Much of a factory’s energy and water use is fixed early in design: how production and offices are zoned, how the envelope shades and insulates, and where daylight comes in. Equipment can be replaced, but these decisions stay with the building for decades.
Two factories we designed in Taiwan, T-HAM’s Pingtung plant and Quest Composite’s factory and office, are LEED Gold certified. This guide sets out how we work, and how Taiwan’s green building label (EEWH-GF) and LEED differ.
At T-HAM, refrigerated production sits at the core and rear of the plant, held between −35°C and 13°C behind thick, super-insulated walls. Offices, R&D, quality control, canteens and changing rooms are turned to the front, behind an insulated Low-E glass curtain wall. The spaces that must stay cold are grouped together; the spaces people use get daylight and views.
Quest’s factory is wrapped in a continuous façade of insulated aluminium panels, with shading blades that cast shadows changing through the day. At the Taiwan Glass Donghai office, clip-on aluminium louvres outside the triple Low-E glass curtain wall provide shade and privacy. The Shihlien New Energy battery plant office uses triple Low-E glazing with deep roof overhangs that control sun and glare.
Daylight saves lighting energy, and it shapes how staff feel every day. T-HAM’s staff restaurant on the fourth floor has floor-to-ceiling windows with long views. At the Shihlien New Energy battery plant, production offices and meeting rooms at the ends of the halls enjoy good daylight and natural ventilation, and glazed stairs and linking bridges give staff places to take a break.
At T-HAM’s Pingtung plant, locally made materials (including grey and maroon local tiles), efficient MEP design saving about 20% of electricity, and water-efficient fixtures with rainwater reuse cutting water use by about a third earned LEED Gold.
Where climate and process allow, the answer can be simpler still: the Yiwu tea complex in Yunnan is designed without air-conditioning, and the Huai’an salt laboratory collects rainwater for evaporative cooling and irrigation.
EEWH is Taiwan’s green building rating system, run by the Architecture and Building Research Institute (ABRI) of the Ministry of the Interior since 1999. Its factory version, EEWH-GF, covers new and existing factories where work happens mainly indoors; a stand-alone office building on a factory site is assessed under the basic version (EEWH-BC), and dormitories under EEWH-RS.
The 2026 edition of the manuals replaces the nine original indicators with six: biodiversity, site water retention, building energy performance, embodied carbon, indoor environment and water resources, and links the label with Taiwan’s building energy and low-carbon building ratings. It takes effect on 1 July 2030; until then, applicants may use the current edition or opt into the 2026 edition.
LEED is the U.S. Green Building Council’s international system, useful for companies that report sustainability to international customers or brands. The two are not exclusive. Which to pursue depends on your customers, regulations or incentives, and your own targets. Decide before design begins, because it shapes every choice of layout, envelope and MEP.
More and more companies report on energy, water, carbon and staff wellbeing. The factory building is the most tangible and longest-lasting part of that story. In design, you can prepare for it:
In his testimonial, T-HAM’s general manager writes that since 2018 the plant has rooted T-HAM’s corporate image — ‘a focus on high quality, ESG in practice, a friendly workplace and alignment with international standards’ — ever more deeply in consumers’ minds.
Tell us what you make, where the site is, and your energy or certification targets. We will reply with how we would approach it.
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