When it comes to sustainability, Swire Properties is widely recognised as an industry leader, both in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland. Here, Swire News takes a look at how the company’s long-term, joint research efforts with Beijing’s Tsinghua University are playing a key role in ensuring that the business successfully meets its decarbonisation targets.
Swire Properties was the first property developer in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland to set approved 1.5°C-aligned science-based targets. By doing so, the company has established a long-term decarbonisation trajectory for its global portfolios that is aligned with the Paris Agreement. Swire Properties has also set a target of being net-zero by 2050 and is well on-track to achieving this goal, thanks to its ongoing collaboration with the prestigious Tsinghua University.
A lasting partnership
Swire Properties and Tsinghua University established the Building Energy Efficiency Research Fund in March 2008. At that time, the developer was already making strenuous efforts to make the properties in its portfolio more energy efficient. The university was, meanwhile, the leading researcher in this field in the Chinese Mainland and had been appointed to lead the Eleventh Five-Year Scientific Research Project on building energy sub-metering to deliver energy reduction through scientific, databased methods.
Since then, Swire Properties has contributed more than HK$60 million in funding towards the research partnership and, in 2011, the two organisations established the Joint Research Centre for Building Energy Efficiency and Sustainability ("Joint Research Centre"), which has gone on to achieve impressive energy saving results. Over the past five years, key achievements include the identification of a total of 23 million kWh per year of potential energy saving opportunities through the retro-commissioning of existing buildings and facilities in the Swire Properties portfolio. These savings will reduce CO2 emissions by 16,000 tonnes annually – the equivalent of planting 700,000 trees.
Tim Blackburn, Chief Executive of Swire Properties, explains the significance of the partnership to the company's operations: "When we set out to implement greater sustainability in our developments, it was incumbent on us to work with the very best in the industry. Tsinghua University is the Chinese Mainland’s leading academic institution and excels in sustainable development research and innovation. The university's status also grants it a profound knowledge of the national policy on sustainability matters. This has had a direct impact on how we are able to achieve our carbon reduction targets effectively and efficiently."
A shared focus
It seems fitting that Swire’s motto, "Esse Quam Videri", means "to be, rather than to seem to be", while Tsinghua University's motto is "Self-discipline and social commitment". Taken together, these two maxims point to a shared working style, founded on science and data-based research and implementation. Both organisations also share the approach that technology can and should be adopted widely throughout the industry, and that information supporting this should be shared through seminars, workshops and publications.
Within the framework of the Joint Research Centre, the scope has now broadened from energy-saving diagnosis of existing buildings to areas such as design and operations. This means leveraging opportunities and developing innovative solutions, such as installing energy-management platforms, improving indoor air quality, harnessing renewable energy, applying machine-learning and embracing digital transformation – measures that closely align with the Chinese Mainland's dual carbon goals of achieving a carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
Dr Wei Qingpeng, Associate Professor at Tsinghua University's Department of Building Science and Technology, has been closely involved in the collaboration. He says: "Swire Properties is no ordinary funder. Among Tsinghua's thousand-plus commercial partners, Swire Properties is one of our few long-term partners – and one that is genuinely hands-on when it comes to projects. Over the past 15 years, we have worked closely on many different developments across the Chinese Mainland and in Hong Kong, including shopping malls, office buildings and hotels."
Dr Jean Qin, Swire Properties' Deputy Director, Technical Services & Sustainable Development, Chinese Mainland, works alongside Dr Wei and his team on each project. She explains more: "The successful implementation of sustainable development features requires a sharp eye for identifying hidden pain-points, an innovative approach to devising solutions, and meticulous planning to manage their implementation. There is no cookie-cutter approach, and each case is unique. The only formula for success is continuous innovation – something which inspires the teams from Swire Properties and Tsinghua University alike."
Technology and innovation in action
While implementing sustainability initiatives can be seen as simply "the right thing to do", it can bring additional positive benefits – such as being precisely what elevates the overall customer experience at Swire Properties' developments. An example is INDIGO, Beijing, where teams from Swire Properties and Tsinghua University addressed the pressing issue of temperature disparity inside the development’s shopping mall.
