The Food Angel Jockey Club Food Production Centre in Sha Tin is the organisation’s first centralised kitchen. Specifically built to efficiently manage the entire food production process – unloading, sorting, cleaning, preparing, cooking, and plating of surplus food into nutritious meals – the design transforms an industrial building into a vital part of the community.
The design team gained an in-depth understanding of food recovery and processing by volunteering with Food Angel for three years. This knowledge helped them move beyond the conventional idea of a factory as an isolated, single-purpose facility; instead creating a community kitchen that prioritises the needs of staff, volunteers, visitors, and neighbourhood residents.
The centre is organised into distinct zones according to operational needs: the ground floor holds a semi-enclosed logistics hub and food sorting area where fresh fruits and vegetables are processed; the first floor is dedicated to meal preparation and packaging; and the second floor houses cold storage and processing frozen meat, as well as welcoming visitors and volunteers with the multi-function room and dining room. A unique visitor route with windows set 0.8 metres above the floor promotes food waste education and allows the public – particularly children – to safely view the kitchen in action.
The building’s layout is tailored to its surroundings. The site lies between an expressway and a village. Noisy, infrastructure functions like the transformer room and cold storage areas face the highway, with the road-facing outer wall holding signage to promote Food Angel’s mission. On the quieter village-facing side, human-centric spaces like offices and the visitor corridor blend into the community.
The design incorporates both passive and active sustainable features. An existing tree was preserved at the entrance hall to create a welcoming experience; frequently-used areas in the south-eastern corner have aluminium shading louvres; food processing and packaging rooms feature south-facing windows for a bright workspace; and the western façade uses a stepped design with balconies to block direct sunlight. Vertical greenery and a rooftop farm lower the temperature of the building and mitigate the urban heat island effect. The perimeter wall is built with bio-based bamboo, critical equipment is elevated to prevent flooding, and permeable paving enhances drainage – all of which boost climate resilience.
Actively, the centre employs IoT data collection to monitor kitchen equipment energy use, and a backup battery system to ensure critical equipment and security systems function during power outages.
The project has received a Provisional Platinum rating under the HKGBC BEAM Plus New Buildings v2.0 assessment.
RLP Asia provided pro bono professional design services for the centre.
