Conservation elements, smart tech help Hong Kong’s Sun Hung Kai Properties generate over US$1.5 billion in revenue at project in wetland buffer area

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The development process at Wetland Seasons Bay was difficult as the firm had to work to reduce the impact of construction and the development itself on the environment, project director says

Deployment of smart tech such as AI and nature conservation is a ‘trend’ among major Hong Kong builders, analyst says

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Lam Ka-sing

Published: 8:30am, 27 Jan 2023

Ecological conservation and smart technologies have helped Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) sell more than 1,650 homes near Hong Kong’s Mai Po wetlands and generate over HK$11.9 billion (US$1.5 billion) in revenue, in a sign that such features are gaining ground with the city’s developers.

The development process at Wetland Seasons Bay, built by Hong Kong’s biggest developer by market value in a wetland buffer area in Tin Shui Wai, was difficult as the firm had to take measures and tweak the design to reduce the impact of construction and the development itself on the environment, Robert Seng, the developer’s project director, said at a briefing last week.

“If anyone develops property in the wetland buffer area, they have to prove to the government that the development will not negatively affect the animals and plants around [the project], or nature,” Seng said. Only then will the government approve the project. “There really were many constraints.”

The Wetland Seasons Bay project is among a number of Hong Kong developments where smart technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics along with nature conservation have been deployed recently.

From left, Robert Seng, project director, and Christopher Wong, director of architectural design, at Sun Hung Kai Properties. Photo: Handout

“Most developments are moving in this direction,” said Vincent Cheung, the managing director of Vincorn Consulting and Appraisal, adding that projects by developers such as New World Development and Chinachem Group had used similar elements. “This is the trend.”

The SHKP development, for example, had to resort to a stepped building height, with a shorter height for buildings closer to the wetland, for a transition between the wetland and the high-density development in the town centre, Seng said. It also had to create breezeways for the passage of air and used glass that is not too transparent or reflective to prevent birds from flying into it. Other measures included adopting more expensive but less noisy pile driving equipment usually used for taller buildings, Seng added.