1. Planning Ahead

Few months prior to the commencement of renovation project, internal workshops were organized to identify the reasonable goal, practical needs, possible design features and feasible objectives and targets.  In-house taskforce groups were formed to deal with different aspects of the project, including energy, materials, water use, indoor planting and project coordination.  Detail action list with responsible person was consolidated.  The aim of this project was to practice our knowledge and experiences in building a ‘real’ green office within a reasonable budget compared with typical a small commercial office.  In this connection, we developed our own energy metering/monitoring & management platform, configured our comfort control system, sourced available reused/up-cycled/rapidly-renewable materials, organized effective waste handling, and built own wooden cabinets with minimal waste production.

2. Implementing Holistic Design

A holistic approach or integrated design process was adopted to build our sustainable office in considering the life cycle of the office so as to allow flexibility of reducing carbon foot-print in future operation.   BXG has incorporated the requirements of construction, commissioning, operation, maintenance and re-commissioning covering the whole life span of the office, into our holistic design.

3. Reducing, Recycling and Reusing

BXG realizes the vital participation in conserving our Earth’s resources. Through having more recycling and reusing of resources and materials, the amount of waste could be significantly reduced. This does not only reduce the impacts to the environment, but also lowers the cost of renovation. The following shows the result of BXG’s effort in different aspect to achieve the goal of minimal resource use and waste generation during construction and operation.

• Provision of waste recycling storage facilities for the collection of paper, plastic, metal, compact fluorescent lamp, rechargeable batteries and glass.
• Reuse of wine storage wooden cases from wine sale agent as tool boxes during the fitting out and storage cabinets in the operational phase.
• Reuse of plastic wrapping and tarpaulin for protection during fitting out process.
• 75% of the prior conditions of walls, glazing, ceilings, internal doors, flooring and structural wall coverings were re-used.
• 75% of the furniture and partitions in the new office were reused from 2^nd hand furniture.
• 100% of floors were reused
• About 97% of the installed ceiling materials were made from recycled bamboo
• About 99% of the demolition and construction waste (demolished material, plastics, conduits, paper and cardboard packaging, metals) was recycled.

4. Conserving Water Resources

• Electric kettles, cold/hot water container and teapots are provided as alternatives instead of using bottle water.
• Water tap with water saver and low flow shower head are used.
• Dual flush water closets are installed.

5. Optimizing Energy Performance

Installation of different energy-efficient equipment and monitoring devices maximizes the overall energy efficiency of the new office. Electrical circuit was segregated in order to enable independent control of various zones. Together with our self-developed control panel, they enable occupants to flexibly control various BS systems. For example, occupants could adjust the light intensity according to their preference and control the flow of chilled water to specific zone. Other than manual control, an automated control system was established as a convenient means to reach desired setting as well.

• 4 temperature sensors and 1 IAQ sensor were installed to monitor the room temperature, chiller water in and out temperature and air quality information.
• Occupancy sensors and programmable timer controls were installed in the office to control the MVAC system.
• Electric curtain and light sensor are installed to provide automatic blind to reduce the use of air conditioning
• 100% of the electrical appliances were certified energy-efficient products under the EMSD Energy Efficiency Labeling Scheme.
• Adoption of self-developed integrative Energy Management System (EnMs) “Enermon”

6. Harmonizing Indoor Environment

Human resource is always the most valuable asset to BXG. A favorable indoor environment helps improve working efficiency of occupants.

A harmonized working environment not only benefits the well-being of our staff, but also increases the company’s competitiveness in the future.

Visual comfort:

• Almost 100% of workstations have a direct line of sight to external view - sea view of East Kowloon.

Indoor planting:

• More than 50 different species of plants including diverse types of herbs and herbal plants, such as mint and Tillandsia, are planted.
• Vertical green walls and plants are located around the office with an averaged 0.5m² greenery area per head.
• Staffs can enjoy nursey planting and gardening at pantry.

Biophilia interior design:

Employees would feel like working in the nature with following key features -

• Green and wooden environment
• Bare concrete paving with earth tone.
• Planting shadowing at pantry during sunshine
• Greenery around the printing zone
• Bamboo ceiling

Indoor air quality:

• BXG was awarded with the IAQ “Excellent Class” certificate since operation. BXG will keep regular auditing and maintain the certificate every year.
• Pre occupancy flush out and regular filter cleaning were conducted
• IAQ monitoring device was installed to measure key IAQ indicators (covering TVOC, CO and CO₂ parameters) and the collected data would be transmitted to the centralized control platform for real-time monitoring.

7. Appreciating Sustainable Management

Proper management strategy is a crucial element to operate a company successfully. As a prominent environmental consulting leader, sustainable management is appreciated. BXG has offered various internal and external environmental training programmes to staff in order to raise their awareness on sustainability and gain experience from external enrichment activities. For example, the company encourages staff to participate in those training sessions offered by local environmental organizations, such as Green Building Council, BEAM Society and Environmental Campaign Committee. Within the new office, reminder labels on energy saving practices have been posted on the notice boards to promote energy conservation. Recycling bins are also provided to encourage recycling of useful materials like paper, plastic bottles, metal cans, glass and re-chargeable batteries. Green cleaning manual was tailor-made to guide employees to adopt sustainable practices in waste treatment and procurement of cleaning products. Apart from environmental awareness enhanced, BXG cares for the health of occupants. Safety Board with distinctive safety notices and guidelines is established to prevent colleagues from injuries and illness, and promote occupational health and safety at workplace.

