Hang Seng Management College is environmentally responsive and the building design infuses innovative environmental ideas. Passive design is embraced; high efficient building services and environmentally friendly materials are widely implemented. 

People

A sustainable building starts with due consideration on people and thus HSMC campus embraces the following principles:

Campus for the 21st Century

As Hang Seng Management College is developing into one of the leading tertiary education institutions in Hong Kong with increasing investments in estate and learning technologies, it is necessary to provide a campus design with cost-effective space utilisation that meets the growing needs of the College.

Learning Campus

Within recent years, campuses have seen dramatic shifts in technology, teaching paradigms, study habits, cross disciplinary programmes, diversity, and the evolution of the living/learning campus where the line between a student’s socialisation and education cannot be distinguished. Students increasingly learn wherever there are opportunities for interaction. The entire campus is a learning place. There is a proven connection between academic performance, retention, and graduation rates, and the qualities of the campus environment beyond the classroom. The learning campus maximises the probability of chance encounters and encourages lingering, whether alone or in groups. The learning campus is dynamic. Boundaries between formal and informal activities fade. The physical campus therefore plays a key role in expressing and achieving the Hang Seng Management College’s mission and objectives as the leading private university in Hong Kong providing top quality tertiary education. The Campus itself has been conceived as a place that teaches, with a host of sustainable measures installed. Through daily use of the buildings, the students help participating and understanding sustainable issues. With the open campus policy, sustainable concepts reach a wider local community who uses the buildings.

Connectivity - The College Street

With the expansion of the campus facilities and substantial increase in student and staff numbers, circulation and connectivity vertically and horizontally throughout the campus is of fundamental importance. We intend to develop the concept of Connectivity in the form of a ‘College Street’ as the main theme for the Hang Seng Management College Campus. The Street will organise a variety of educational and social activities harbouring opportunities for encountering and giving clear access to teaching and amenity, civic and academic spaces.

Policy

The Government and stakeholders’ corporate policies have tremendous influences on sustainable development. There has been rising public concern over the quality and sustainability of the built environment. To enhance the quality and sustainability of the built environment the Buildings Department in 2011 stipulated a Sustainable Building Design Guideline, which is a pre-requisite for GFA concessions for all green / amenity features and non-mandatory plant rooms and services, to promote sustainable building designs and energy efficient features in new developments. Moreover, participation in the BEAM Plus certification scheme by the Hong Kong Green Building Council is also a requirement for GFA concessions. Due to existing site constraints and tight programme, GFA concessions have not been applied for the project. However, despite that GFA concessions were not applied, it was the decision of the College for all buildings in the campus to take part in BEAM Plus certification, with the target of Platinum rating, in order to support local sustainable design development.

Process

The project is a showcase of how sustainable concepts evolve in construction project in Hong Kong. At the outset of the project, there was no specific target or requirement in relation to sustainable design and therefore no particular budget allocated to sustainable design was allowed. In response to a greater social awareness and demand, the rising standards of construction industry, HSMC considered that it was their social responsibility to promote sustainable design in campus and also demonstrate their ability of the College to communicate its leadership role in teaching environmentally social behavior and its status as a world-class institution. Owing to this, HSMC, with the advice of the Consultant Team, committed to put into additional funding for the project to target platinum rating of BEAM Plus certification, demonstrating their great commitment to support local sustainability development.

Performance

The development is a showcase of excellence in “sustainable built environment” performance with measurement and verifications. HSMC did not cease looking for opportunities to adopt new design philosophy and technologies in sustainable development.

Building D is one of the first institutional buildings in HK to adopt chilled ceiling design which significantly reduces annual energy consumption cost of HVAC by 20% in the first year operation. It also promotes a new concept and behaviour of using HVAC which steer HVAC energy reduction in a long run. The project is also an exemplar of extensive use of bamboo to replace wood in building construction. Bamboo, having a tremendously faster growth rate than trees, is a long-term solution to preserve trees and the project is just the ideal of showing how this can be realised. The bamboo has been widely adopted in most areas such as entrance lobbies and external landscape areas as finishes materials. Bamboo flooring is used in the communal hall and furniture in the development are mostly bamboo.