Swire Properties recognizes the importance of building rating scheme Building Environment Assessment Method (BEAM Plus) in serving as a benchmark of comparison for commercial tenants, buyers, investors and employees as well as encouraging sustainable development in the building industry. We therefore continually strive to achieve the highest BEAM Plus rating for our new projects and build our developments to high environmental standards so that occupiers can also live green.

DUNBAR PLACE includes sustainability features and adheres to our sustainable development philosophy and approach, which encapsulate the idea that green architecture does not mean a compromise in design.

DUNBAR PLACE integrates a host of sustainable design features such as:

• Enhance living quality by maximizing greenery within the site including vertical green wall, soft landscaping on Ground floor and podium roof as well as green roof
• Provide a comfortable microclimate condition on pedestrian level. No pedestrian area is subject to excessive wind velocity due to the building layout
• Apply environmental management system starting from demolition until building completion including various dust, noise, and waste water
• Adoption of construction waste sorting, segregation and recycling methodologies and practices which lead to 40% reduction in waste materials deposited in landfills
• Optimize exterior lighting design to minimize lighting pollution impacts to nearby communities
• Recycle over 60% of demolition and construction waste to reduce the burden on our landfill sites
• Support environmental friendly products by purchasing sustainable timber products and energy efficient electrical appliances with energy saving label
• Reduce environmental impacts arising from materials transportation by using over 90% regionally manufactured building products
• Design to have lower window-to-wall ratio with good shading performance double glazing facade so as to reduce solar heat gain and energy consumption of air-conditioning. Purchased high energy efficiency air-conditioners and employ energy saving lightings. These energy efficient features are able to achieve an overall building energy reduction of 28% (in comparison to HK’s best practices)
• Provide separate digital multi-function power meters for monitoring power consumption of the MVAC, lighting, power and other building services installations
• Ensure good indoor air quality in car park, residential units and common areas
• Make use of ventilation shaft in the lift lobby as an air passage to enable ventilation from interior space to outdoor for adequate natural ventilation in common areas for occupant thermal comfort and air conditioning energy reduction
• Ensure sufficient daylight in residential units and common areas
• Improve operation and maintenance of building and its engineering service through the installation of davit arm system, building monitoring system and door monitoring system.
• Install twin tanks for potable and flushing water supply systems to enhance the continuity of water supply during maintenance
• Provide all-in-one home system management by using Xaro Smart Panel which can track air-conditioning power consumption, monitor indoor condition, manage real-time clubhouse booking, etc.
• Adopt Electronic Project Management (epm) system from design stage to construction stage to reduce use of paper for communication and document filing

What are the motivations to go “green”?

We have been promoting green building for many years. In fact, we are one of the private developers initiated a localized green building assessment scheme for Hong Kong around 20 years ago, which has been evolved and now called “BEAM Plus”. Our strategy is to create long-term value by developing, owning and managing diverse properties mainly in Hong Kong and Mainland China. We nurture and improve our portfolio through continuous exemplary service, maintenance and enhancements, which allow us to maximize the occupancy and earnings potential of our properties for the economic benefit of our shareholders and for the social benefit of the communities where we operate. Green building design and management is one of the key to success. For more than 40 years, we have conceived, designed, developed and managed commercial and residential projects that have led to the creation of lively neighborhoods and the revitalization of existing areas where people can live, work and thrive.

What are the major strategies to earn the credits and achieve the BEAM Plus rating?

The achievement of BEAM Plus Platinum rating is the joint effort of the consultants, contractors, facilities management and us. We initiated the BEAM Plus workshop amongst various stakeholders at the preliminary design stage. In order to monitor the progress of the BEAM Plus submission, we set up the regular meetings with designers, consultants and the facilities management colleagues to resolve all the problems with regard to the BEAM Plus credits. The environmental specification was prepared based on the discussion in the meetings. The contractors were also invited to the workshops when they were on board.

What are the main obstacles during the certification process? And how would you tackle them?

The coordination amongst various parties is the main challenge to the BEAM Plus certification because different parties have different views and preferences especially under the site constraint and time frame. Nevertheless, we conducted different design studies with the corresponding targeted BEAM ratings and made decision on the most practical optimized solution. With professional advice from different parties, we finally achieve such a remarkable rating which sets up a good model for our upcoming development projects.

Apart from the BEAM Plus rating, what do you consider the key project success? What are the expectation for the future users of the building?

Team spirit and expertise from individual consultant and contractor is the keys to the project success. We believe we have successfully created an environmental friendly building for the future building users and we hope they would appreciate our effort and continue a green living style in future.