to thank the Hong Kong Green Building Council and all the professional volunteers who supported me in the green building industry.

    Engagement of all stakeholders is the key to the success of green buildings. People from all levels including the government, the professionals, the businesses and the public must collaborate to contribute to such success. I feel privileged as an architect that I can have hands-on opportunity to create green buildings from design to construction completion. I hope in future, every building will be green, every community will be green and every city will be green.”

    Green building projects and companies, as well as women professionals were nominated by the 15 Green Building Councils which make up the WorldGBC’s Asia Pacific Regional Network Awards. The biennial awards programme celebrates iconic green buildings, up-and-coming innovators and inspiring companies driving change and creating a better future throughout the Asia Pacific region.

     

    For more information, visit http://www.worldgbc.org/asia-pacific-regional-network-awards.

     

     

     

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