Urban Renewal Authority 2018-19 Annual Report

57 CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY Care for Our Environment Environmental sustainability interweaves the various stages of urban renewal as well as being a tenet that drives our strategies and operations. We aim to spearhead the development of green-and-smart buildings and innovative urban design in order to provide high quality and vibrant homes for our citizens. Promoting Green Buildings We are aware that impacts on the environment associated with our urban renewal projects are substantial and far- reaching. With planning objectives to create low-carbon neighbourhoods, green building is an essential practice to reduce the environmental impacts on the built environment and improve the quality of life of our citizens. The URA has continued to embrace green building design in its redevelopment projects, thereby improving the energy efficiency of buildings, reducing water consumption and waste generation and providing more green areas to the local community. With the combined efforts of both the URA and our joint-venture partners, the URA attained the final BEAM Plus rating in one more project during 2018/19, bringing the total to 14 projects with Hong Kong BEAM Platinum rating in addition to one project with BEAM Plus Platinum rating and two projects with BEAM Plus Gold rating. Another 19 projects in the design or construction stage have already received provisional BEAM Plus rating. The URA not only dedicates effort to promoting new green buildings, but also strives to improve the green elements of existing buildings through rehabilitation. The URA introduced the Green Item Subsidy (GIS) (which won a Hong Kong Green Building Council Award in 2016) under the “Common Area Repair Works Subsidy” to encourage property owners to use environmentally-friendly building materials and to install energy-saving facilities when carrying out building maintenance and repair works. Up to 30 June 2019, the URA had approved GIS applications from the owners of about 290 building blocks (approximately 10,800 units) amounting to a total subsidy of around $15 million. In addition to green buildings of high environmental standards, we are incorporating “Smart Building” concepts into development projects covering five aspects, namely “Design”, “Information”, “Environment”, “Convenience” and “Management”. Smart Building will create smart quality and vibrant living and advocate the development of “Smart City” in Hong Kong. Smart features like home energy and water consumption systems, home health and wellness systems, smart displays, home waste management systems, building information modelling (BIM) and building management systems have been incorporated into the URA projects at Peel Street/Graham Street Site A, Fuk Chak Street/Li Tak Street, Reclamation Street/Shantung Street and Ma Tau Wai Road “e-Residence”, Castle Peak Road/Un Chau Street, Hang On Street and Tung Chau Street/Kweilin Street. The URA intends to expand its Smart City initiatives to not only buildings, but also as a district wide approach. A study on smart use of underground space and smart provisions of city infrastructural facilities in the Kowloon City area will commence in 2019.