URA

OPERATING REVIEW 21 An aerial view of the Yau Mong District, the most densely developed area in Hong Kong. Study on New Building Rehabilitation Strategy Building rehabilitation pursues a key purpose and is a core business of the URA designed to prevent the decay of the built environment. As part of a holistic approach to rehabilitation, and as noted in the 2017 Policy Address, the URA has commenced a study on New Building Rehabilitation Strategy through which it aims to formulate comprehensive strategies to reduce the number of buildings in varied and poor condition that otherwise would be in need of redevelopment. Those buildings are divided into three categories: i.e. young (under 30 years old), middle-aged (30 to 49 years old) and old-aged (50 years old and above). For young buildings, the focus would be on preventive maintenance in line with the building maintenance cycle to reduce the number of middle-aged buildings in varied or poor condition. The URA will study the existing regulatory framework and practice, with a view to formulating enhancement proposals for the Government. In parallel, property owners could be educated on the importance of preventive maintenance. For middle-aged buildings, approaches for rehabilitation and retrofitting works to prolong building life need to be developed. The five essential elements of rehabilitation and retrofitting works include: building structure, external façade, fire services, energy efficiency, and barrier-free facilities. New technologies for these elements as well as the practicability of retrofitting these buildings with new features and facilities will also be explored. For old-aged buildings, an algorithm will be devised for making an initial assessment on the necessity of redeveloping a building beyond practical repair, while the costs and benefits of redevelopment versus rehabilitation or retrofitting will be compared. Particular difficulties may be faced in the case of dilapidated buildings that lack redevelopment potential unless there is a capacity for transferring unused plot ratio from other sites in the vicinity or relaxation of plot ratio controls. To provide updated building conditions data to further ascertain the scale of urban decay, an extensive building condition survey covering some 5,900 domestic and 700 non-domestic buildings has been completed. This will facilitate building a comprehensive database for all residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Sustainability Study As the URS requires the urban renewal process to be forward-looking and create sustainable and positive impacts for the community, sustainability has always been one of the vital considerations when planning the URA’s 5R business strategies. In June 2017, the URA commenced a strategic sustainability study aimed at formulating a systematic framework that is intended to be applied to measure and drive improvement towards the performance of 5R projects within the community, and to facilitate an objective setting in line with business strategies. During the year, a preliminary sustainability framework comprising both objective and subjective sub-domains was being developed. This framework shall be the building block to formulate key performance indicators in various dimensions for evaluating the URA’s 5R works.