(Last updated: 6 Jan 2012)

Trends and opportunities

The market

To achieve this, there is a 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 attaches great emphasis on creating a 'Quality City, Quality Life' for the people of Hong Kong. They will strive to achieve a sustainable, balanced and diversified development, and to develop Hong Kong into a quality global metropolis.

The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) strives to promote the adoption of green building standards, and sustainable buildings, for a more sustainable Hong Kong. Recognising the urgent need to create synergies among the organisations advancing green building initiatives in Hong Kong, four leading industry organisations, The BEAM Society (BEAM), the Business Environment Council (BEC), the Construction Industry Council (CIC) and the Professional Green Building Council (PGBC) came together in 2009 to establish the Hong Kong Green Building Council.

Each founding member brings a strong track record of actively improving Hong Kong's green credentials in their respective parts of the value chain. With their expertise as the foundation, the HKGBC leads the green building movement, and coordinates research, education, best practices and standards.

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:

• the Hong Kong Government’s 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 etc.

The 10 major infrastructure projects announced by the government provide a great many opportunities for enhancing the prevalence of green building. By way of example, the government is likely to want to incorporate and implement green building features as part of the development of the West Kowloon Cultural District and Tamar Government Headquarter.  

Opportunities

Opportunities for Australian suppliers are listed below:

• 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 Labelling Scheme (EELS)
• Hong Kong Green Labelling Scheme
• Building Environmental Assessment Method (BEAM Plus)

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 October 2011, 2,966 registration certificates were issued to 1,299 building venues involving 3,122 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.hk-beam.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 and investment development agency.

Through Austrade’s network of offices in over 50 countries, we assist Australian companies to succeed in international business, attract productive foreign direct investment into Australia and promote 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.