Swire Properties Placemaking Academy

This programme is a competition that welcomes students from all Hong Kong universities. It will once again put the next generation of local youth in the spotlight, as they work together during a six-month apprenticeship to make the White Christmas Street Fair a greener, smarter and more engaging event for the greater Hong Kong community.

In addition, students also took part in:

• Masterclasses: Totalling more than 100 hours; lectures by industry experts and our department heads, from a variety of backgrounds such as architecture, urban planning, design and communications.

• Mentorship Sessions: Students were mentored by our senior management, event-planning experts, and thought leaders from the design and community-planning industries.

WALKING INTO THE SANTA’S WHIMSICAL FACTORY

As a continuation of our youth empowerment mission, this year’s event is the first-ever physical Street Fair fully designed and run by seven local university students from the Swire Properties Placemaking Academy (SPPA). Beginning in July, students joined as a team and pitched ideas to the organisers, with two teams winning a paid six-month project apprenticeship at the SPPA. During the apprenticeship, our top management and SPPA’s star lecturers transferred skills and knowledge to students on Company’s long-term goals in Placemaking, Innovation, and Sustainable Development. To give the seven students a hands-on experience on the skills learnt, they were given the chance to design and execute the Street Fair, and set to fill the Quarry Bay and wider Hong Kong community with loads of festive joy.

To make the Street Fair a more unique and engaging event to the community, students from SPPA interviewed stakeholders and community members, and visited the Swire Archives to collect lesser-known stories about the Taikoo Sugar Refinery. With the theme of “Santa’s Whimsical Factory”, the SPPA team set the Sugar Refinery as the blueprint of the event design, and combined the elements of it, including gear wheels and classic design of the candy boxes, with fantasy and Christmas. On one hand, students hope to pay tribute to the golden age of the Sugar Refinery, and bring the collective memory of the Quarry Bay community back to life; on the other hand, they would like to bring a little respite in the midst of the epidemic, and restore the hope and fantasy of Christmas in the community.

In line with the Company’s commitment to sustainable development, the Street Fair aims to become the community's first-ever Zero-Waste Event. The SPPA team worked closely with designers, suppliers, vendors and the Sustainable Development early on, to carefully choose the materials and resources used. The aim is to divert an average of 90% or more of waste from landfills, which will be reused, recycled, composted and/or recovered for productive use in nature or the economy. Through different measures, the team hopes to reduce the excessive waste of the event, and celebrate a green Christmas with the community.

Project Timeline

19 April - 14 May

Application Opens (Please download documents below to find out more details)

20 May

Sharing Session

7 June

Proposal Submission Deadline

17 & 18 June

Proposal presentation

21 June

Result Announcement

Vicky Fung, Chow Yiu Fai, CMgroovy, Pia Ho, Subyub Lee, Yvette Wong... (more to come soon!)