2023 Summer Issue of Urban Land - 28

developments
developments
would import marble from Italy
as a way to differentiate, but
now they are requesting to
use recycled or upcycled
materials. "
On-Site Power
Asian data
centers are
being designed
with as much
passive cooling
as possible, which
means everything
from intelligent
management
systems to
cooling gel for
server racks. "
-AMIE
SHUTTLEWORTH,
HEAD OF
SUSTAINABLE
INVESTING AT
UNDIVIDED
VENTURES
Another focus for asset owners
in the Asia Pacific region-
especially important where it
is hard to get electricity from
renewable sources via the
grid-is on-site power generation.
For
example, ESR Group,
one of the largest managers
of Asia Pacific industrial space,
recently released its 2030 ESG
Roadmap, in which it pledged
to build 1 gigawatt of solar
photovoltaic (PV) capacity by
2030, a tenfold increase from
the 100 megawatts installed at
the end of 2022. Meanwhile,
Hang Lung has installed on-site
solar panels at eight properties
that generate over 600
megawatt-hours of renewable
energy annually.
Hang Lung also has a small
ground energy system, which
uses heat from the ground as
a " free " source of energy, at its
Westlake 66 project in Hangzhou,
something still relatively
unusual for the region. The
potential for ground energy
is something that Haffner
believes is being neglected
by real estate. " It is like a big
battery in the ground, " he
explains.
Rooftops need not necessarily
be used to generate
electricity, but as a means to
reduce its use.
" As well as integrating solar
PV into designs, we see radiative
cooling technologies which
reduce the need for mechanical
cooling, " Shuttleworth says.
" Also, Asian data centers are
being designed with as much
passive cooling as possible,
28
URBAN LAND SUMMER 2023
which means everything from
intelligent management systems
to cooling gel for server
racks. "
Much of the work being
done by Hang Lung and
other asset owners is in its
early stages and, like all asset
owners, the company has to
address legacy properties and
designs. Some older buildings
in Hong Kong still lack a
building management system,
for instance, and are being
retrofitted to bring them up to
scratch.
Embodied Carbon
The real estate industry in Asia
also lags that in Europe in
terms of dealing with embodied
carbon.
" With regard to embodied
carbon, no one knows
what 'good' looks like in Asia,
because we don't have the
data and benchmarking available
in Europe. No one knows
if something is a good building
or retrofit, which is a real challenge
for the industry, " Shuttleworth
says.
There are two main challenges
for Asian asset owners
seeking to use proptech to
improve sustainability. First, the
region lacks the critical mass
of proptech companies and
venture capital investors that
can be seen in Europe and the
United States. However, this is
changing with specialist venture
capital firms such as Undivided,
Taronga Ventures (an
Australian sustainable proptech
investor), and U.S. firm Fifth
Wall, which opened an office in
Singapore earlier this year.
The second major hurdle is
that proptech solutions need
to be effective at scale.
" That is the big challenge
for real estate. We need collectively
to find a way to
accelerate the scaling of these
technologies, " says Hang
Lung's Haffner. " We consider it
very important to partner with
innovators and universities on
these technologies in the hope
that they can be scaled up to
work for the industry. "
Key developments for the
region in the future will be
the adoption of more passive
design features and more intelligent
automated management
and the continued development
of proptech capital
markets. Meanwhile, everyone
working in sustainability in
Asian real estate declares that
more industry collaboration
is needed if it is to make real
progress in sustainability, Haffner
says.
MARK COOPER is a freelance journalist
based in Hong Kong. He is editor and cofounder
of Sustain, an online resource for real estate
sustainability.
ULI Releases New
Report: Parks That
Protect
Waterfronts have long played
a pivotal role in the development,
adaptation, and success
of cities. From being centers of
industry to public spaces, arts
and cultural hubs, and mixeduse
districts, urban waterfronts
have evolved to meet the challenges
and opportunities of
their times.
Today, public- and privatesector
leaders are redeveloping
waterfront properties as parks
and open space to reconnect
residents to the water, provide
health and environmental
benefits, and increase citywide
resilience to the impacts of climate
change.
2023 Summer Issue of Urban Land

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