Creating Value for our Community and Stakeholders
Guided by our corporate vision “Creating Shared Value”, we believe in bringing remarkable returns to shareholders while responding to the needs of the community and stakeholders to achieve business sustainability.
Our ongoing efforts to integrate socially responsible practices into our business allow us to stay engaged with a wide range of stakeholders. In particular, we have developed caring and wellness initiatives to ensure the well-being and ongoing development of our community.
“Enriched Lives” pillar under our Sustainability Vision 2030+ reflects the Group’s dedication to giving back to society and helping those in need. To date, we have launched several initiatives enhancing the social mobility of underprivileged groups and improving the well-being of all stakeholders in the community.
To solve the city’s deep-rooted housing supply issue and improve people’s housing situations, NWD founded New World Build for Good (Build for Good), a not-for-profit social housing enterprise that invited industry experts in land planning, housing, economic development, social welfare and livelihood concerns to explore new and sustainable housing models. It aims to conduct research in multiple directions and lead future pilot programmes to seek short to medium-term solutions, as well as long-term strategies that will help alleviate Hong Kong’s housing problems.
In early December 2021, Build for Good announced plans for Hong Kong’s first-ever subsidised private housing project, namely “New World Subsidised Housing”. The project targets to help young families tackle the challenges of a lack of capital for down payments and difficulty in making initial mortgage payments by offering new and high-quality flats at affordable prices. We are looking to donate a plot of land in the New Territories West to create approximately 300 flats for the younger generation to purchase at cost and exploring a special “progressive payment” mortgage arrangement to assist them in home ownership.
Our recent work through New World Build for Good builds upon social housing initiatives from the last several years. We announced in 2019 that the Group would set aside farmland reserves for NGOs and/or the Hong Kong SAR Government for the development of transitional homes for the underprivileged. Four transitional housing projects with sites lent by New World are located in Fan Kam Road, San Tin, Lau Fau Shan, and Tin Shui Wai, and are operated by Lutheran Church – Hong Kong Synod, The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, and Light Be. The four projects are expected to create close to 3,000 units benefitting over 10,000 individuals.
Adhering to our vision of CSV, we also created Hong Kong’s first “Smart Community” in transitional housing projects, collaborating with four major corporations and organisations. This initiative will bring together enterprises and NGOs in the fields of innovative technology, education, healthcare and emergency support, and introduce a range of next generation solutions to address the housing needs and promote the upward mobility of the grassroots community.
Please visit the official website for more details: https://www.nwbuildforgood.hk/
In 2020, the Group successfully consolidated its ownership of the historic State Theatre. Located in North Point, the legendary Grade I historic site is Hong Kong’s oldest surviving post-war, large-scale movie palace. Its captivating set of parabolic exoskeleton trusses is a unique design that bears witness to the history of North Point, once dubbed “Little Shanghai.”
Prior to the commencement of conservation work, Culture for Tomorrow, a non-profit organisation under the New World Group curated the immersive event “Discover the State Theatre in All of Us” from April to May 2021, to honour this cultural icon to its original glamour. Visitors were invited to explore its shining history through the eyes of different historical personas and artefacts, including original movie handbills from the 1950s and vintage movie tickets.
The Group assembled a team of elite local and international consultants with rich experience in heritage conservation to formulate a comprehensive plan for conservation and development. Within its plan is the conservation of the iconic parabolic exoskeleton trusses on the roof and the creation of a new landmark. Safeguarding our collective memory while revitalising architecture, we wish to create shared value by connecting social progress with business success.
Share for Good is Hong Kong’s first large-scale, crowd-donation platform. Linking beneficiaries, non-profit organisations and donors, the platform can be accessed through the official mobile app and website. This innovative method allows a quick and targeted matching between donors and beneficiaries, vastly improving the efficiency of the donate-and-deliver process.
As of 30 June 2023, more than 300,000 beneficiaries have benefitted from the Share for Good crowd-donation platform, which has connected more than 200 enterprises with 120 NGO partners.
Please visit the official website for more details: https://shareforgoodhk.com/en
New World Springboard provides long-term support to under-resourced youth through different sports training and other holistic support to promote social mobility. It offers continuous and professional training in sports such as swimming, basketball and rope skipping, unleashing the potential of the young generation in Hong Kong.
Some students have reached the age with the needs to plan for their future development. A Career Exploration Programme for Teens was launched to offer various career exploration opportunities within the New World Ecosystem, including internship, job tastings, workplace visit and career talk, to this group of youths nurtured by the Group for years.
Employees, contractors, tenants and customers are our valued stakeholders. In addition to the adoption of H&S management systems (including ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001 and OHSAS 18001 under our construction subsidiaries), we have established a Health and Safety Policy which sets out our commitment to minimise health and safety risks. During the planning and construction stages of our projects, we implement the Supplier Code of Conduct to ensure suppliers are fulfilling safety requirements and delivering quality products and services. Health and safety awareness is enhanced by providing operational guidelines and conducting regular training for employees and contractors.
In FY2021, we launched a new Employee Assistance Programme, offering a counselling service provided by the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society to all employees. The service covers all aspects of mental well-being, from family relationships to financial management, parental stress, and more. Additionally, we launched our “WeCare Health Talks” series to disseminate wellness tips on improving sleep quality, managing stress, stretching and meditation.
We consider health and wellness as a centrepiece of our building designs and actively curate built environments to promote well-being and sustainable lifestyles. One of our more recent urban office redevelopment projects, K11 ATELIER King’s Road, is a WELL Certified™ Platinum healthy building located in Hong Kong’s Island East. The project showcases how we incorporate wellness to reinvent the modern workspace for tenants and users through a unique blend of architectural design and holistic tenant support. The rooftop garden boasts an extensive harbour view and a communal space that is complemented by a jogging path for users. Meanwhile, the extensive greenery and building setback from the pedestrian enhances comfort and provides a pleasing visual. In addition to enhanced indoor air quality and thermal comfort design, K11 ATELIER King’s Road functions as a healthy lifestyle hub. Through K11 ATELIER ACADEMY, we provide tenants and office users exclusive access to group fitness and mindfulness workshops to support the adoption of a green and healthy way of living.
