AIA Collaborative & Creative City Build Engagement

Empowering Employees Through Change: AIA Hong Kong Partners with Team Building Asia

AIA, the largest independent, publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group, has been a symbol of resilience and innovation for over a century. Founded in 1919 in Shanghai, AIA’s remarkable 100-year journey reflects a legacy built on courage, foresight, and a pioneering spirit that continues to define the company today.

As part of its vision for the future, AIA Hong Kong began the redevelopment of its iconic headquarters, transforming it into a futuristic Class A Prime Office Building designed to inspire collaboration, sustainability, and innovation in the modern workplace.

With such a major transformation underway, the organisation recognised the importance of preparing its people for change. To ensure employees remained engaged, motivated, and connected during this transitional period, AIA partnered with Team Building Asia, Hong Kong’s trusted expert in corporate team building and experiential learning.

Together, they developed a custom engagement programme that helped teams navigate uncertainty, strengthen trust, and embrace AIA’s vision for a dynamic, future-ready workplace. Through experiential activities focused on communication, adaptability, and collective purpose, Team Building Asia supported AIA in turning disruption into an opportunity for growth and cultural renewal.

Extensive planning for Optimal Output

After creative brainstorming sessions, AIA Design Team and Team Building Asia agreed an interactive team building activity would best suit the company’s needs. The result was a bespoke programme which would require employees to design and building a miniature vision of the new AIA Building.

To execute the proposed programme, Team Building Asia faced a number of obstacles. The venue selected for the event had a low ceiling height, which restricted the height of the miniature building project. To overcome this, the event was held over two floors. Level 6 for creation and Level 3, with greater ceiling height, for the finished product.

The final output of 20 floors meant weight distribution needed to be considered as well as ensuring no obstruction issues for the 200 participants. Many options were investigated including different materials. The solution was a clear strong acrylic rectangular prism, with an open top for easy access to place materials inside. Many prototypes were created to ensure the weight loading and stacking stability.

The final solution required a total stacking of 16 floors, with the remaining 4 floors (office lobby, car park, outdoor restaurant and recreation areas) separate. Several rehearsals and dry-runs were held to optimise flow as well as early set up of the venue, The Hong Kong Jockey Club in Happy Valley.

Building for the Future

Once divided into teams the event started with a lively presentation with an architectural rendering of the AIA Future Building with 3D walkthroughs, virtual tours and panoramic renderings for inspiration.

Challenging employees to bring the concepts of eye pleasing and thought provoking to building of their floors, the question of ‘Why do people do these things?’ was presented in reference to museums, classical music concerts, art galleries, fine dining, sporting events.

Basic blueprints for office materials such as chairs and desks were included in each team’s pack. Teams could earn additional materials such as plants, computers and pianos through gamification highlighting the AIA’s Vitality Concepts values, the organisation’s science-backed wellness programme. Challenges included Yoga, Kendama and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

The Engaging Output

The final installation on Level 3 was highly anticipated and the lively presentations by the Zone Captains were well received, creating further engagement, realising the objective of co-creation and creativity and connecting together.

The sheer size of the final project made this event a stand out and a hit with employees. Proven by the fact that they were reluctant to leave at the end because they wanted photographs with the floors they created and the entire installation.