WorldGBC – Outstanding green building leaders honoured

Four highly prestigious green building projects, one leading business and an innovative female industry leader have been announced as winners of the World Green Building Council’s regional awards.

The six winners, who have made outstanding contributions to the sustainability of Asia Pacific’s built environment, fought off competition from ten other finalists to be crowned champions of the Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Building Awards for 2018 at a ceremony hosted by the Singapore Green Building Council during its annual Gala Dinner.

The winners are:

• Swire Properties Limited, Hong Kong – Business Leadership in Sustainability Award with Special Recognition, Better Places for People
• Naandi, India – Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Residential category with Special Recognition, Advancing Net Zero
• Barangaroo South, Australia – Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Commercial category
• Aorangi House, New Zealand – Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Commercial category
• Green One United Nation House, Vietnam – Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Institutional category
• Mary Chan, DLN Architects Limited, Hong Kong – Women in Green Building Leadership Award

The Business Leadership in Sustainability Award rewards companies that push boundaries, integrate sustainability into their business models and make an outstanding contribution to a sustainable built environment.

The Leadership in Sustainable Design and Performance Award is presented to pioneering green building projects that set new benchmarks for sustainability. There are three sub-category winners for residential, commercial and institutional buildings.

The Women in Green Building Leadership Award is a new award for 2018 presented to an inspiring female leader in the green building movement. In a traditionally male-dominated industry, WorldGBC wants to recognise the pivotal role that women play in nurturing and activating their communities and delivering change.

This year, to reflect the growing momentum of the World Green Building Council’s global projects Advancing Net Zero and Better Places for People, the awards included recognitions for businesses and projects that have gone above and beyond. The Advancing Net Zero Special Recognition highlights projects that have demonstrated an ambitious and holistic solution to achieving net zero operational carbon emissions; and the Better Places for People Special Recognition spotlights companies that have truly embraced health and wellbeing practices.

Green building projects and companies were nominated by the 15 Green Building Councils which make up the WorldGBC’s Asia Pacific Regional Network.

Joelle Chen, Regional Head of WorldGBC’s Asia Pacific Network, said: “Our Green Building Councils in the Asia Pacific Regional Network work with some of the most pioneering companies on green building and I would like to congratulate all those projects, businesses and leaders who were put forward for the Awards. 

“Six nominations really pushed the boundaries on sustainability, and stood out as true green building leaders in the eyes of our judges. They have raised the bar for others to follow and are the deserved winners of the Awards.”

AkzoNobel and AGC Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Regional Partners of WorldGBC’s Asia Pacific Regional Network are the official Partners for this year’s Awards. 

The jurors were:

• Curt Garrigan, Chief, Sustainable Urban Development Section, Environment and Development Division, UNESCAP;
• Autif Sayyed, Green Building Specialist, Green Building Programme, International Finance World Bank;
• Ar Jahangir Khan, President, ARCAsia;
• Peter Graham, Executive Director, Global Buildings Performance Network;
• Prof Lam Khee Poh, Provost’s Chair Professor (NUS), Professor (Carnegie Mellon University), National University of Singapore;
• Prof Christopher John Webster, Professor, Chair of Urban Planning & Development Economics, Dean (Faculty of Architecture), Hong Kong University;
• Milag San Jose-Ballesteros, Regional Director for Southeast Asia and Oceania C40 Cities;
• Brian Dean, Energy Efficiency, International Energy Agency; and
• Luca de Giovanetti, Science-based Targets, World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

About the winners

Swire Properties Limited, Hong Kong – Business Leadership in Sustainability Award with Special Recognition, Better Places for People

Swire Properties develops and manages commercial, retail, hotel and residential properties, with a particular focus on mixed-use developments in prime locations at major mass transportation intersections. Swire Properties is listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and its investment portfolio in Hong Kong comprises Taikoo Place, Cityplaza and Pacific Place as its core holdings.  In addition to Hong Kong, the Company has investments in Mainland China, the United States and Singapore. In Mainland China, Swire Properties has an attributable portfolio amounting to around 9.4 million sq ft, including five mixed-use developments in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shanghai.

Naandi by Organo, India – Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Residential category with Special Recognition, Advancing Net Zero

Headquartered in Hyderabad, India, Organo is a company founded on the idea of environmentally conscious living. With 20 full time staff, the goal of the organization is to develop communities which are self-reliant in seven strands of sustainability – energy, food, water, air, animals, people and shelter. The project – Naandi – is an amalgam between rural and urban environments in what is an innovative paradigm that we call Rurban with a goal to make the development a zero-maintenance community by using an innovative credit system for the seven strands.

Barangaroo South, Australia – Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Commercial category

Barangaroo South is part of the Barangaroo development, Sydney’s largest urban regeneration project in a generation. Barangaroo South currently accommodates around 20,000 office workers, 82 retailers and 159 premium waterfront apartments. As you approach the precinct from the city the entrance is framed by International House Sydney – Australia’s first engineered timber commercial building. By substituting renewable timber for traditional construction materials, the Cross Laminated Timber construction reduces the building’s global Warming Potential by 91% compared to concrete.

Aorangi House, New Zealand – Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Commercial category

The Aorangi house revitalization is an exemplar project that demonstrates how the up-cycling of an existing commercial office building can not only significantly reduce environmental impact but also achieve positive user perceptions coupled with leading environmental performance outcomes. The original 1970 Aorangi house building was vacated in 2005 due to issues with heating, cooling and ventilation. The single glazed windows leaked and the uninsulated façade was considered user-unfriendly. The building remained untenanted until purchased by developer Prime Property Group. The design team consisting of Beca building services engineers and Studio Pacific Architects adopted an integrated design approach to the major refurbishment.

Green One United Nation House, Vietnam – Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Institutional category

The Green One UN House (GOUNH) stands as a symbol of collaboration and partnership. It represents the commitment of the international community and the UN to work together for an environmentally sustainable future. While the GOUNH serves as a model for sustainable construction in Viet Nam, the motivation to build green came from an understanding of needing to reduce the institution’s environmental footprint, provide example and leadership towards meeting several Sustainable Development Goals – at the helm of this global organization.

Mary Chan, DLN Architects Limited, Hong Kong – Women in Green Building Leadership Award

Mary Chan is Head of Sustainable Building Design and Assistant Director at DLN Architects Limited. An architect with over three decades of experience, her achievements and contributions to the green building movement include spearheading further development of the Hong Kong Green Building Council, leading successful public engagement programmes “My Green Space” and the “Green Shopping Alliance” and advocating and influencing government regulators to encourage more green building development in Hong Kong.

For more information about the WorldGBC Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Building Awards, click here.

(Source: WorldGBC)