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Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited (SHKP) published its 2019/20 Sustainability Report today, detailing the Group’s enhanced sustainability strategy framework and its latest work in strengthening its environmental, social and economic resilience for the 2019/20 financial year.

Guided by its belief in Building Homes with Heart, the Group reviewed its sustainability approach and sharpened the focus and commitment of its sustainability strategy framework. The Group believes this will better consolidate its efforts to contribute to the broad United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and address stakeholder expectations.

“With a solid foundation built over the past years, we strive to improve further the Group’s sustainability performance and pursue long-term value. We continue to demonstrate resilience in meeting future challenges and uncertainties,” said SHKP’s Sustainability Steering Committee.

The five priority pillars of the Group’s sustainability strategy – the Environment, People, Customers, Supply Chain and Community – are central to the Group’s sustainability work. They describe the Group’s commitment and approach, and represent the key areas that the Group will focus on going forward.

The full report is now available at https://www.shkp.com/Html/CSR/SHKP_SR_2020_EN.pdf. 

SHKP’s major work and achievements in the 2019/20 financial year are as follows:

The Environment

• Accomplished the Group’s five-year energy reduction target and set a new 10-year target for its managed properties
• Updated the Group’s Environmental Policy with an enhanced commitment to reflect its overarching approach in addressing environmental challenges

People

• Two of the Group’s subsidiaries completed the migration to the latest and more stringent ISO 45001 Occupational Safety and Health Management System
• Upgraded the Group’s digital learning platforms to enhance employee-training capacity

Customers

• The Group’s loyalty programme, the SHKP Club, has more than 420,000 members, expanding the Group’s engagement with customers
• Improved hygiene standards and utilized technologies to safeguard the health and safety of customers and other property users
• Introduced smart living concepts through the use of home automation systems and mobile applications in the Group’s latest residential developments

Supply Chain

• 98% of suppliers were locally based to support the local economy
• A below industry average accident rate for the Group’s contractors at construction sites

Community

• Launched a transitional social housing project, United Court, to help ease the local housing shortage for underprivileged families 
• 2,800 registered volunteers of the SHKP Volunteer Team continued to help the community and have together contributed over 100,000 service hours to date

The Group’s sustainability work has once again received notable recognition in sustainability-related indices. SHKP has remained a constituent member of the Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Global Index series of London. The Group also ranked sixth in the Hong Kong Business Sustainability Index (HKBSI) and fourth in the Greater Bay Area Business Sustainability Index (GBABSI). 
 

The SHKP-Kwoks’ Foundation has once again worked with the local government of Dingxi, Gansu, an extreme poverty area in the country, after the successful completion of piping in drinking water for local farming families. The SHKP-Kwoks’ Foundation has provided funding of RMB300,000 to install solar-powered street lights in several villages, benefitting 700 local families and their future generations, allowing residents to go out safely at night.

The Nagu, Liujiahe and Chatao villages are at 2,300 –2,700 metres above sea level, located in Puma township in Min county, one of the national-level poverty-stricken counties. Before the solar-powered street lights were installed, the local residents would get hurt easily if they went out after sunset without bringing any fire torches or flashlights. It was also risky for primary school students to go to school in the dark at winter dawns.

The solar-powered street light installation work was completed recently. SHKP-Kwoks’ Foundation Executive Director Amy Kwok said she was pleased that the project had a positive impact on people’s livelihood in Gansu. Over the years, the SHKP-Kwoks’ Foundation is committed to alleviating poverty in Gansu by developing different projects, which have achieved successful results, including English lessons for the officials, secondary school scholarship programmes, piping in drinking water, and the recent solar-powered street light installation.

The Head of the Women’s Commission of the Chatao village said that the lights made it convenient for residents to go out at night and enhanced the living conditions of the village. The widely acclaimed ‘Light Movement’ has motivated other poor neighbouring rural villages to install street lights and fight against poverty.

Since its establishment nearly two decades ago, the SHKP-Kwoks' Foundation has created and sponsored more than 70 projects, benefitting over 60,000 people from over 25 provinces and cities across the country.
 

