IKEA for Business’s Vision for the Evolving Workspaces: Redefining Post-Pandemic Office Design and the Future of Work

Hong Kong is one of the major stopover points along the East-Asian Australasian Flyway for migrating birds, but our urban environment is full of hazards that affect both these migrating birds as well as our own resident birds. Bright lights can disorient the birds, exhausting them and forcing them down into unsuitable environments where they are exposed to unfamiliar and unnatural threats. An even larger problem is collisions with our many glass enclosed buildings.

Hong Kong, 28 May 2024 – Since its launch in 1996, Building Environmental Assessment Method (or its latest name, BEAM Plus) has been a leading rating tool adopted in Hong Kong for assessing the sustainability performance of buildings. On 27 May 2024, the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) and BEAM Society Limited (BSL) announced the release of the BEAM Plus Existing Buildings (EB) (Global Version) V1.0 and held a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony for applying BEAM Plus to projects outside Hong Kong. Over 60 industry leaders witnessed this important milestone as BEAM Plus expanded its service scope to regions outside Hong Kong, including the Mainland, Belt and Road Regions and Europe. While this important move will actively assist the development of green building in adjacent and overseas regions, the BEAM Plus EB (Global Version) serves as a versatile tool that can adapt to different climate types and flexibly assess the building sustainability based on applicable standards of diverse geographical locations. It can also work in synergy with other green building rating systems around the globe to provide a more comprehensive assessment of sustainability performance.

In the past, Sheung Wan was once the economic centre of Hong Kong, where many businesses started and witnessed the historical changes of the city. These old shops have either upheld traditions and continuously strived to thrive, or they have followed the pulse of the times, embracing transformation and innovation. We will lead you into Sheung Wan’s Dried Seafood Street and together explore the stories of these old shops. We will delve into traditional printing and salted fish shops, listening to the owners personally share their industry stories, understanding their significant role in Hong Kong’s development as a commercial hub, and witnessing their interaction with the cultural and tourism industries. In addition, we will also introduce new projects within the community, discussing how urban redevelopment and the pandemic have impacted the development of these traditional business and the community. At the end there is a reflective session to discuss the topic.