Setting examples of sustainable growth for China

By the time you read this article the Beijing Olympics will be just days away. I am sure many of you will be tremendously excited to see the world's top athletes competing right here in China on the ultimate stage. Thanks to their exploits on the sports field, many of these performers will leave us all with lasting memories. The organisers also hope that a successful event will boost China's image on the world scene. However, Beijing 2008 will leave China with another far more ‘concrete' legacy, although that is certainly not the most apt word. Many of the venues created for the Olympics point China in a new architectural direction and offer fantastic examples of ‘green building' and sustainable development.

As China continues to grow, sustainable development is a topic on the agendas of both domestic and multinational organisations across the country. Sustainable development is vital to you and your organisation for many reasons. First, from an ethical standpoint, major companies who enjoy continued success in the Chinese market must invest in rather than simply profit from the country. Second, even though many of the projects mentioned here sound complicated and expensive, ‘green building' and environmental consciousness can actually save both resources and cold hard cash. Finally, with the world's eyes now fixed on China and Beijing 2008, organisations making that extra effort will certainly boost their public perceptions immeasurably.

Venues such as the National Aquatics Centre (better known as the ‘Water Cube'), the Olympic Green, the Olympic Village, and Laoshan Velodrome were all built with environmental concerns and sustainable development in mind as Beijing's Olympic organisers set out with the goal of a ‘green Olympics.' However, long after the final embers of the Olympic flame have been extinguished in China, the environmental example of many of the venues will continue to burn. As this is Network HR's ‘Olympic' edition, let's take a look at some of these Olympic venues and a few other projects around China that could be fantastic examples for your organisation.

Olympic Venues

The Water Cube was designed by Australian architects Arup, who are also responsible for the Dongtan eco-city, which we mentioned in our January issue. Even though it may look striking, the cube is about much more than pure aesthetics as it represents a bold new approach to saving both energy and water.

Most of us have seen the strange looking outer layer of the cube, in pictures or on TV at least. At night, when illuminated by LEDs, the skin of the cube gives out a stunning translucent glow. This is because the outer layer is made from ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), a membrane which allows natural light to pass through. This helps save energy - and money - in two ways. First, by allowing natural daylight into the building, the cube saves on the expense of lighting. Second, the sunlight absorbed by the cube will also save heat, which will reduce the energy needed to help maintain the pool at the optimum temperature for Olympic athletes. Yu Xiaoxuan of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games (BOCOG) explained the theory behind the aquatics centre's energy saving aims to China Daily recently, "The ‘Water Cube' absorbs solar radiation and reduces thermal loss, guaranteeing that of much of the sunlight, will serve as the thermal source for swimming pool water."

It is not just in energy expenditure that the cube is groundbreaking. In northern China, water conservation is a growing challenge. With a pool that is 13m deep, the National Aquatics centre certainly presents a problem in this regard. Therefore, saving water became a priority. The 3,000 separate ETFE bubbles that make up the outer layer of the cube can be used to catch rain water, which can then be used for drinking, cleaning, or to even fill the pool. ETFE is also a self-cleaning material, which means that whenever it rains, the shell of the building cleans itself, ensuring no extra water is wasted in the cleaning process. Additionally, water used in the pool will also be recycled. In total, designers estimate that the cube will save 140,000 tons of water per year.