New Taipei City News – New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi led a delegation from the New Taipei City government to visit the PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay in Singapore, a certified green and sustainable building. The hotel is based on the core concept of sustainable environmental protection, such as by incorporating a large number of greeneries. The hotel’s services and hardware facilities are designed to be energy-saving and carbon-reducing, evoking impressions of a botanical garden right in the heart of the city. In the future, New Taipei City will continue to promote the “Low Carbon Community Label Certification” and “Green Building”, and hopes to bring Singapore’s experience back to New Taipei City and Taiwan as a reference for the design of future public and private sector buildings, so as to move forward towards New Taipei’s 2050 net-zero carbon emissions target.
The day’s visit began with a guided tour of the hotel by Elaine Chan, Director of Marketing Communications & Sustainability at PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay. During the tour, Elaine pointed out that the hotel was originally established to promote sustainable environmental protection. As one enters the lobby, one is greeted by a 13-meter-high green landscape wall created by the Singapore architect FDA. The green wall incorporates a large number of green foliage with abstract cloud and mountain scenes, resembling a realistic landscape painting. Two sandalwood statues created by the famous Taiwanese sculptor Ju Ming are prominently featured in the lobby, depicting the famous Chinese poet Li Bai and the philosopher Confucius, endowing the space with a solemn yet inviting ambience.
According to Elaine, the hotel incorporates more than 2,400 species of plants into the interior landscape design, creating a lush green forest scene. The 21st floor interior patio atrium is the brainchild of neo-futurist architect John Portman, and is currently the largest of such atrium in Southeast Asia. The building’s double-glazed and atrium extend low-radiation natural light into the interior space, lowering the ambient temperature by 2°C, which is equivalent to a 2% reduction in electricity consumption. The 210 rooftop solar panels will provide the hotel with 10,083 kWh of electricity per month, and the guest rooms are equipped with water filtration systems and reusable glass bottles, decomposable toiletries, and smart devices to control temperature and optimize energy use.
Tuck-Wai Chan, Executive Chef of PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay, added that the hotel collaborates with a well-known coffee brand to recycle used capsules and reuse coffee grounds as fertilizer for more than 60 kinds of vegetables, fruits, and plants in the hotel. The hotel is not only an urban farm, but also a place where fresh fruits and vegetables are delivered directly from farm to table, ensuring fresh and healthy ingredients, while embodying the concept of environmental sustainability.
Mayor Hou pointed out that New Taipei City was the first city in the nation to sign the Climate Emergency Declaration in 2020 and set up the Executive Committee on Climate Change and Energy Countermeasures to take a comprehensive and pragmatic inventory of New Taipei City’s climate action plan. In 2021, the city even proposed the “Net-Zero Carbon Transition, Starting from New Taipei” and took the lead in announcing the 2050 net zero emissions target. After numerous consultations, discussions and deliberations with experts from various fields, industry representatives and civic groups, the ” New Taipei City’s Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050 and Climate Action White Paper” was officially completed.
Hou also shared his observations that the design and business concept of Singapore’s PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay can serve as a reference for the future design of public and private sector buildings in New Taipei City and even throughout Taiwan. New Taipei City will also continue to promote “low-carbon community mark certification” and “green buildings” in the hope that more urban oases will appear in the concrete jungle to increase greenery and reduce carbon emissions, and continue to move towards New Taipei’s 2050 net-zero carbon emissions targets.
