At the drive of China's “30|60” dual-carbon target and the “Healthy China 2030” strategy, Yuexiu Property has attached great importance to development of the sustainable building sector. In addition to focusing on the green, low-carbon and environmentally friendly elements of buildings, it is paying more and more attention to the positive impacts of improvement of the environment on people’s health, comfort and physical and mental well-being.
Recently, Yuexiu Property's commercial projects have together won 18 WELL Healthy Building Standard Certifications, making a milestone breakthrough as well as an achievement in its active effort to explore and put into practice sustainable development of commercial real estate in China. Among them, Guangzhou International Finance Centre (Guangzhou IFC), Yuexiu Financial Tower and Guangzhou International Commercial Centre (Guangzhou ICC) passed the platinum WELL certification with high scores, becoming one of the “Chinese samples” of healthy building standards in the commercial office sector.
Moreover, Yuexiu Property places utmost emphasis on the health and safety of its buildings. Its subsidiary Yuexiu Commercial adopted the WELL Health-Safety Rating Guidelines (WELL HSR) in assessing its commercial projects in 2024. The assessment for WELL HSR certification covers five dimensions: hygiene and cleanliness, emergency planning, health services, air and water quality management, and stakeholder communication and interaction, and 15 Yuexiu Property projects finally obtained WELL HSR certifications.
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a mission-driven organization leading the global movement to advance human health through built environments. The WELL Building Standard evaluates health performance across 10 domains – Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, and Community.
Giving buildings Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum certification, it is the first premier building rating system in the world that focuses exclusively on enhancing human health and well-being through environmental designs.
The Guangzhou ICC, for example, is a commercial office asset platinum WELL certified and meeting WELL HSR requirements. Through multi-dimensional reshaping of healthy space, it has fostered a healthy office ecology and by adopting a people first approach in co-creating sustainable living, it has enriched diverse community experience. The specific practices of Guangzhou ICC in the 10 dimensions of WELL Healthy Building Standard are as follows:
WELL Practices at Guangzhou International Commercial Centre (Guangzhou ICC)
Yuexiu Property's latest achievements in the field of healthy buildings are not only reflected in the number and weight of the certifications it obtained, but also its innovative practices. Since joining the WELL Scale Programme in December 2024, with the help of its “Portfolio Asset Advancement” model, Yuexiu Property has embedded WELL standards in the full-cycle operation of 18 cross-city office and retail projects, covering close to 1.6 million square metres of commercial office space, forming a replicable and scalable healthy building solution.
It is noteworthy that Yuexiu Property's healthy building practice is not presided by one single standard, but stemmed from its years of experience in commercial property operation and is in line with advanced international standards. Meeting international and Chinese green building certification standards, such as WELL, LEED, BOMA, producing strong synergies with its ISO50001-accredited energy management system, the company has built a three-dimensional value system emphasising “green + health + operation” to offer all-round guarantee in terms of energy management, environmental health, and community services.
Looking ahead, Yuexiu Property is mapping out a strategic blueprint for sustainable development with healthy buildings as focus. It is stepping up research and development of healthy technologies such as “near-zero-pollution renovation” and pushing to apply them, continuing to deepen practising green and healthy operation in the field of commercial properties and building a sustainable ecology in which its tenants and consumers can coexist and thrive. For residential buildings, Yuexiu Property will promote the application of the “Yuexiu Healthy House System”, zeroing in on the health and safety of customers and leading the way to healthy living in the future. With its dual-wheel – commercial and residential – operation driving, Yuexiu Property will join hands with relevant stakeholders to build a healthy ecosystem to promote development of healthy buildings in the real estate industry, and empower sustainable and healthy development of the industry and society.