Understanding the impacts that the places we develop and manage have on society and the environment is crucial to our long-term decision-making. From 2020 to 2022, we published three Places Impact Reports to evaluate how the unique characteristics of our portfolios – Taikoo Place, Taikoo Li Sanlitun and Taikoo Hui Guangzhou contribute to placemaking.
Three of our portfolios were accessed using the “Places Impact Framework” – a bespoke approach developed by Swire Properties to examine our portfolio’s impact on three levels – Investment, Place and City. Each report aimed to address the question “What makes a great place?” from four dimensions: vibrancy, livelihood, wellbeing, and resilience. The studies reinforced our belief that our placemaking and placekeeping efforts can contribute positively to the community in which we operate.
Findings from the three reports provided us with insights on design connectivity, safety, cohesiveness and resilience that can enhance the integration of our developments with the local community, bring socio-economic benefits to its surrounding areas, and improve the lives of residents, workers and visitors.
Built around our four dimensions of Places – Vibrancy, Livelihood, Wellbeing and Resilience, we currently have a set of criteria to measure the degree of social integration across our portfolios:
Vibrancy
Located in or in close proximity to major transportation hubs.
Promote connectivity with public transit, amenities and between buildings with well-designed walkways.
Design accessible, inclusive and barrier-free pedestrian networks.
Promote sustainable mobility wherever appropriate (e.g. walkable neighbourhoods, use of bicycles, free shuttle buses and electric vehicle charging systems).
Extensive integration of arts in public spaces across our portfolios and in community programmes.
High-quality open spaces and venues designed for community activities.
Offer in-kind venue support for social enterprises and NGOs.
Livelihood
Mixed-use developments promote a strong diversity of business sectors and economic resilience.
Promote cohesive business networks to create a local business ecosystem and a greater sense of community among the working population.
Support affordable housing wherever appropriate.
Wellbeing
Monitor occupant wellbeing (e.g. indoor air quality) and incorporate health and safety and wellness features and initiatives.
Amenities such as accessible toilets, nursing and breastfeeding rooms, accessible parking spaces and wheelchairs.
Accessibility to green space and nature, and promote urban farming facilities wherever appropriate.
Resilience
Employ best practice risk management procedures to ensure business continuity at the corporate and asset levels, including proactive measures to assess climate risks and build climate resilience and adaptive capacity across our portfolios.
Promote social resilience and community connection through community initiatives and educational programmes.
Swire Properties adopts an integrated design approach to our projects in accordance with the requirements of several internationally recognised standards and rating schemes, such as BEAM Plus, LEED, The China Green Building Design Label and WELL. These standards set out the requirements of physical and social environments that benefit the health, wellbeing and productivity of people. Our new development projects will, as far as practicable, pursue credits under these green building standards and rating systems, to promote social integration.
The following initiatives represent Swire Properties’ alignment with the social integration criteria of our projects under development and in our existing portfolio during 2023:
100% of our properties are located in close proximity to transportation hubs, with pedestrian-friendly networks that are well connected with transit stations and amenities. Free shuttle bus services are available at some of our portfolios. Bicycle parking facilities are provided at most of our properties.
100% of our properties have open spaces and venues designed for community, cultural and arts events, among others.
98% of our properties have accessible, inclusive and barrier-free pedestrian networks.
Approximately 90% and 80% of the common areas in buildings in our Hong Kong portfolio and our Chinese Mainland portfolio achieved IAQ Excellent Class and fulfilled the local IAQ standards respectively.
In March 2023, we published our third Places Impact Report, exploring the social and economic placemaking impacts of our Taikoo Hui Guangzhou development. The research highlights how Swire Properties’ continued investment in both hardware and software have contributed to the resilience of Taikoo Hui Guangzhou and its communities.
This set of criteria, combining the insights from the three previous reports, informed our development of a guidance document. The aim of the document was to create a framework and a comprehensive set of indicators to assess the placemaking efforts during pre and post development stages of operations, ensuring a consistent approach to placemaking and better allocation of capital towards placemaking and social integration considerations.
Vibrancy
Livelihood
Wellbeing
Resilience