Recently, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) announced the results of the 2021 State-Owned Enterprise Brand Building Awards. Hefeng Creative Plaza's case, "From Industrial Heritage to Creative Industry: The Preservation Journey of the 'Hefeng' Brand," was selected as a brand building exemplar.

The State-Owned Enterprise Brand Building Awards aim to encourage state-owned enterprises to strengthen brand awareness, establish brand development concepts, improve brand-building mechanisms, enhance professional brand management, and accelerate the cultivation of world-class enterprises with global competitiveness. This year, 100 exemplary brand-building cases and 100 outstanding brand stories were selected nationwide.

The "Hefeng" brand originated from the Hefeng Textile Co., Ltd. (also known as "Hefeng Cotton Mill"), established in 1905, a landmark of Ningbo's industrial civilization and a recipient of the National Silver Quality Award. In May 1998, following a large-scale restructuring of Ningbo's textile industry, Hefeng Cotton Mill was merged into Ningbo Veken Group. However, after a century of development and accumulation, the "Hefeng" brand had formed a comprehensive cultural value system, deeply rooted in Ningbo's industrial heritage while embodying originality, modernity, and national character.

In response to Ningbo's industrial transformation and upgrading needs, the Ningbo Municipal Party Committee and Government decided to establish a hub for industrial design and creative industries on the historic site of Hefeng Cotton Mill. To preserve and extend the "Hefeng" brand, the project was named "Hefeng Creative Plaza," managed and operated by Ningbo Hefeng Creative Plaza Investment and Management Co., Ltd. On October 20, 2011, Hefeng Creative Plaza officially opened, marking the transformation and revitalization of the century-old "Hefeng" brand through protective development.

Hefeng Creative Plaza adheres to the integration of cultural heritage and innovation to sustain the brand's vitality, promotes resource utilization and industrial synergy to enhance its relevance, and balances social and economic benefits to elevate its reputation.

Aligned with Ningbo's goals for preserving its status as a historic and cultural city, Hefeng Creative Plaza leverages the profound manufacturing legacy and revolutionary heritage of Hefeng Cotton Mill. Driven by reform and innovation, it focuses on cultural enrichment, exploring the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage and establishing Ningbo's industrial landmarks. It successfully became Ningbo's first national-level industrial heritage site and a creative brand hub with distinct "Hefeng" characteristics.

The plaza has received numerous national and provincial honors, including "China Good Design Advanced Unit" from the China Innovation Design Industry Strategic Alliance, "Design Culture Promotion Demonstration Center" from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Industrial Culture Development Center, and "Top Ten Design Parks" in China's design industry.

— Reprinted from Ningbo Industrial Investment Group

Ningbo Hefeng Creative Plaza was designated as part of the fifth batch of National Industrial Heritage, marking Ningbo's first national-level industrial heritage site. This is another achievement for urbanDATA following the Shanghai Yangpu Riverside Shipyard (Puxi) project, which was listed in the second batch of National Industrial Heritage.

During the initial strategic planning and spatial design, the UrbanDATA Design team proposed transforming the industrial site into a creative district, preserving and adaptively reusing Hefeng Cotton Mill and its historic buildings. By organizing functional structures around public professional services and shared facilities, the design enhanced the district's creativity through connectivity, interaction, efficiency, and innovation—key elements for an industrial design hub.

Strategies such as spatial flexibility, functional diversity, human-scale design, and engaging public spaces were implemented to energize the district. The repeated accolades for Ningbo Hefeng Creative Plaza also reflect the owner's commitment to maintaining the district's functionality, quality, cultural strategy, and brand identity.

Construction Units: Qingdao Guoling, Shibei Construction Investment, Shibei Urban Development

Construction Units: Ningbo Hefeng Creative Plaza Investment and Management Co., Ltd.

Design Units: Shanghai urbanDATA