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The following is issued on behalf of the Council for Sustainable Development:
The Council for Sustainable Development today (June 25) submitted its report on the public engagement process on "Building Design to Foster a Quality and Sustainable Built Environment" to the Government. The Council has made over 50 recommendations on the core issues set out for the public engagement, namely (1) sustainable building design guidelines on building separation, setback and greenery coverage, (2) gross floor area (GFA) concessions, and (3) building energy efficiency, as well as on some other issues from a wider perspective.
"The public engagement revealed a clear call from the community for change with a strong public aspiration for a quality and sustainable built environment and that the status quo is not an option. The public's vision for the future of Hong Kong provide a mandate for change. They serve as a good reference for the Government in formulating future policies relating to the built environment," said Mr Bernard Chan, the Council Chairman. "The formulation of our recommendations was a balancing process in which issues like desirability versus feasibility, public interests versus private ones, flat owners/potential owners versus developers, cost versus effectiveness, etc., were taken into account for achieving a quality and sustainable built environment."
Most notably, the Council recommends that the Government impose an overall cap on the total GFA concessions to be granted, and adopt a more performance-based and site-specific approach in determining the overall cap in the longer run. Prescribing different levels of the overall cap corresponding to the overall environmental performance of the building by reference to certain benchmarks, such as the BEAM Plus rating, is recommended to be considered.
The Council recommends that to help reduce the building bulk, the Government should reduce the level of GFA concessions for car parks in general and promote underground car parks where technically feasible through provisions of a relatively higher level of GFA concessions compared with that for their above-ground counterparts. Other factors such as energy efficiency in providing lighting and air ventilation to underground car parks should be taken into account in their design.
The Council recommends that the level of GFA concessions for recreational facilities and clubhouses should be reduced, especially for sites with higher domestic GFA. The public views consider that unnecessarily large recreational facilities and clubhouses, coupled with the GFA concessions granted for them, would increase the building bulk substantially.
While GFA concessions are not granted for bay windows, projecting windows are currently not taken into account in the calculation of plot ratio provided that they satisfy certain criteria. There are views that bay windows would add to the overall building bulk and increase overall heat absorption. The Council recommends that the Government review the desirability of bay windows and the current policy and practice of their exclusion from being counted in plot ratio.
Regarding sustainable building design guidelines on building separation, setback and greenery coverage, the Council recommends that the proposals in the "Invitation for Response" document, which has its source in the "Consultancy Study on Building Design that Supports Sustainable Urban Living Space in Hong Kong" commissioned by the Buildings Department, be adopted. In short, the Council recommends mandatory building separation and mandatory building setback to address the wall-effect and urban heat island effect. To facilitate some degree of performance-based and site-specific flexibility in line with public sentiment, the Council further recommends that a mechanism be worked out whereby adjustment of these requirements might be allowed having regard to factors like site location and configuration, wind direction, air ventilation, urban climatic considerations, local character, etc. The Council also recommends mandatory site coverage of greenery with a monitoring mechanism with sanctions to ensure that the greenery is properly maintained throughout the life of the building.
Regarding building energy efficiency, there is public support for the incorporation of more energy efficient design and installations in buildings. The Council recommends that the Government review Building Energy Codes from time to time and provide assistance to existing buildings for retrofitting; promote the use of a building energy efficiency benchmarking and accreditation system; provide additional building design guidelines for building energy efficiency, and take the lead by setting a target in implementing energy efficiency initiatives in public buildings and promulgating the timeframe for achieving the target.
Considerable public views expressed discontent with the transparency of the property market. The Council recommends that the Government should require that information relating to GFA concessions granted for all features be disclosed in sales brochures of new developments in layman-friendly ways. To enable potential purchasers to be fully informed of the details of the flat units they are considering buying, the Council further recommends that in the sales brochures of new developments, besides a breakdown of the constituents of "saleable area", the "gross floor area" of a flat unit should also include a breakdown of the apportioned share of common area, so that information relating to the other areas not within the flat unit but allotted thereto and included in the calculation of its price will be made available to potential purchasers in an easily understandable way.
"We look forward to the Government's positive response to the Council's recommendations. The Government's official response to the Council report will mark the final stage of the engagement process," added the Council Chairman.
About 2,400 people, including those from the trade, professional bodies, environmental groups, academia as well as members of the public, participated in 65 public engagement events (including five regional engagement sessions) organised by the Council and its partner organisations between June 20 and October 31, 2009. The Public Policy Research Institute of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which is the independent reporting agency (IRA) for this public engagement, has analysed around 1,600 views returned in the process.
The Council report with its full recommendations will be uploaded to the website on the public engagement (www.susdev.org.hk) for public information. The IRA's report and analysis on the views collected will also be made available on the website.
Ends/Friday, June 25, 2010
Issued at HKT 16:28
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