Hong Kong’s Green Building Award 2008 highlighted some worthy projects, and aims to encourage the industry towards a wider adoption of sustainable practices, says Lucy Davis
Aiming to promote sustainable development, the city’s Green Building Award (GBA) honoured Hong Kong’s eco-friendly developers and architects at a ceremony this July. The awards’ name ‘30 Shades of Green’ referred to the number of finalists for the three categories: Existing Building, New Construction, and Research and Planning.
In this the third bi-annual ceremony, organisers of the event, the Professional Green Building Council (PGBC), made the awards open to projects outside the city with a Hong Kong connection, as well as local projects.
Developed by the Home Affairs Department, the Stanley Municipal Services Building was awarded grand prize for New Construction. The property features a staggered design to reduce its building mass, as well as a tempered glass floor in the courtyard that doubles as the roof of the building. In the Research & Planning category, Beijing Changxing Eco-city (developed by the Beijing Wannian Flowercity Real Estate Development Co. Ltd) scooped the grand award for its commitment to the environment. The new town has been specifically designed to prioritise energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, economic growth and social harmony. While energy consumption has been reduced 20 percent from current local standards, CO2 emissions are down a full 50 percent.
In the Existing Building category, Sun Hung Kai’s residential complex The Parcville in Yuen Long, took top honours. This low-density residential development has buildings of between just 13 and 15 storeys, and the semi-open green car park reduces the accumulation of polluting gases from vehicles. In addition, the Shatin Equestrian Venue, developed by The Hong Kong Jockey Club, and the Hong Kong Housing Society’s Moon Lok Dai Ha, Tsuen Wan scooped up the grand prize for Existing Building and Existing Building (Rehabilitation) respectively.
Asked what difficulties Hong Kong is facing in making its cityscape greener, KS Wong, Vice Chairman, Professional Green Building Council and Chairman of the GBA 2008 Jury Committee says, “The key challenge is how to have a quality sustainable building design in a high density context.”
So great is the challenge, Wong feels that the government needs to get behind such projects. “At the moment, Japan is leading the way while Singapore is catching up, both due to government backing to promote the adoption of sustainable building into mainstream practice.” Japanese company Panasonic, for example, has designed an eco-house that minimises environmental impact with a 60 percent reduction in greenhouse gas by using solar power and a green roof. In Singapore, meanwhile, luxury condominium Goodwood Residence features a pioneering water irrigation system that enables mass volumes of rain and underground water to be recycled. Malaysian developer Guocoland even recycled the construction waste to make internal partition walls.
“The government needs to take the lead and appoint an authority or department to look after sustainable development and then to launch a comprehensive master plan to promote such development in the mainstream market,” says Wong. “A mandatory green building rating would require all new buildings to be assessed in the building plan submission stage for all new construction. It’s also about educating the public, providing incentives for developers, professionals and/or occupants; and, of course, funding to support research and advancement.”
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