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The Buildings Department (BD) promulgated today (January 31) practice notes for implementing the policy to foster a quality and sustainable built environment. The practice notes will take effect on April 1, 2011.
"The exercise involves 15 practice notes comprising three Joint Practice Notes issued by the Director of Buildings, Director of Lands and Director of Planning; and 12 Practice Notes issued by the Director of Buildings for Authorised Persons, Registered Structural Engineers and Registered Geotechnical Engineers. They stipulate detailed requirements and guidelines for the granting of gross floor area (GFA) concessions for green and amenity features as well as for implementing sustainable building designs which cover the provision of building set back, building separation and site coverage of greenery in new private developments," a spokesman for BD said.
The Chief Executive announced in his 2010-11 Policy Address that Government would, in the light of the recommendations of the Council for Sustainable Development, introduce a series of measures to enhance the design standard of new buildings to foster a quality and sustainable built environment in Hong Kong. Details of these measures were announced by the Secretary for Development at a press conference on October 15, 2010. They include:
- sustainable building design guidelines (covering building separation and permeability, building set back and site coverage of greenery of buildings);
- granting of GFA concessions (introducing a 10% cap for certain green and amenity features, new requirements for granting GFA concessions for car parking spaces, etc.); and
- energy efficiency of buildings.
Furthermore, as an effective measure to promote green buildings in Hong Kong, certification by BEAM Plus conferred by the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) as well as estimation of energy consumption of the building will become additional prerequisites for the granting of GFA concessions for certain green and amenity features in their developments. BEAM Plus is the locally devised mechanism for comprehensive green building assessment and certification.
Full details of the measures are contained in the Legislative Council Brief entitled "Measures to Foster a Quality and Sustainable Built Environment" issued by the Development Bureau on October 13, 2010 (www.devb.gov.hk/filemanager/article/en/upload/6209/LegCo%20Brief%20GFA%20eng.pdf).
In line with the usual practice, the above-mentioned practice notes were circulated in draft for consultation with stakeholders in the building industry, including the Real Estate Developers Association and the relevant professional institutes, and for discussion at the Buildings Sub-committee of the Land and Development Advisory Committee. Taking into account some practical concerns, particularly those expressed by practitioners, and further aspirations for encouraging green building features, BD has made certain refinements to the detailed requirements and guidelines in the practice notes which are now promulgated. The main refinements are -
(i) Clarification to the definition of "underground" for car parking spaces in order to receive 100% concession and permitting loading and unloading facilities to be placed on ground level whilst receiving 100% GFA concession. This will cater for sloping sites, which are common in Hong Kong, and address concerns over excessive excavation. As stipulated in the draft practice notes, to be eligible for the concession, the car parking spaces have to be "electric vehicle charging enabling" with the infrastructure or provisions for future installation of standard charging facilities.
(ii) With an aim to encourage environmental features in new buildings such as wing walls, wind catchers and funnels, noise barriers and acoustic fins, rainwater/grey water recycling systems, horizontal screens for covered walkways with the provision of greenery, they may be considered for GFA concessions outside of the 10% GFA cap. These features were seldom adopted in the past and have not been a major cause of building bulk concern. The BD will consider providing GFA concessions for these features on a case-by-case basis. Applicants will be required to provide quantitative assessment of achievement to demonstrate that the features can serve their respective environmental purposes and are genuinely necessary.
(iii) To ensure that green building certification by HKGBC will not delay the processing of building plans and in turn the building construction programme, and taking account of the concern expressed by industry practitioners over the operational difficulties in meeting the original timeframe, the practice notes now stipulate that authorised persons appointed by the developers for building plan submissions are required to submit the result of provisional assessment of BEAM Plus conferred by the HKGBC (as well as estimation of energy consumption) at the time of application for consent to commence superstructure works instead of before approval of general building plans; and the result of final assessment of BEAM Plus within six months instead of three months from the date of issue of occupation permit.
(iv) To address concerns that building plans submitted on or before March 31, 2011 may not be approved due to technical reasons that the applicant cannot foresee before submission of the building plans, the applicant may re-submit revised building plans once within six months upon rejection of the original plans for processing under the current GFA concession policy. However, this arrangement is only applicable if the applicant has ownership or a reasonable prospect of control of the land forming the site.
"The Department will in the coming two months ensure officers responsible for processing building plans are fully acquainted with the new requirements", the spokesman said.
"The Building Committee within the Buildings Department will be expanded by inviting outside experts to offer advice on individual cases requiring special attention, for example, on building permeability issues, as needed," the spokesman added.
The new practice notes promulgated can be found on the BD's website (www.bd.gov.hk/english/documents/index_pnotes.html).
Ends/Monday, January 31, 2011
Issued at HKT 20:48
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