Media

HKU's Faculty of Architecture Provides a Solution to Implement the Proposed Mandatory Building Inspection

20 Jan 2006

As Government launched a public consultation on the Mandatory Building Inspection in October last year, building management and maintenance have become issues of greater concern for owners, management companies, practitioners and the general public. The consultation exercise lasts until 31 January 2006 and the Government plans to introduce the necessary legislative proposals to the Legislative Council in 2007. Yet the questions of enforcement, Voluntary Building Classification Scheme, building standards and conditions, inspection mechanism, training of assessors and financial incentives remain controversial.

In an attempt to create a win-win situation for all parties concerned, HKU's Faculty of Architecture has recently started discussion with relevant parties to recommend using Building Quality Index (BQI) as a tool for the Voluntary Building Classification Scheme. [please see notes at the end for BQI] Voluntary Building Classification Scheme is a support measure proposed in the consultation paper to facilitate owners in discharging their responsibility under the proposed mandatory scheme. In order to kick-start the Voluntary Building Classification Scheme, the Faculty plans to employ BQI to conduct preliminary assessments for all privately-owned buildings in Hong Kong, currently there are about 40,000 buildings. To raise awareness and encourage public support, the Faculty suggests that this territory-wide preliminary assessment be carried out free of charge for the owners and the assessment results be conveyed to the public. To complete this huge task, it is estimated that about $10 Million will be needed.

Developed by HKU's Department of Real Estate & Construction, Faculty of Architecture, BQI is the first and only building index in HK designed for the assessment of safety and health standards. Since the index was developed in 2003, 350 buildings from over 15 districts have been assessed.

Latest assessment conducted in the second half of 2005 focuses on Island East where 160 buildings have been assessed. The results as compared to those from the assessment conducted in 2004 for Yau Ma-tei, Tsim Sha-tsui and Mong-kok is as below:

Island East (2005)
Grade A - Very Good - 20%
Grade B - Average/Good - 35%
Grade C - Fair - 34%
Grade U - Unclassified - 11%

Yau Ma-tei, TST, Mongkok(2004)
Grade A - Very Good - 7%
Grade B - Average/Good - 46%
Grade C - Fair - 37%
Grade U - Unclassified - 10%

The assessment results showed that close to half of the buildings being surveyed fall into "Fair" and "Unclassified" categories.

Prof KW Chau, Dean of Faculty of Architecture, said "building maintenance is not receiving the attention it deserves, we hope the general public will become more aware of its importance, we hope our suggestions for BQI will help kick-start the Voluntary Building Classification Scheme which is crucial to the implementation of Mandatory Building Inspection".

Dr Daniel Ho, Head of Department of Real Estate & Construction said "our scheme is readily available with proven track records, we need all parties to cooperate and work together to take Voluntary Building Classification Scheme one step further. For this, we have taken initiatives to discuss with relevant parties and submitted our views to the Government recently".

For photos of the press conference and on-site building inspection, please click in http://www.hku.hk/hkumedia/ and check icon "Events" under "Photo Gallery" after 6:00pm.

For further enquiries please contact Ms. Cherry Cheung, Senior Press Officer HKU at 2859 2606.

Notes for BQI

BQI is a simple, objective and balanced assessment that serves as an initial screening of building quality using limited resources within the shortest possible time. Each building is assessed and assigned a grade with one of four ratings: "A" being Very Good, "B" being Average/Good, "C" being Fair or "U" being Unclassified.

Assessment is based on a hierarchy of building design and management factors. Data is collected from site inspection, desk search and information provided by property management agents or building owners.

In developing the index, expert inputs were obtained from various Government departments, statutory bodies, academic institutions and over 10 professional organizations. In particular, Buildings Department and Home Affairs Department have provided valuable data for the BQI assessment.