Industry Awards Highlight
Best Practice in Real Estate
Author: Michael Hart has spent more than 20 years in China in the commercial real estate industry and over a decade of that time in Tianjin.
Most sectors have industry groups that bring together experts and share best practice, and real estate is no exception. One such leading group is ULI (Urban Land Institute) headquartered in Washington D.C. and with their Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. ULI held its annual Asia Pacific conference in Shanghai in June, bringing together a broad range of professionals across the real estate spectrum, including architects, developers, investors, agents, and property managers.
One highlight of the conference was the "Awards for Excellence" where ten projects across Asia Pacific were highlighted for their innovative and thoughtful designs. You can visit ULI’s website to see the various projects in detail. (https://asia.uli.org/) However, below I share some of the lessons that I took away and I think we should keep in mind, as we imagine our cities going forward.
大多数行业都有行业团体，汇集专家并分享最佳实践，房地产也不例外。其中一个优秀团体是ULI（城市土地学会），总部设在华盛顿特区，亚太区总部设在香港。ULI于6月在上海举办了年度亚太会议，汇集了房地产领域的广泛专业人士。会议的一个亮点是“卓越奖”，其中亚太地区的十个项目以其创新和周到的设计而着称。
High rises need to be integrated
Tall buildings are coming and there isn’t much we can do to stop this, but an innovative project in Singapore by the developer called Guoco Land has put up a very tall series of towers in a complex called "Tanjong Pagar Centre" in what is a more residential neighbourhood. One strategy was that they staggered them, so they blend easier into the neighbour and has included some outdoor public space, where events can be held and that will draw people to the green space they’ve put right into the heart of their project. A covered space in the middle of a public park brings the community together through public morning yoga workouts and evening concerts or can even be rented for corporate events. Nearly all new developments in China are required to have some green space, but most of that is small lawns and gardens that make the sidewalks a little more pleasant, but don’t actually provide much to the community. The public space in this project really does in industry lingo “activate” the space. Developers and governments do need to be thinking about how best to integrate the high rises that will inevitably come and how to create space for the whole community, not just the main users of the office and hotel towers. This creates value for all stakeholders on a long term basis.
https://tanjongpagarcentre.com.sg/about
高层建筑需要整合
我们无法阻止高层建筑时代的到来，开发商Guoco Land在新加坡的一个名为“丹戎巴葛中心”的综合体创新项目中建造了一个高层但更加适合居住的社区。项目大量的户外公共空间的存在，吸引了社区人们聚集在一起，甚至可以租用于公司活动。该项目的公共空间确实 “激活”了社区。
Re-use is good
ple often ask why China has embraced such big large modern developments, such as office towers or high-rise apartment buildings, when there are older, low-rise and often more interesting buildings left to decay or in many cases to be cleared away for these high-rise complexes. Often it is because cities need denser buildings to accommodate the growing populations and because restoration work can be time consuming and expensive. China has been on such a rapid pace of development, developers and planners often just focus on the big projects, only later to regret that no trace is left of what was there before. That is why it was refreshing to see a small, but creative re-use of a series of old alleys and warehouses turned into a pedestrian friendly restaurant and pub areas in the Australian city of Brisbane in an area now called Fish Lane. In an area that was largely ignored and back alley space with graffiti marked brick walls has been repurposed with new graffiti, now part of the public art and outdoor dining scene that has made this a cool area of this Australian city. Tianjin is starting to see similar developments in the Five Boulevards area, but with so much old architecture, Tianjin surely has loads to learn from this example.
https://explorefishlane.com.au/
旧城改造是好的方向
城市需要更密集的建筑来容纳不断增长的人口，因为修复旧建筑工作既耗时又昂贵。中国的发展速度如此之快，开发商和规划人员往往只专注于新建项目，后来才后悔没有留下那些有历史意义的旧建筑。这就是为什么在澳大利亚布里斯班的一个现在被称为鱼巷的地区，看到一系列古老的小巷和仓库变成一个再造的餐厅和酒吧区会令人耳目一新。这使得这个澳大利亚城市变得很酷。
It takes time
Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) is a project in Shanghai that opened its first phase in 2006 and has continued to develop elements since that time. In some ways the project was well ahead of its time. The concept is to create a technology centred area, near leading universities, in some senses Shanghai’s version of Silicon Valley. The project is located in a northern district of Shanghai, so not nearly as dense as other Shanghai projects and has a historic sports stadium as an adjacent element. The project includes office space, residential space and shopping, and gives the feel of one large continual technology campus. There were many sceptics about the project in the early days, but the developer, Shui On Land, who also developed the well-known Shanghai Xintiandi area, preserved and is now able to reap the awards for sticking with the long development process. One common mistake that many developers make is selling off smaller pieces of their project, such as street shops or floors of office space. If this developer had done this, they would not have been able to maintain the image and quality of this project. Sometimes it takes a long time and deep pockets to deliver a big vision, but foregoing short term profits may be necessary to see the original plan fully delivered.
http://www.kic.net.cn/en/about-us
这需要时间
知识与创新社区（KIC）是上海的一个项目，于2006年开始其第一阶段，该项目远远超过了它的原计划。该项目包括办公空间，住宅空间和购物，确实给人一种大型连续技术校园的感觉。早期有很多关于这个项目的怀疑者，但开发商坚持住了，现在该项目凭借长期的开发获得奖项。
Longevity matters
There is a special excellence award that ULI can bestow on a project that has been in operation for over 20 years and that was awarded to Pacific Place in Hong Kong, developed by Swire properties. Many folks, who have been to Hong Kong, have visited this large mixed use commercial real estate complex that includes a shopping mall, three office towers, four hotels and a serviced apartment. While there has been constant expansion from the original project, visitors would likely be shocked to realize the project opened over two decades ago, because it continues to look so fresh and well maintained. Most commercial projects are conceived to last for at least 50 years, but as we know in China, too many of them look decrepit by the time they are only ten years old. Effort and money are needed to maintain and upgrade properties, so they can continue to perform at the optimum and that is a lesson worth learning. This project is a useful case study.
https://www.swireproperties.com/en/portfolio/current-developments/pacific-place.aspx
持续的发展很重要
ULI为一个已经运营20多年的项目颁发了特别优秀奖，该奖项授予了太古地产开发的香港太古广场。最初的项目不断扩大，它继续扩大并且看起来维护得很好。大多数商业项目原计划至少持续50年，但正如我们所知，当它们只有十年之久时，它们中的太多数看起来已经破旧。需要人力和资金来维护和升级，以便他们能够继续保持最佳状态，这是值得学习的。该项目是一个有用的案例研究。
The ULI conference was enlightening and included discussion about big issues that I may cover in the future, however, a key lesson on display was that transparency and best practice sharing can help the industry improve and evolve. China's real estate market has made rapid progress over the past two decades, but as the economy and the market begins to slow, it is time to look for longer term solutions to refurbish the old where possible, ensure new projects engage the community, not lose heart when a project takes a long time to complete and invest in, and maintain projects so they can be successful and productive over their planned life cycles of multiple decades.
