News & Events

A Record Number of Green Buildings Certified
More Existing Buildings Committed to Going Green
 

Hong Kong, 16 December 2019 – Co-organised by the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) and BEAM Society Limited (BSL), the BEAM Plus Certification Ceremony 2019 was successfully held on 5 December 2019. Mr WONG Kam-sing, GBS, JP, Secretary for the Environment, HKSAR Government, Mr LIU Chun-san, JP, Under Secretary for Development, HKSAR Government, and Mr CHAN Ka-kui, SBS, JP, Chairman of Construction Industry Council, presented certificates to the project teams with exemplary performance in BEAM Plus rating.

This year, around 100 projects were certified with Final assessment ratings and Provisional Platinum rating. Among these projects, a record high number of 46 projects were certified with the highest rating in Final and Provisional Assessment, i.e. Platinum or Excellent grade. These certified projects have demonstrated that their sustainability performance has met or even exceeded the assessment requirements, of which some of the projects have achieved by adopting innovative design.

In the opening speech, Mr CHEUNG Hau-wai, SBS, Chairman of the HKGBC, congratulated all project teams on their outstanding achievement in BEAM Plus project ratings and commended their concerted efforts to make the buildings greener. Looking forward to the development of the BEAM Plus rating tool, he emphasised that it would become more user-friendly to facilitate the transformation of the built environment in Hong Kong, including the greening of the existing building stock.

At the ceremony, a number of portfolio management companies demonstrated their commitment to turning their existing buildings into green by signing Memoranda of Understanding with both organisers on the stage. These companies include Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Management Company Limited and Hong Yip Service Company Limited, Kai Shing Management Services Limited, Nan Fung Property Management, and New World Development Company Limited. The company representatives were committed to promoting BEAM Plus Existing Buildings (EB) Volume Certification to over 500 properties under their portfolios.  This initiative was recently launched in October 2019.  It enables multiple existing buildings that bear similarities to be certified in a faster and more economic manner.  It is foreseeable that there will be a growing number of certified existing buildings in the near future.

Mr SO Kai-ming, Chairperson of BSL, highlighted in his closing remarks that human centric design would be a crucial element in building design. The upgraded BEAM Plus New Buildings V2.0 assessment tool recently launched in September 2019, was an illustrative example. The upgraded tool has focused on the perspective of occupants, placing more emphasis on their wellness.

BEAM Plus is the Hong Kong’s leading initiative to offer independent assessments of building sustainability performance.  It covers the whole building life cycle including planning, design, construction, operation and management.  Under the scheme, the buildings are assessed by BSL and certified by HKGBC. BEAM Plus consists of four assessment tools, namely New Buildings, Existing Buildings, Interiors and Neighbourhood. Since 2010, BEAM Plus has become the most popular green building rating tool in Hong Kong. Up to now, there are more than 1,300 registered BEAM Plus projects, covering a total gross floor area of over 400,000,000 sq ft. The types of BEAM Plus projects are diverse, including residential, commercial, government and institutional buildings, etc

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.

The BEAM Society Limited (BSL) is a non-profit public body established in 2010 and the descendant of the BEAM Society founded in 1996.  Being the developer and owner of the Building Environmental Assessment Method (BEAM); we are committed to improving and developing the BEAM Assessment Tools, including the HK-BEAM (old version) and the current BEAM Plus. Conducting impartial assessment on buildings’ sustainability is our work, while we are also devoted to providing training for BEAM practitioners – BEAM Professionals (BEAM Pro) and BEAM Affiliates.

In order to achieve our vision of a sustainable community and a green liveable built environment in harmony with nature, we continuously strive to improve the overall quality of the built environment in Hong Kong.
 

To learn more about BSL, please visit http://www.beamsociety.org.hk.