Green building to Hong Kong
(Last updated: 31 Oct 2012)
Trends and opportunities
The market
The Hong Kong Government attaches great importance to creating a 'Quality City, Quality Life' for the people of Hong Kong. They goal is to achieve a sustainable, balanced and diversified environment, and to develop Hong Kong to be a high quality cosmopolitan city. To achieve this, the Hong Kong Government recognises the need to take a holistic view of the full life cycle of developments from planning, construction, commissioning, operation, refurbishment, renewal to decommissioning of buildings.
The Hong Kong Government’s green policies benefit not only the industrial sector but also professional services. The Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance enacted in 2010 specifies the energy efficiency design standards for four types of building services installations and requires certain buildings to conduct energy audits. With the full implementation of the new legislation in September 2012, there will be more business opportunities for related professional services. In collaboration with the industry, the Government has been promoting green building standards and assessment, bringing new opportunities for the green building sector.
The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) strives to promote the adoption of green building standards, and sustainable buildings, for more sustainable Hong Kong. HKGBC engages community, industry and government to create practical solutions for Hong Kong’s unique, subtropical built environment.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Green Building Council of Australia (GBC) and Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) was signed in 2010 to enhance collaboration and accelerate the universal adoption of sustainable building practices. Both councils are committed to working together to drive the sustainable building agenda in Australia and Hong Kong, and believe enhanced co-operation will assist building and construction sectors to adopt green building practices, as well as exchange best practices in managing and administering rating programs.
Drivers of green building in Hong Kong include government departments such as:
- Architectural Services Department (ASD)
- Development Bureau
- Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD)
- Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA)
- Urban Renewal Authority (URA)
- Environmental Protection Department (EPD)
Their work has been reinforced by private sector property developers such as Swire Properties, Sun Hung Kai, Hong Kong Land, Sino Land and Henderson Land.
To drive towards a sustainable community and to conserve natural resources, the Architectural Services Department has endeavored to integrate sustainability principles into their building specifications. With an aim to reduce energy consumption in government buildings, they adopted various sustainable designs in their new buildings.
Opportunities
Opportunities for Australian suppliers include:
- Architectural sustainable design
- Green building architectural design
- Environmental engineering services
- Indoor air quality assessment
- Carbon audit and energy audit
- Building efficiency assessment
- Building materials with low VOC emissions
- Renewable energy technologies
- Recycled building products
- Energy and water efficiency and management technologies
- Monitoring systems
- Energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning
- Green roof and green wall technologies
- Renewable-energy lighting such as hybrid street lamp
- Structural fabrics with a high thermal performance, such as e-glass to reflect sunlight
Tariffs, regulations and customs
Hong Kong is a free port and there are no barriers to market entry. Materials and equipment can enter freely but service providers face high costs in establishing a presence in the market. Contractors must obtain government accreditation to bid for public projects.
There is an increasing emphasis being placed on international standards and companies that have obtained ISO 9000/9002 endorsement will have a marketing edge, particularly for public projects.
Hong Kong has several voluntary energy efficiency and related certification programs, such as:
- Comprehensive Environmental Performance Assessment Scheme (CEPAS)
- Energy Efficiency Labeling Scheme (EELS)
- Hong Kong Green Labeling Scheme
- Building Environmental Assessment Method (BEAM Plus)
- Building Energy Efficiency Funding Scheme
The Hong Kong Energy Efficiency Registration Scheme for Buildings (HKEERSB), launched by the Electrical & Mechanical Services Department is to promote the application of Building Energy Codes of Practice (BEC). Buildings meeting BEC standards receive a certificate along with rights to use the Scheme’s 'Energy Efficient Building Logo' on related documents to publicise the achievement on energy efficiency. Up to June 2012, 3,214 registration certificates were issued to 1,446 building venues involving 3,369 installations.
Industry standards
British standards (BS) are traditionally specified for most major and public works projects. While Australian products that meet Australian standards would normally also meet BS, there must be a notice of compliance that the product meets BS as well. This usually involves retesting by an approved BS testing authority.
Links and industry contacts
Government, business and trade resources for Hong Kong
Architectural Services Department – www.archsd.gov.hk
Business Environment Council – www.bec.org.hk
Council for Sustainable Development – www.susdev.org.hk
Development Bureau – www.devb.gov.hk
Electrical and Mechanical Services Department – www.emsd.gov.hk
Environmental Protection Department – www.epd.gov.hk
Green Council – www.greencouncil.org
HK-BEAM Society – www.beamsociety.org.hk
Hong Kong Housing Authority – www.housingauthority.gov.hk
Hong Kong Institution of Architects – www.hkia.net
Hong Kong Institution of Engineers – www.hkie.org.hk
Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects – www.hkila.com
Hong Kong Institute of Planners – www.hkip.org.hk
Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors – www.hkis.org.hk
Professional Green Building Council – www.hkpgbc.org
Urban Renewal Authority – www.ura.org.hk
Contact details
The Australian Trade Commission – Austrade – is the Australian Government’s trade, investment and education promotion agency.
Through a global network of offices, Austrade assists Australian companies to grow their international business, attracts productive foreign direct investment into Australia and promotes Australia’s education sector internationally.
For more information on how Austrade can assist you, contact us on:
Australia ph: 13 28 78 | Email: info@austrade.gov.au
A list of Austrade offices (in alphabetical order of country) is also available.