Oct-2023

HKGBC Delegation to Sydney (4-6 Oct 2023) – Accelerating the Green Building Movement Through Knowledge Exchange and Collaboration! 

After its previous trip to Tokyo in 2019, the HKGBC again organised a study trip this year to engage with counterparts around the globe and create new learning and exchange opportunities for our valued members to accelerate green building development. Sydney was chosen as this year's destination. The HKGBC delegation comprised 36 professionals, which included HKGBC Chairman Dr CHEUNG Tin-cheung, Directors and Secretariat Staff, representatives of the Development Bureau of the Government of the HKSAR, as well as HKGBC Members from developers, consultants, industry associations, material suppliers and legal firms.

 

  
The trip was held on 4-6 October 2023 and visited several renowned 5- to 6-star Green Star rated projects to better understand their best practices and latest technologies:

• Art Gallery NSW, a revitalisation project of a historic institution into a two-building art museum;
• Barangaroo, an ambitious urban renewal project transformed from a former container terminal;
• Bondi Pavilion, an iconic beach-side restoration and conservation project;
• Parramatta Square, a bustling, diverse community that has fast become a dual CBD;
• Sydney Olympic Park, the first precinct wholly owned by the NSW Government to achieve a 6-star Green Star rating;
• Sydney Opera House, the world renowned 6-star Green Star performance venue now celebrating its 50th Anniversary;
• Sydney Nano, University of Sydney, a world-class building for nanoscale research and education;
• University of Technology Sydney, a future-focused campus at the forefront of sustainability research.

 

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Enhanced GFA Concession Policy to Foster a Greener Built Environment

Figure 1 – Revised conditions for granting GFA concessions
 

Figure 2 – Revised submission procedure

1. The type and version of the BEAM Plus rating tool is now specified to be “BEAM Plus New Buildings (NB) Version 2.0 or above”. This will have a bearing on certain projects such as new data centre buildings. Instead of joining “BEAM Plus New Data Centres (NDC)” alone, these projects may consider participating in the “NB plus NDC: 1+1 Certification” scheme. This not only provides a good discount on Registration and Assessment Fees (see Table 1) but also facilitates the application for GFA concessions.
2. Projects obtaining “Unclassified” / “Prerequisites Achieved” are no longer eligible to apply for GFA concessions.  
3. At the time of general building plan submission, the architect of a building development must indicate the project’s target BEAM Plus rating on the drawings.
4. At the time of applying for consent to commence works, there is no need to submit the result of the Provisional Assessment (PA). Instead, proof of satisfactory submission of the PA credit summary to the BEAM Society Limited (BSL) is required.
5. Instead of submitting the result of the Final Assessment (FA) after issuance of the Occupation Permit (OP), there is a new submission required at the time of applying for the OP. This is the result of the Compliance Assessment (CA), which is a partial completion of the FA. As a result, the project teams must be aware of the importance of finishing the first stage of the FA in a timely manner and to the required level of rating before applying for the OP. The details of the CA were announced by BSL via its e-news dated 11 July 2022.

Table 1 – Discounts on the “NB plus NDC : 1+1 Certification” scheme