The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) has been inaugurated since November 2009. Right from the outset, the Council has been given “4As” to accomplish its goals – Accreditation, Assessment, Award, and Advocacy. These four “As” have become the strategic thrust for the Council to set our milestone and way forward throughout the past two years.
Since February 2010, we have started with the “Assessment” by introducing BEAM Plus and made it effective for project submission in late August 2010. By the end of 2011, there were over 120 projects registered for BEAM Plus assessment. In parallel, we established HKGBC BEAM Faculty in early 2010 to facilitate the BEAM Plus in both technical and procedural enquiries. From 1 April 2010, we launched the BEAM Pro training and examination to grant the “Accreditation” to professionals in supporting the BEAM Plus initiative. In less than two years’ time, there have been over 1,300 BEAM Pro attained the accreditation. In November 2010, we organised the 1st HKGBC “Award” competition in Green Building – GBA2010 cum Conference. About 57 entries submitted to the GBA2010, and over 500 participants joined the Conference. In line with the Policy Address 2009-2010, we issued the Green Guide of Revitalising Industrial Building to kick off our “Advocacy” commitment. In late 2011, we engaged with overseas expertise and organised a seminar for Cap and Trade initiatives. By the end of 2011, we nominated the Hong Kong SAR Government for the World GBC Government Leadership Award.
The Council has been given the 5th “A” – Accelerate in July 2010. Throughout the year of 2011, we accelerated ourselves through enlarging our coverage from the industry to schools. We had conducted Summer Workshops for students on green building and BEAM Plus. We launched the Green Building Competition for Schools. Moreover, we stepped up and led the Hong Kong Delegation of about 70 delegates to engage with international green building stakeholders through joining the World Sustainable Building Conference (SB11) in Helsinki, Finland in October 2011. We issued the 1st Publication – Hong Kong Report on the State of the Sustainable Building to showcase the sustainable building development policies and projects of Hong Kong on 22nd November 2011 in our 2nd Anniversary Reception Party. We treat our members as our partners, and we are proud of having over 300 members joining the Council in the past two years.
On 22 November 2011 in our 2nd Anniversary Cocktail Reception, we were given the 6th “A” – Advance.
We like to bring the “6As” as our strategic thrust through 2012 and onwards in making the HKGBC become a leading green building organization both locally and internationally. We like to put more focus on the existing building blocks and to advocate the Hong Kong SAR Government to offer incentives for existing building projects for BEAM Plus assessment. We have launched the Green Building Award (GBA) 2012 just recently to encourage the industry key stakeholders to participate in this important event. The theme of this year is “Towards Zero Carbon”. The award covers a wider spectrum throughout the Asia Pacific again, and we have made more focus on the existing building category to encourage submission on revitalization, renovation and rehabilitation. We added a new category to include building products that can support and follow the sustainable built development.
We will make the Council a platform and resource centre to networking with our community through public education events and programmes in green building development. We like to engage more with other professional institutes, green groups, etc. to explore opportunities and initiatives to drive sustainable development. We like to tackle existing buildings in Hong Kong in terms of energy efficiency through leading and driving different initiatives, for example, a Building Energy Benchmarking Labelling Scheme, etc. We like to encourage building materials and products to join the green arena, and we take lead to research and develop a Hong Kong based Green Building Product Labelling Scheme, etc. An on-going initiative supported by HKGBC is the Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) & Landscaped Area under the Construction Industry Council (CIC). The ZCB, targeted for completion by mid of 2012, will help accelerate the market transformation towards higher-performance buildings in Hong Kong and the region through demonstration of advance design and technologies, research and performance monitoring, and education of both industry stakeholders and general public. We are very much looking forward to partnering with the industry key stakeholders, the community, and the government to advance our commitment to build a greener and more sustainable living environment of Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ir. Dr. Andrew Chan, immediate Past Chairman of the Council, for his extremely great leadership in the last two years that led the Council in developing a solid foundation and fantastic milestone. I would also like to thank the Standing Committee Chairmen – Mr. Hau-wai Cheung, Ir. James Chiu, and Professor K S Wong for their leadership in leading the Committees to drive and promote the initiatives that help to drive the sustainable built development. I would like to thank the Board of Directors for their contribution and guidance sharing with everyone in building a good team of Standing Committees and the secretariat office to facilitate and support the many initiatives. Lastly, I would like to thank all the Committees and Task Forces Members for their commitment and devotion in supporting the Council and partnering with us in delivering the initiatives with resounding success.
The six “As” has been embedded into the Council. Years later, I would like to tell you that one of my most vivid experiences is my time with the HKGBC. I would enjoy recalling with you so wonderful a past. I trust that you will join me in taking even greater pleasure in dreaming about a green and sustainable city of Hong Kong that brings an even healthier and rewarding life for our community.
Sincerely,
Ir. Conrad T. C. Wong
Chairman
Hong Kong Green Building Council