Incorporating the HKSAR Government’s carbon neutrality target by 2050, the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) has initiated an Advancing Net Zero Ideas Competition (ANZ) to foster innovative future-ready buildings solutions for Hong Kong.
High quality responses with state-of-art concepts were received from both the local and global building sectors. As a leading consultancy firm in green building, AEC has worked with other companies to create a comfortable, engaging, positive environment for the next generation with a combination of sustainability considerations. For instance, the project design named Next Tower has taken comprehensive considerations, including: Integrated Resource Management A hierarchical approach is applied for strategy development.
Energy Strategy
The design of Next Tower has adopted the following features:
On-site renewable energy
Active design features (ceiling fans, efficient equipment and lighting, etc.)
Passive design features (solar and daylight optimisation, reduced air-conditioned area, etc.)
78% energy is saved against the baseline with the strategies.
Water Strategy
The application of the rainwater harvesting system can attain the following achievements:
Approximately 5,000,000 L of water harvested is calculated annually, which covers 100% of irrigation water demand
Water surplus can be served for other purposes such as cleaning.
Waste Strategy— Embodied Carbon/Life Cycle Carbon
The following are the Next Tower’s achievements in carbon reduction:
66% of total carbon emission per floor area are reduced with the design; and
66% of carbon emission are reduced for major building materials in the design compared to the baseline.
75% of embodied and operational carbon emissions reduction through on-site measures.
Considerations between Climate, comfort, health and well-being
To ensure the outdoor and indoor thermal comfort, the design has taken into account the climate of Hong Kong, including temperature, humidity, rainfall and wind distribution.
In Summer
Provision of outdoor shading with winds to flow bypass for area cooling. Fans are supplemented with additional airflow and increased comfort.
In Winter
Provision of outdoor and wind shading to increase comfort.
Green and Health & Wellbeing Framework
The building is designed with reference to the following international building certifications and framework:
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs),
Platinum rating of BEAM Plus,
LEED, and
WELL.
Among the keen competition between the entities, three Winners and five Merits were awarded. Next Tower has been rewarded as one of Merit in the Future Building category with its excellent and forward-looking solution.
In the future, AEC will continue to provide all-inclusive advisory services for companies, fostering ingenious future-ready construction solutions catering to Hong Kong’s city content uniqueness, reducing the energyrelated carbon emission from building assets, and them achieve their target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.