1 Building projects put wind up greens
Bonnie Chen , SCMP 22 June 2009

Four new buildings in North Point's Oil Street will slash 30 percent of ventilation in the area, Green Sense warned yesterday as it asked the government to reduce the scale of development by half.

The group cited a University of Science and Technology study that claimed redeveloping the former Government Supplies Department site will reduce wind velocity on Electric Road and King's Road by 26-27 percent, with the concentration of pollutants rising from 35 to 36 percent.

Wind velocity will be reduced by 6 percent for the entire North Point district, the group said.

The administration has proposed four buildings 100 meters to 110m tall, with a plot ratio of 8.6, and three air corridors.

But Green Sense suggested two 80-90m buildings, a plot ratio of four and two wide air corridors.

"Wind velocity will be reduced by 15 percent only in our proposal," Green Sense president Roy Tam Hoi-pong said.

The group also criticized a proposed mega building - 147m tall with a plot ratio of 15 - next to the new Harbour Grand Hotel.

The government is proposing a 110m-building with a plot ratio of 12 for commercial use or a ratio of eight for residential use next to the hotel, with one air corridor.

The group wants the height of the building to be not more than 80m, with a plot ratio of four and two air corridors.

Tam said he will submit the proposal to the Town Planning Board today.

"The government did not listen to our views in the past because we lacked a scientific air- ventilation assessment," Tam said. "But we have it this time."

King's Road is one of Hong Kong's heavily congested streets, Tam said, adding that the temperature in North Point is an average 3-4 degrees Celsius higher than other districts.

Democratic Party lawmaker Kam Nai-wai proposed a flexible plot ratio if developers were asked to slash the scale of development in busy districts, adding that they could be compensated with higher ratios in less dense areas.

Lo Wing-lok, a former medical sector lawmaker, said the rise in pollutants will increase the chance of cardiac disease.

 

2 Lower building density urged to aid air flow
Joyce Ng, SCMP 22 June 2009

A green group wants town planners to reduce the building density on two prime waterfront sites in North Point, after a study found that developments on one site were likely to cut the speed of wind blowing into the inner city by more than 25 per cent.

The site on Oil Street, which has yet to be sold to developers for mixed commercial and residential developments, should in particular have its density lowered when it is still in the government's hands, Green Sense president Roy Tam Hoi-pong said.

Mr Tam suggested capping the building height on the site at 90 metres, down from 110 metres, and the extra floor areas given to developers to build green features - such as balconies - to not more than 10 per cent of total floor area.

It was fitting the government should take the initiative now, a day after a public consultation on environmentally friendly building designs was launched, he said.

It could put new building limits as conditions in the land lease before putting the land on sale, he said.

Mr Tam's proposal was backed by an air ventilation study conducted by the mathematics department at the University of Science and Technology. The study found that future development would block wind from the waterfront blowing into King's Road, decreasing wind speed by about 27 per cent. The speed of the wind reaching Electric Road will be cut by 26 per cent.

On average, air circulation of the whole North Point district would deteriorate by 6 per cent, the study found. Reduced air flow would raise concentration of air pollutants and temperatures, Mr Tam said.

The group would submit its proposal to the Town Planning Board this week, he said, requesting for an amendment of the district's outline zoning plan.

It was the first time it was doing so backed by scientific data on air flow.

A study such as this, he said, would cost more than HK$100,000, and was usually commissioned only by the government and developers because of its forbidding cost.

The group is also seeking to lower the building density on a King Wah Road site, which allows for residential and commercial development with plot ratios of 8 and 12. The group is suggesting halving the plot ratios, and limiting the building height from 110 metres to 80 metres.