News & Events

HONG KONG, 28 November 2019 – 2019 marks the 10th Anniversary of the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC). The HKGBC and the Development Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region jointly hosted a cocktail reception at the Government House last night with The Hon Mrs Carrie LAM CHENG Yuet-ngor, The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as Guest of Honour.  The event was graced by over 100 distinguished guests from Hong Kong and overseas, the HKGBC’s Founding Members and Board of Directors, representatives of HKGBC’s Members including developers, construction companies, consultancies, as well as other stakeholders from professional institutions, public bodies and universities to celebrate 10-year achievements in green building development and share the outlook on Hong Kong’s sustainable built environment.
 
Green building is one of the most important solutions for combating climate change and there was a need to accelerate its development. Therefore, with the staunch support from the Development Bureau, HKGBC was founded by the Construction Industry Council, the BEAM Society Limited, the Business Environment Council and the Professional Green Building Council in 2009 with an aim to foster green building development in Hong Kong. For the past ten years, the Development Bureau has been working closely with the HKGBC. Since 2010, the Secretary for Development has been the Guest of Honour of HKGBC’s anniversary event, and acting as the Guest of Honour and the Honorary Advisor of Green Building Award. In 2014, the Development Bureau led a delegation of 115 representatives from Hong Kong to attend the World Sustainable Building Conference in Barcelona. HKGBC has always been committed to serving as a bridge between the Government, the industry and the public, for promoting and enhancing Hong Kong's development and the prevalence of sustainable buildings, with an aim of leading Hong Kong to become one of the world’s greenest built city. 
 
Established in 2009, the HKGBC strives to promote the standards and developments of sustainable buildings in Hong Kong. In 2010, HKGBC and the BEAM Society jointly launched BEAM Plus which has become the most authoritative assessment tool for building sustainability performance in Hong Kong. As of this year, more than 1,500 buildings were certified under BEAM Plus, and total registered gross floor area (GFA) reached over 430 million square feet. Since 2014, private sector projects joining BEAM Plus continuously reached nearly 50%, showing the support from the industry.
 
Apart from establishing the assessment tool, HKGBC has been actively enhancing the energy efficiency of existing buildings. In 2016, HKGBC launched the "ACT-Shop" programme which provides retro-commissioning services for existing buildings. The Hong Kong Green Shop Alliance was founded in the same year, with an aim to encouraging shopping malls and shops located in these existing buildings to conserve energy and protect the environment, fostering a green shopping environment in Hong Kong. Moreover, the CIC Green Product Certification will be officially launched in 2020 to provide a holistic instrument to building and construction practitioners to procure green and sustainable materials and products.
 
Elevating the awareness on green building among the industry and the public is also one of the key works of the HKGBC. Since 2010, HKGBC has been co-organising the Green Building Award with the Professional Green Building Council, to provide recognition to building-related projects and organisations with outstanding performance and contributions in sustainability and the built environment. In addition, from 2012 to 2018 HKGBC provides accreditation and trainings to about 4,000 green building practitioners including BEAM Professional (BEAM Pro) and BEAM Affiliate to equip them with up-to-date knowledge. The HKGBC has also published a series of guidebooks to provide guidelines for implementing green features and green building practices in different premises such as offices, shops, schools, etc. As for the public, HKGBC has been organising an annual territory-wide large-scale green building public event - Hong Kong Green Building Week - since 2013. Co-organised with the Construction Industry Council, the event promotes green building benefits as well as encourages green practices to the public, so that they can understand how to support mitigating climate change. In addition, HKGBC also regularly organises activities for students including the “My Green Space” Green Building Competition for Schools. More than 2,000 members of the public have jointed the HKGBC to become ‘Friends of Green Building’ to support green building together.
 
At the international level, HKGBC actively participates in international green building affairs. In 2012, HKGBC has become the Established Member of the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) in 2012. In 2015, Hong Kong hosted WorldGBC Congress 2015. More than 400 government officials, industry leaders and practitioners from over 30 countries in Hong Kong participated in the event. In 2017, with the full support of Development Bureau, the World Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2017 was held in Hong Kong and it welcomed more than 1,800 government officials, experts, academia and industry leaders from local and over 55 countries around the world to exchange ideas and promote the development of green buildings around the world. In 2019, Ms Ada FUNG Yin-suen, BBS, Director of HKGBC, was appointed as Board Secretary of the WorldGBC. Ir Cary CHAN Wing-hong, JP, Executive Director of HKGBC, was appointed the Vice Chairman of WorldGBC’s Asia Pacific Regional Network. They have locally and globally symbolised leadership in green building development, affirming the efforts of HKGBC over the past decade.

Photo 1
Speech by The Hon Mrs Carrie LAM, The Chief Executive of the HKSAR.

Photo 2
Speech by Mr CHEUNG Hau-wai, Chairman of the HKGBC.

Photo 3
Speech by Ms Lisa BATE, Chair of the WorldGBC.

Photo 4
The Hon Mrs Carrie LAM, The Chief Executive of the HKSAR (centre), Mr Michael WONG, Secretary for Development (2nd left), Mr CHEUNG Hau-wai, Chairman of the HKGBC (2nd right), Mr WONG Kam-sing, Secretary for the Environment (1st right) and Ir LAM Sai-hung, Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) (1st left) officiated the toasting ceremony together. 

Photo 5
After the toasting ceremony, The Hon Mrs Carrie LAM, The Chief Executive of the HKSAR, Mr Michael WONG, Secretary for Development, Mr CHEUNG Hau-wai, Chairman of the HKGBC, Mr WONG Kam-sing, Secretary for the Environment and other guests joined for photo together.

 

About the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC)
The Hong Kong Green Building Council Limited (HKGBC) is a non-profit, member-led organisation established in 2009 with the vision to aspire for quality and sustainability at every stage of the building life cycle and embrace these principles as a mark of excellence. The Founding Members of HKGBC include the Construction Industry Council (CIC), Business Environment Council (BEC), the BEAM Society Limited (BSL) and the Professional Green Building Council (PGBC). Its mission is to lead the market transformation to a sustainable built environment in Hong Kong by guiding the development of industry standards, best practices, education, and research in green building.
 
To learn more about the HKGBC, please visit www.hkgbc.org.hk.