A groundbreaking ceremony was held today for the Jianghehui project in the Qianjiang New City CBD, Hangzhou, a joint-venture development between Sun Hung Kai Properties, Ping An Real Estate, and Hangzhou CBD Investment Group. Officiating guests included Hu Wei, Deputy Mayor of the Hangzhou Municipal Government; Teng Yong, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Hangzhou and Party Secretary of the Jianggan District Committee; Feng Jing, Deputy Secretary of the Jianggan District Committee and Deputy District Mayor of Hangzhou City; Wang Chong, Director of the Hangzhou Investment Promotion Bureau; Christopher Kwok, Executive Director of Sun Hung Kai Properties; Albert Lau, Executive Director of Sun Hung Kai Properties (China) Limited; Zhu Zhengjian, Managing Director of Ping An Real Estate Company Limited; and Geng Mei, Managing Director of the Project Management Centre of Ping An Real Estate Company Limited, along with the management of the Hangzhou Qiangjiang New City Construction Management Committee and Hangzhou CBD Investment Group.

Comprising two neighbouring riverside sites located at the intersection of the Qiantang River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Jianghehui project is prominently situated in the core area of the Qianjiang New City CBD, Hangzhou, with sweeping river views. With a strategic vision, Sun Hung Kai Properties teamed up with its partners to acquire the sites in August 2019 for RMB13,260 million. Total investment in the project is expected to reach RMB30,000 million. The project sits adjacent to two metro stations under construction, and is about a 15-minute drive to Hangzhou East Railway Station. Thanks to excellent intra- and inter-city transportation networks, the development is set to attract high-quality talent and resources with enormous potential. 

Spanning a total above-ground gross floor area of about nine million square feet (about 836,000 square metres), the project will include offices, retail space, premium residences and five-star hotel facilities. It will consolidate and synergize Hangzhou’s competitive edge in economic, environmental, cultural and social dimensions, while seamlessly linking the flow of traffic, people and information to create a new dimension that meets the needs of a multi-faceted city. This one-of-a-kind ‘seamless city’ will offer high-quality space for business, working and living, as well as ample public space for leisure, forming a landmark and transforming Hangzhou’s urban landscape.

A major riverside development driven by strong collaboration

Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony, Hu Wei, Deputy Mayor of the Hangzhou Municipal Government, said: “As a signature project, which promotes riverside development and the eastward expansion of Hangzhou, the Jianghehui integrated complex will play an important role in enhancing the urban landscape and raising our city’s development level. We believe that upon completion, the project will redefine the urban landscape with distinctive features, comprehensive amenities and diversified functions, fuelling the overall urban development of the city. Hangzhou will offer all-round support to ensure that the project progresses swiftly and smoothly.”

Christopher Kwok, Executive Director of Sun Hung Kai Properties, said: “Adhering to our belief in Building Homes with Heart, Sun Hung Kai Properties is actively committed to urban development to respond to the needs of national and regional development. The Jianghehui project is a major development, thoughtfully planned and designed in collaboration with reputable partners. Riding on the strong support of the government and Sun Hung Kai Properties’ extensive experience in developing large-scale integrated complexes, we are confident that this project will become a premium urban landmark that will drive the development of Hangzhou.”

Geng Mei, Managing Director of the Project Management Centre of Ping An Real Estate Company Limited, said: “The Jianghehui project will be built into a world-class urban complex for business, living and cultural tourism, providing Hangzhou with a diversified, shared and smart commercial landmark. In keeping with our ‘Professionaland Win-win’ business philosophy, Ping An Real Estate will introduce and pool different high-quality resources for the project. We will cooperate closely with all partners in the project to create sustainable value for economic and social development in the region.”

Meticulously forging a world-class landmark for Hangzhou 

Led by Zaha Hadid Architects, a Pulitzer Prize winner, the overall planning and design team applied the idea of a ‘seamless, integrated development’ in the planning of diverse types of businesses in the area to create a premium urban space for living, business and travel. Inspired by Hangzhou’s embroidery heritage, the project creatively embodies the concept of needle threading to join the River East and River West sites with an iconic footbridge across the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, echoing the waves of the Qiantang River and outlining the elegant riverbank curves. The project’s façade, whose design was inspired by the tidal changes in the Qiantang River and set against the canal bridge and Ferris wheel alongside lights designed by professional consultants, has created magnificent world-class river views and a stunning urban landscape along the ferocious Qiantang River.

With Sun Hung Kai Properties’ years of experience in developing and operating large integrated complexes and its solid foundation, the premium mixed-use Jianghehui project will attract a diverse range of international brands and businesses, connecting the premium resources of Hangzhou and creating a world-renowned urban landmark on the banks of the Qiantang River. Scheduled to be completed in phases starting in 2024, the project will elevate the overall strategic status of Qiangjiang New City and Hangzhou in the world, unleashing the area’s economic, talent and tourism potential.