Water
GRI 303
HKEX Aspect A2, KPI A2.4, A3.1
HKEX Aspect A2, KPI A2.4, A3.1
Swire Properties monitors water consumption in our buildings and utilises various water-saving mechanisms such as water meters, water flow regulators, automatic taps and automatic flush toilets and urinals. In 2021, we participated in the Enterprises Cherish Water (“ECH2O”) campaign, organised by an environmental NGO and the Hong Kong government’s Water Supplies Department, to promote better water management in our buildings.
We consistently encourage our employees and tenants to save water. We also urge our tenants to have in place internal guidelines on fresh and flushing water, as these help us comply with enhancements to the Hong Kong government’s voluntary “Quality Water Supply Scheme for Buildings” which safeguards drinking water quality in buildings. We conduct regular water quality assessment across our Hong Kong and Chinese Mainland portfolio to ensure our occupants have safe and quality access to freshwater.
We aim to manage water risk and reduce overall water consumption under the Water focus area.
The relevant SDGs are:
SDG 6
Ensuring availability and sustainable water management.
SDG 12
Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Water Policy
Swire Properties’ Water Policy has been updated to focus on our responsible use of water. Pursuant to this policy, we aim to design and implement efficient water management measures across our operations, ensure that water is discharged into the environment safely, and encourage our employees and tenants to consume water responsibly, among other action items. In 2022, we conducted a review of our Water Policy to ensure alignment with global best practices and the latest regulations, and to better reflect water-related issues that are material to Swire Properties.
The policy update strengthens our commitments around the responsible use of water. These include understanding water risks in the locations of our developments, reducing water consumption intensity through improved design, implementing efficient water management measures during operations, ensuring that water is discharged into the environment safely, and engaging our stakeholders to encourage the responsible consumption of water.
Water Recycling
Several of our properties have greywater treatment and recycling systems in place. The system at Oxford House at Taikoo Place collects, treats and reuses pantry wastewater from office tenants for cleaning purposes, annually recycling about 300m3. Several Chinese Mainland properties including Taikoo Hui, INDIGO, Taikoo Li Chengdu, and HKRI Taikoo Hui have installed systems to collect and treat wastewater and rainwater for toilet flushing and plant irrigation.
One Taikoo Place also has a system that collects rainwater which is then recycled and used to irrigate the gardens and green spaces at Taikoo Square and around the buildings. Recycled rainwater and greywater are used to irrigate the gardens and green landscaped areas at Two Taikoo Place, yielding an irrigation-related water savings of 100%. Processed water from the cooling tower is also recycled through a reverse osmosis system and reused in the make-up water tank. Together, these three systems have reduced fresh-water demand in the office tower, estimated to be over 52%.
This year, we continued to explore opportunities to save water, whether by upgrading or changing maintenance procedures for our equipment, or through new practices in our daily operations. We also continued our trial programme of adjusting the cleaning schedule for cooling towers, and continued our work with Tsinghua University to study how cooling tower water consumption can be reduced. Using simulations, the study analyses water-use patterns and generates suggestions for optimal practices at different portfolios.
Water Neutrality Study
We completed a survey of past and current water replenishment projects in Hong Kong and six of our Chinese Mainland locations: Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Sanya, Shanghai, and Xi’an. The survey included several case studies such as land cover restoration, Water, Health and Sanitation (WASH), helping us to identify potential project types and partners for the pilot water replenishment projects. We plan to initiate a water replenishment pilot project in 2024.
INDIGO Wastewater Treatment and Reuse System
This year, INDIGO continued its ambitious plan to achieve water neutrality in its direct water use. With extensive modifications to the wastewater treatment system completed in December 2022, we conducted trial operations of the system throughout 2023.
Between January and December, the system produced:
- 88,015 tonnes of water recycled in total, equivalent to 39.2% of total sewage discharged.
- 64,008 tonnes of recycled grey water, fulfilling 93.5% of the flushing, irrigation and cleaning demand.
- 24,007 tonnes of recycled pure water, fulfilling 74.6% of the cooling tower demand.
Wastewater is treated with membrane biological reaction, ozone-activated carbon and reverse osmosis technology, bringing the pure and grey water quality to GB/T 29044-2012 (Water quality for heating and air condition systems) and GB/T 18920-2020 (The reuse of urban recycling water—Water quality standard for urban miscellaneous use) standards.
Smart Water Meters Across our Portfolio
This year, we continued to reduce our freshwater consumption across our portfolio to align with our 2050 water neutrality commitment. In addition to hardware upgrades and system enhancements on the landlord’s side, we also sought to create behavioural change by engaging our office tenants in water-use reduction strategies. We continued installing water-efficient flow regulators, smart digital water meters for office tenants, and digital water meters for utilities covering cleaning, irrigation, kitchens, air conditioning, and fire services.
The digital water meters allow us to understand the real-time water use of our portfolios, and engage in discussions with our technical engineers and portfolio managers to further improve water efficiency and monitor progress against our water targets.
We also began setting up a smart water meter monitoring platform which uses data captured from smart water meters to create a water use profile for tenants. An interactive dashboard provides water use insights and allows us to develop joint strategic water-saving plans with our tenants.
In Hong Kong, by the end of 2023 we had installed smart water meters for all office tenants in Taikoo Place and Citygate Outlets and had begun extending the footprint to Pacific Place office tenants, with installation expected to be completed by 2024. In the Chinese Mainland, we are installing smart water meters in Taikoo Li Sanlitun, Taikoo Hui Guangzhou, Taikoo Li Chengdu, HKRI Taikoo Hui, and INDIGO.
An Effective Biological Drain System for Swire Hotels
This system organically decomposes restaurant kitchen grease on-site. Using a device installed in a restaurant’s grease trap, the system contains bacteria that secrete enzymes to break down fat, oil and grease waste, allowing a restaurant to improve the quality of their effluent and reduce the load on public utilities.
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