Vietnam Green Building Council awarded LOTUS green building certification to Thai Hoa power plant. Photo: Lien Minh

On April 19, 2025, at Ngo Mon Square - the heart of Hue Imperial City, a certificate that was thought to be reserved for modern buildings only, the LOTUS green building standard, was awarded to a building over 200 years old, Thai Hoa Palace. This palace is also the first world cultural heritage building in Vietnam to meet the LOTUS green building standard.

This event is not only a technical milestone in the conservation industry, but also a turning point in thinking: Hue is redefining what a living heritage is - not just a "museum of memories", but an asset associated with a vision for a sustainable future.

In fact, over the years, preserving relics in Vietnam often means “keeping the status quo”. But if a building is simply frozen in the time frame of the past, heritage will gradually lose its vital role in modern life.

The restoration process of Thai Hoa Palace that Hue has just implemented is a new approach, while preserving the essence of the relic with traditional materials and standard techniques, but at the same time integrating green building criteria: saving energy, reducing emissions, optimizing natural light and ventilation, ensuring the ability to adapt to climate change.

That is what has helped Thai Hoa Palace become a symbol of a new type of development: inheriting to develop, preserving to lead.

The LOTUS certification that Thai Hoa Palace received is a green building standard developed by the Vietnam Green Building Council, with strict criteria equivalent to international systems such as LEED (USA) or BREEAM (UK). It is no coincidence that Hue is the first place to bring heritage to this standard.

Hue, as the ASEAN City of Culture, is leading a bold roadmap: Greening heritage, transforming ancient spaces into the foundation for sustainable development.

By applying green building thinking to the most strictly preserved relics, Hue has affirmed that cultural values ​​and ecological values ​​are not contradictory at all, if one has the right mindset.

A tourist city cannot live forever with old wooden pillars, mossy tiled roofs or walls stained by time. Today’s tourist experience requires much more than that. And Hue has been very right in integrating conservation with improving green tourism infrastructure.

The reception of 20 new generation GCOO electric bicycles and their use in the Imperial City, along with the electric bicycle parade through the heritage streets, is a logical next step. These vehicles are not only environmentally friendly but also create a soft, quiet sightseeing experience, true to the inherent quiet atmosphere of Hue. It is a sign that Hue is creating a new value chain, from heritage conservation to green tourism experiences and sustainable economic development.

It is worth mentioning that not only Hue but also other heritage cities such as Hoi An, Hanoi, Da Lat or Trang An eco-tourism area (Ninh Binh)... are facing the problem of sustainable development on the basis of traditional heritage. All have valuable relics, but also face the pressure of urbanization, mass tourism, and climate change.

The fact that Thai Hoa Palace has become the first world cultural heritage building in Vietnam to meet LOTUS green building standards is also a lesson and suggestion for many other localities to make the same bold move, changing from static conservation thinking to dynamic conservation, from preserving images to creating experiences, from framing the past to paving the way for the future. This is not only a way to preserve heritage, but also a way to make heritage become a living, sustainable and inspiring force for people and tourists.

The green Thai Hoa Palace is not only a symbol of conservation achievements but also a declaration of responsible development. Hue - a city once known for its quiet beauty, is now stepping out of the shadow of "passive conservation" to become a place to experiment with development models that harmonize history and modernity, identity and technology, and people and nature.

A green Thai Hoa Palace today could be the beginning of a green Hue tomorrow. And more broadly, it is a reminder for every heritage city in Vietnam: Let the works of the past continue to tell the story of the future, by living green!

GRACE

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/khi-di-san-xanh-tro-thanh-tam-nhin-phat-trien-do-thi-153259.html