"A typical problem for many Beijing shopping malls in the depths of winter is that the upper floors can be more than 10°C warmer than the lower floors," explains Jean. "This means shoppers are often compelled to wear jackets on the lower floors and will then have to remove them when they go upstairs. This affects their personal comfort, and it also leads to higher energy usage inside the building."
The solution was for Tsinghua's team to scan the entire outer façade of the building with infrared technology, identifying where cold air leaks occurred. In parallel, Swire Properties’ teams worked to optimise the mall’s air-handling units, including the F&B outlets' kitchen ventilation systems. As a result of the work carried out, the temperature gap inside INDIGO mall decreased from 11°C to a mere 3°C. This not only helped reduce the amount of energy used in heating the mall, it also significantly improved overall customer experience. Such was the success of the project that it featured as an example of a super-low heating energy project in Tsinghua University's respected Annual Report on China Building Energy Efficiency in 2018.
At Swire Properties' Taikoo Li Sanlitun mixed-use development in Beijing, research showed that replacing the entire air conditioning system would bring significant energy savings. Typically, such a major retrofit would affect almost every area of the property, requiring at least partial closure, and creating significant operational and financial impact. Instead, work is being undertaken over six years, from 2019 to 2024, while maintaining normal operations at the mall. Implementation involves more than 10 teams from Tsinghua and Swire working in close collaboration, with much of the technical work being carried out at night; the project has been so meticulously planned that nightshift arrangements are timetabled at half-hourly intervals across the entire period. Once completed in 2024, it is estimated that energy savings will be in the order of 13.4 million kWh per year.
Swire Properties is keen to make energy reduction breakthroughs – especially if they are the result of innovation. Taikoo Li Sanlitun is the first commercial building in the Chinese Mainland to install a Photovoltaic, Energy Storage, Direct Current, Flexible ("PEDF") system. Solar panels will generate free, renewable energy amounting to around 110,000 kWh each year; and since there will be no energy lost in converting alternating (mains) current to direct current, the project's direct current microgrid distribution system should save approximately 90,000 kWh each year. A pilot trial for two of the buildings covering 3,000m2 is currently underway, with the support of the China Building Energy Conservation Association's PEDF Expert Panel. It is hoped that the project will encourage further trials across the Chinese Mainland.
The successful collaboration between Swire Properties and Tsinghua University extends to other key portfolios, where steps have been taken to retro-commission existing developments with the latest technology. At Pacific Place Mall in Hong Kong, for example, the continuous improvement achieved in the mall’s operational energy performance led to Swire Properties winning the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air- Conditioning Engineers' 2021 ASHRAE Technology Award – Existing Building Commissioning category.
Future ambitions
In April this year, Swire Properties signed the third renewal of its partnership with Tsinghua University, with the company committing to an additional RMB 15 million in funding over three years. Tim Blackburn has high expectations: "We are continually seeking ways to innovate and that is how we will continue to make breakthroughs and achieve industry firsts," he says.
"We are proud of what we've achieved already over the past 15 years, but there is always more to be done. We are serious about decarbonising our developments, and the only feasible way to do so is by harnessing cutting-edge technology and research, and continually applying it wherever we can. It's not just a case of identifying solutions. Rather, it is a joint commitment to continuous improvement. That is how we ensure we are placing sustainability at the heart of our operations – by seeking to improve all the time."
This ambition goes beyond the current generation of developers. As a platform for higher education and the cultivation of outstanding young minds, the Joint Research Centre provides hands-on experience for students at Tsinghua University, helping them make the leap from textbooks to practical application. Under the auspices of the Joint Research Centre, 26 postgraduate and 20 undergraduate students have completed their graduation projects using Swire Properties’ developments as case studies, while hundreds of Tsinghua University students have taken part in site visits.
Teams from Swire Properties and Tsinghua University are also looking at ways to use innovative ground source heat pump technology at the Taikoo Li Xi'an development when it is completed in phases from 2025. The technology harnesses renewable geothermal energy, which can be deployed in the building's heating and cooling systems. This will be the first instance of ground source heat pump technology being used in a large-scale commercial development in western China.
There is still much to be done to achieve carbon neutrality within the industry, but we can look forward to being inspired by yet more exciting sustainability projects arising from the renewed collaboration between Swire Properties and Tsinghua University. 
