As an expert in the rejuvenation of historic buildings and neighborhoods, Chongbang has long focused on the social and cultural benefits of bringing new life to heritage sites, despite the added complexities of these types of projects.

In theory, these projects are also better for the environment than new construction; by reusing and retrofitting existing structures, less energy and materials are used and fewer greenhouse gases are emitted during (re)construction.

In practice, few property developers have measured the environmental benefits of historic building retrofit, especially in terms of climate change and embodied carbon. Chongbang’s latest project of this type - The Inlet - provided the perfect opportunity to measure and quantify the benefits.

Image Above: The Inlet - phase one of Life Hub @ Bund Central

As the phase one development of Life Hub @ Bund Central, The Inlet consists of a series of traditional row-houses that have been converted into commercial spaces and are flanked by historic street-facing commercial buildings. The project is also home to a museum quarter composed of a cultural & history museum as well as a literature museum located in heritage buildings that were meticulously restored by Chongbang.

Image Above: External view of Glass House

The Inlet presented a unique opportunity for a comparative study seeing as one of the street-facing commercial buildings had been previously demolished due to structural instability. Chongbang filled the empty lot with a modern building of the same size and volume as the old. Called the Glass House, this new building enabled the project team to accurately model a scenario in which all historic buildings would have been demolished and replaced with the same type of building as the Glass House. The results were then compared to the embodied carbon of the historic building rejuvenation.

Embodied Carbon Results

Image Above: Commercial street between the Glass House and the historic building

In order to measure the difference in embodied carbon between historic rejuvenation and new construction as completely as possible, the impact of existing building demolition and removal was included in the calculation, even though the contribution is relatively minor (2.1%). Fire safety systems were also included, holistically extending the scope of assessment beyond traditional considerations.

Image Above: Project Highlights issued by RESET

In total, the reduction in embodied carbon from historic rejuvenation vs. demolition and new construction was 61.9%, saving 18,193 tonnes of carbon emission equivalent, which is equal to the construction of just over 6 Glass Houses.

Image Above: Certificates issued by RESET

Having followed the RESET Standard for embodied carbon and undergone external verification by GIGA, The Inlet isthe world’s first project to obtain RESET Embodied Carbon certification for historic building rejuvenation.

The Inlet serves as a significant example of the importance of existing building retrofit and historic building rejuvenation in reducing carbon emissions from the real-estate sector. We thank Chongbang for the willingness to publish their results.

The Inlet
Typology: Commercial and Cultural Low-rise
Type: Historic Building Rejuvenation
Total Gross Floor Area: 16,529 m2
Stage: Construction Complete
RESET Embodied Carbon Scope: Structure & Skin
Embodied Carbon Result (A1-A5): 663.6 kgCO₂e/m²
RESET Accredited Professional: Rick Yin
Expert Consulting Company: WSP
RESET Auditors: Raefer Wallis, Zhou Lingling
Status: Certified.

About Chongbang

Founded in 2003, Chongbang is an investor, owner, developer, manager and operator of retail-anchored mixed-use complexes in Shanghai and its neighboring cities. Chongbang’s management team consists of senior professionals with domain expertise in project investment, development, marketing, management and operation. The team is guided by a deep understanding of the dynamic consumer demographics and culture in China, and a long-term commitment to the successful social, economic and environmental revitalization of the communities it serves. As a result, Chongbang’s projects often play a pivotal role in the city’s urban regeneration.

Flagship properties developed by Chongbang Group are regional landmarks and designated heritage sites with a measured and vetted embodied carbon footprint.

About RESET®

RESET® is a data standard, accompanied by a set of assessment tools, created and managed by GIGA to develop actionable, long term strategies towards health and sustainability for the built environment. RESET focuses on creating a structure around data and analytics to generate opportunities for improvement and optimizations by combining the development of continuous monitoring and cloud software to increase the visibility of health and sustainability data in the built environment.

For more information about RESET, please visit: https://www.reset.build/