WorldGBC Congress 2015 Hong Kong

11/03/2015

Dr Stefanos FOTIOU, Head of "Cities and Lifestyles" Unit, United Nations Environment Programme / Image: BWPI

Mr Sundaresan RAGHUPATHY, Executive Director, Indian Green Building Council / Image: BWPI

Prof. MU Jun, Director, Wu Zhi Qiao Research and Development Centre Ms Chinwe OHAJURUKA, Chief Executive Officer, Comprehensive Design Services / Image: BWPI

Barry Wilson with Widemar Spruijt, Urban Design&Planning Consultants Limited / Image: BWPI

Thinking Beyond: Pathway to Future Sustainable City Development

Last week saw the WorldGBC Congress 2015 held in Hong Kong; co-organised by the Construction Industry Council (CIC) and the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC), and fully supported by the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC). 

Barry Wilson attended on behalf of the HKILA and was stimulated by the high level discussions on matters of significant importance for the future. Under the theme of “Thinking Beyond: Pathway to Future Sustainable City Development”, the congress discussed issues of scope far wider than just green buildings, with the focus clearly on cites and local governments at the centre of collective action to address climate issues. The clear message of the  Congress was that whilst technological and planning solutions are all available, the financial mechanisms and political will have not been. That appears about to change.  He attended the following presentations with thanks to all the experts for sharing their knowledge and insight.  

Keynote 1: Mr WONG Kam-sing, Secretary for the Environment, Government of the HKSAR
Topic: Hong Kong Sustainability Policy, Roadmap & Action Plans

Keynote 2: Dr QIU Baoxing, Counsellor, State Council of the People's Republic of China; President, China Society for Urban Studies and 2014 WorldGBC Chairman's Award Winner
Topic: New Norm of China Green Building Development
 
Keynote 3: Ms Andrea REIMER, Deputy Mayor, City of Vancouver, Canada
Topic: Improving Quality of Life in Sustainable Communities

Mr Roger PLATT, Board Member, World Green Building Council; President, U.S. Green Building Council
Topic: Cities and the Built Environment: Best Practices in Climate Change Mitigation and Resilience

Dr Chris PYKE, Chief Operating Officer, Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark
Topic: Global Property Investors as Drivers of Market Transformation: Results from the 2015 GRESB Real Estate Assessment

Dr Stanley YIP, Professor,
Centre of Urban Planning & Design, Peking University
Topic: Low Carbon Urbanisation in China: Challenges and Responses

Mr Paul SCIALLA, Founder, International WELL Building Institute
Topic: Designing Buildings for Health and Wellness: Introducing the WELL Building Standard

Mr John ALKER, Board Member, World Green Building Council; Director of Policy and Communications,
UK Green Building Council
Topic: Demand Healthy!

Ms Lisa BATE, Board Member, World Green Building Council; Managing Principal Shanghai, Executive Vice President Asia, B+H Architects
Topic: Strategies & Tools for Material Selection with Real-Time Air Quality Monitoring

Dr Stefanos FOTIOU, Head of "Cities and Lifestyles" Unit, United Nations Environment Programme
Topic: Social Housing and the New Urban Agenda

Mr Sundaresan RAGHUPATHY, Executive Director, Indian Green Building Council
Topic: Green Affordable Houses - Indian Experience

Prof. MU Jun, Director, Wu Zhi Qiao Research and Development Centre
Topic: Improvement, Reformation and Heritage of Tradition

Ms Chinwe OHAJURUKA, Chief Executive Officer, Comprehensive Design Services
Topic: "Small but Mighty": Affordable Green Housing for Nigeria

Mr William M. SISSON, Co-chair, World Business Council for Sustainable Development Energy Efficiency in Buildings Project; Senior Director of Sustainability, United Technologies Corporation
Topic: Driving Local Action to Overcome Market Barriers for Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Ms Anita MITCHELL, General Manager Sustainability, Barangaroo South, Lend Lease Corporation
Topic: Delivering World’s Best Practice Sustainable Urban Regeneration

Prof. Ray WILLS, Managing Director, Future Smart Strategies
Topic: Distributed Ideas and Tech Bringing about Regeneration of Cities

2015/10/09
Publication:
Yuan Lin 2015 Publish Article

2015/10/08
Publication:
South China Morning Post Publish Article

2015/9/18
Congratulations: 
2015 British Day Shenzhen

2015/9/17
Forum:
HKIUD Annual General Meeting, Talk and Dinner