URA

MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 54 Rehabilitation Rehabilitation is one of the two core businesses of the URA, the other being redevelopment. The URA is now the primary agent in Hong Kong for building rehabilitation, after taking over the HKHS’s responsibilities under the Integrated Building Maintenance Assistance Scheme (IBMAS) in July 2015. Owners are responsible for the maintenance and repair of their buildings. However, the frequent lack of financial means, technical support, organisation power and awareness by owners are persistent hurdles to rehabilitation. To confront these obstacles, the URA has continued its rehabilitation efforts through various loan and subsidy schemes, including: the Mandatory Building Inspection Subsidy Scheme, IBMAS, Operation Building Bright (OBB), and Smart Tender. The financial assistance, technical advice, and coordination services provided by the URA to Owners’ Corporations (OCs) under the schemes have been well received, judging by the enthusiastic response and frequent commendations. Facilitating Rehabilitation through ‘Smart Tender’ Launched in 2016 in response to the Chief Executive’s Policy Address of that same year, the ‘Smart Tender’ Building Rehabilitation Facilitating Services seeks to help building owners reduce the risk of tender rigging at the works procurement stage. With over 600 applications received up until 30 June 2018, Smart Tender is already proving its popularity in providing technical services to the OCs of private buildings. Study on New Building Rehabilitation Strategy The study on the New Building Rehabilitation Strategy aims to identify a holistic approach to rehabilitation while seeking to reduce the number of buildings in varied and poor condition that may require redevelopment in future. Raising rehabilitation awareness for young buildings under 30 years old has been proposed as a new strategic direction to prolong the service life of buildings and create a new mindset for preventive maintenance amongst owners. For information, owners and other stakeholders can turn to the newly formed Building Rehabilitation Platform as an all-in-one information centre. Provided in the platform are, among others, information on cost references as well as the standards for rehabilitation and retrofitting, that cover the five essential elements of building structure, external façade, fire services, energy efficiency and barrier free facilities. Preservation and Revitalisation Section 5 of the URS spells out the URA’s mandate in ‘preserving buildings, sites and structures of historical, cultural or architectural value.’ The URA has implemented ten projects that contain buildings for preservation or revitalisation. Three of these projects are dedicated preservation or revitalisation projects; whereas in the seven other projects, the preserved buildings form part of a larger redevelopment project site. Two preservation projects are being actively implemented. All acquired units in the Prince Edward Road West preservation project have been leased out for various uses, including social enterprise, after the renovation. For the Shanghai Street/Argyle Street preservation project, construction of new building blocks to be integrated with the preserved shophouse cluster is in progress. The Central Market revitalisation, which commenced in 2009 as tasked by the Government under the “Conserving Central” initiative in the 2009/10 Policy Address, is another initiative involving a historic building. A simplified version of the revitalisation scheme has been approved by the Board for earlier completion of the project for public enjoyment. An ad-hoc committee set up by the Board is overseeing the revitalisation of the project, with site works having commenced in October 2017.