On 6-7 November, ICLEI East Asia and the Guangming Urban Development and Promotion Center jointly organized the Green Public Procurement (GPP) Technical Consultation Seminar for Guangming District, Shenzhen, China, under the framework of the 10YFP SPP Working Group 1A – GPP Tender Implementation and Impact Monitoring, aiming to support the District in identifying procurement areas and further embracing more stringent green specifications comparing that of other projects likewise within the Guangming Culture and Arts Center construction project – a future landmark green building in the District.

On the morning of the 6th, the Vice District Mayor Gaoke Yao and the management team of GUDPC welcomed the ICLEI delegation and exchanged Membership cooperation prospects for 2019 with a focus on three areas: EcoMobility, Resilient Cities, and GPP. Yao reiterated that the local government shall make the best use of the international platform of ICLEI to promote the integration and implementation of successful development ideas and practices of international counterparts on the ground and enhance civic participation in transforming public perceptions of traditional development pathways in Guangming. Shu Zhu, Regional Director and China Representative of ICLEI East Asia congratulated the rapid ongoing urbanization and the farsighted and ambitious policies in urban sustainability in the District.

 

Bonghee Son, Strategy Manager of ICLEI East Asia, presented ICLEI Global GPP Program

 

Following the leadership meeting, an intense GPP expert consultation seminar was convened in the afternoon, gathering domestic stakeholders of the Guangming Culture and Arts Center construction project from departments of finance, housing, and construction, and Shenzhen Overseas China Town Group – the contractor of the construction project, and leading GPP experts from the China Quality Certification Center (CQC), the Beijing Building Materials Academy of Science Research, and ICLEI East Asia.

On this occasion, experts presented the background of the ICLEI GPP program, and the current tendencies and future development trends of GPP in China, and had a fruitful discussion with all stakeholders on the feasibility and priorities in exerting green specifications in the Guangming Culture and Arts Center project. Attendees ultimately reached the agreement that a specific group, of favorably energy-using products, shall be selected for the massive construction project, and the ICLEI project team would provide further assistance in this regard.

The ICLEI delegation visited the Culture and Arts Center project construction site the next day and held an exchange meeting with its project managers and practitioners to further understand the overall green design and planning in phases of procurement, construction, and operation. Through the process, ICLEI identified the ongoing procurement of ice-storage air conditioning as the most suitable product group for the 10YFP project in supporting the construction team to select the greenest bidding products, especially due to the imperfect industry and product criteria for ice-storage air conditioning in China at this stage.

For the next step, the ICLEI project team will continue to cooperate with top criteria researchers in the air-conditioning industry in China to formulate green specifications and award criteria for the construction team to refer to and generate a case study in compliance with the ICLEI GPP project requirements for global dissemination.

 

Guangming Cultural and Arts Center Construction Site