8. Enhancing Innovation

As an energetic and young company, the BXG office adopts new innovations and technologies in real-life practices. Real-time energy monitoring is implemented. Power meters are installed to provide real time reading of 3 circuits that used for plug load, lighting and air conditioning respectively. Moreover, the self-developed Energy Management System Enermon provides comprehensive data information for the office energy consumption and helps BXG make financial savings. More innovations and pragmatic practices are listed below.

• Energy Management System (Enermon) - a self-developed energy monitoring and control system
• ISO 50001 Energy Management System Certification
• Wireless-and-wired control technology - to minimize energy cost and operational cost

9. Pursuing Excellence

In the past years, BXG had received several prestigious awards for its excellent achievements in providing environmental management services.

• BEAM Plus Interiors Platinum Award
• HKAEE 2014 Sectoral Award - Bronze,
• IAQ Certificate “Excellent Class”
• HSBC Living Business Award of Excellence 2015.
• IAQwi$e Certificate
• Wastewi$e Certificate
• Energywi$e Certificate

BXG has also been actively participating in different local environmental campaigns, including Earth Hour 2014, Green Monday and Green Partner of the Carbon Reduction Charter. In the future, we will continue our mission on harmonizing energy use for sustainability and the impacts to environment, and strive for excellence in various aspects. BXG will put effort in upgrading the office to achieve the LEED Commercial Interior Version 4 (latest standard) with a target rating of Gold as far as possible in the coming early 2016.

BXG, as a leading sustainability consulting company in Hong Kong, is enthusiastic to set a good example in the industry and motivate sustainability as a universal culture in Hong Kong.

What are the motivations to go “green”?

• Right the wrong:
  The world today is at a critical turning point in facing global environmental challenges. Human activities have contributed to a tremendous impact on the quality of our environment and lead to diminishment of natural resources. BXG is keenly aware of the environmental and social impacts of the built environment. It is our belief that every individual should have the responsibility to protect our environment. Sustainable development should be a universal value in this global village. Being an environmental consulting specialist, other than providing various environmental services to clients, BXG tries to practice what we preach. The green office serves as an illustration of BXG’s mission- to harmonize the energy use for sustainability and the impacts to environment.

• Setting a good example:
  In order to motivate the culture of sustainability in Hong Kong, it requires the breakthrough of path dependency or in other words “changes”. In response to our missions, BXG is here to inspire and set a good model within the industry. The work/duty of BXG helps our community, business and government stakeholders make wise and responsible decisions to sustainably care for sustainable built environment development. We are also keen to document and share our experience on certifying green building such as BEAM Plus and LEED. We do believe that green buildings are in everyone’s reach. A green building could be achieved within benchmarks for traditional office fit-out cost without scarifying the building’s outlook and functionality, and an extremely high level of technical knowledge is not necessarily needed.

• Support Hong Kong’s green movement:
  In recent years, Hong Kong has put strong emphasis and support in promoting the Environmental industry under the scheme of “Four Pillars and Six Industries”. BXG is determined in demonstrating and providing support for the growing environmental community in Hong Kong. We are committed to making contributions and developing partnerships with different stakeholders and sectors. Equipped with complementary strengths and assets, BXG is confident in driving Hong Kong‘s environmental culture to a new era.

• Innovate Save Money – and build a beautiful office - through intelligent design:
  One might say “green is green” and “green is beautiful.”  Through adopting intelligent and responsible design, the green BXG office provides a comfortable and healthy environment for staff and guests while saving money in the near and mid-term. The design features and material choices help reduce construction costs, operational costs, and/or future demolition costs. Together with sustainable management practice, these save us a considerably large amount of money.

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

• Integrated design process is adopted. When BXG project team is designing the office, every decision has undergone the assessment of its impact on energy efficiency, indoor environmental qualities, waste reduction and other environmental aspects before finalization. Due to the assessment, much more time was put in design compared to ordinary retrofitting project.
• For material aspect, reuse is adopted whenever it is practical to reduce waste. When it comes to situation that reuse is not rational in view of smooth operation and comfort, BXG installed. All material must meet the relevant BEAM requirements. Communications with contractor and potential suppliers are the key to select the appropriate products. BXG is not only choosing products but also the suppliers. Environmentally responsible suppliers are more likely to help with BEAM submission as they truly want to make contribution to sustainable development. Hence, compared to installation of new material, reuse is always an easier option to gain credits.
• For strict implementation of environmental policies in the construction site, regular site visit is made to check whether the contractor is complied with those mitigation measurements on air and noise pollution.

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

It is our expectations that all occupants (including the interns and part-time) could practice sustainable lifestyles from office – an immediate surrounding they spend most of the day (being conscious). The ultimate goal is that they will bring these habits to their domestic life and influence their family and friends.