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New air conditioning specification for government contracts 2.
Greens fear impact of cross-border bridge project 3.
Rescue plea for historic buildings
1. New air conditioning specification for government contracts
The Architectural Services Department (Arch SD) has recently published a new edition
of general specification for air conditioning to incorporate energy-efficient
requirements in design and construction of air conditioning system and ventilation
installation for government building projects.
The new specification,
known as the 2001 General Specification for Air Conditioning , Refrigeration,
Ventilation and Central Monitoring & Control System Installation in Government
Buildings, will be introduced in government building contracts with effect from
October 2002.
The additional key features of the general specification
include: * minimum coefficient of performance of major A/C equipment * minimum
efficiency of fans, pumps and motors * specification and requirements of dehumidifiers
such as desiccant wheels, total energy heat wheel, fresh air pre-conditioners,
etc * specification and requirements of motion detection sensing device * free
air cooling system * specification for enhanced air filtration systems and purification
equipment * reference to other international standards in setting out ventilation
requirements with due considerations of local conditions * treatment and processing
of air.
The new technical specification helps enhance the performance
of air conditioning and ventilation systems while at the same time without compromising
energy conservation.
Taking an active role in promoting energy efficient
architectural design, the Arch SD has conducted extensive consultations on the
draft version of the new specification with over 100 organisations from the industry
including universities, professional bodies, trade and contractors associations
as well as Arch SD's contractors and consultants.
More than 20 organisations
have actively participated in the consultation and their views are contributed
to the refinement of the draft specification.
Arch SD has also organised
a series of briefing sessions for relevant sectors in launching the new specification,
which is a new initiative taken in line with the "Overall Energy Approach"
widely adopted by the Arch SD in the design of government buildings.
The purpose of such approach is to minimise the loss of energy from a building
by means of a waste energy recapture system so that certain proportion of the
waste energy can be recovered for further utilisation.
The approach
has been widely applied in the design and installation of air conditioning system
in the department's projects in recent years. Pilot and trial projects are completed
with satisfactory results. Installations such as demand control A/C supply, heat
wheels, heat recovery chillers are set up to maximise energy utilisation and minimise
the loss of energy.
The general specification has been posted on Arch
SD's web site at http://www.archsd.gov.hk. It is also available for sale at Government
Publications Sales Centre. End/Sunday, September 30, 2001. [Source:
Hong Kong Government, 30 September 2001] 2.
Greens fear impact of cross-border bridge project
Members of Hong Kong's green watchdog are concerned they lack power to enforce
standards during construction of a cross-border bridge over Deep Bay. The multibillion-dollar,
six-lane, 5.1km-long Shenzhen Western Corridor, due for completion in 2005, will
link the northwestern New Territories to Shekou on the mainland. About 3km of
the bridge will straddle Hong Kong waters and the rest Chinese waters. The Hong
Kong section will cost about $2.8 billion. The SAR and Shenzhen governments, under
their project agreement, will each hire contractors to build their part of the
bridge and consultants to assess the environmental impact. But members of the
Advisory Council on Environment are concerned that this arrangement means they
will lack power to scrutinise the project as a whole. "We are confined by the
law, which limits our power in assessing projects to within the SAR boundary,"
council member Ng Cho-nam said. Deep Bay is considered ecologically sensitive
because it sits beside the Mai Po nature reserve, home to many bird species, and
is a habitat for the endangered Chinese white dolphin. The bridge will be the
first cross-border infrastructure project since the Environmental Impact Assessment
Ordinance was enacted in 1998. Alex Yau Suk-kau, conservation manager of the World
Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong, said the physical boundary should not obstruct
a proper assessment. "Despite 'one country, two systems', there is only one Deep
Bay and one ecosystem. The birds and fish don't have passports and they don't
recognise the boundary," she said. The SAR's consultant would be forced to assess
the impact of the project using information the Shenzhen authorities provided,
rather than obtaining it first-hand. "If the impact on the whole is not acceptable
to us, we could still disapprove our part of the project," she said. She was also
worried about the enforcement of mitigation measures for the project on the mainland
because it was impossible to enforce them across the boundary. She said council
members were worried about a piece of land off the east coast of Shekou to be
reclaimed for building a checkpoint. "We fear that more land will be reclaimed
in the future and further affect the ecosystem in Deep Bay," she said. "We can
only rely on the goodwill of the Shenzhen authorities." Highways Department chief
engineer Lee Tai-kwan said there was no problem in splitting the assessment and
stressed the Shenzhen authorities would provide all relevant information. He said
there was no legal way for the SAR to enforce its standards on others. "We might
have more stringent standards than Shenzhen, but we cannot enforce them across
the boundary or ask them to do more to meet our standards," he said. "Shenzhen
has the same concerns on the environment as we do. They have also achieved great
improvement in environmental protection in recent years." Mr Ng, however, said
the Shenzhen authorities had a bad environmental record. [Source:
SCMP, 3 October 2001] 3.
Rescue plea for historic buildings
Historic buildings should be bought by the Government for preservation, according
to the president of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, Professor Patrick Lau
Sau-shing. About 27 old buildings in various urban areas are being considered
for preservation by the Urban Renewal Authority. Their fate also rests on a heritage
policy currently being drafted and expected to be completed by the end of the
year. The policy will include several options for compensating the buildings'
owners. One possibility will allow landlords to add additional floor space, equal
to that lost, in buildings they own elsewhere in the city. But Professor Lau,
who is also a member of the Town Planning Board, argued the landlords might not
own other properties, adding: "Even if they do, transferring the density of these
buildings to other buildings may lead to very high densities in some parts of
the city." Instead, he said, the Government should buy the few remaining historic
buildings to preserve Hong Kong's past. Professor Lau, who teaches architecture
at Hong Kong University, also said government planners and urban renewal officials
should allow flexibility for the buildings' interiors. "Their exterior look should
be kept intact, and where they are damaged, they should be restored to their original
shape. But inside, there should be flexibility to allow for changes to fit modern
use," he said. He also called for discrimination in the selection of pre-war residential
buildings to be preserved, as they number up to 8,000. He said those worthy of
preservation must have a rich history and possess architectural merit, and cited
buildings in Shanghai Street, Mongkok, and Yau Ma Tei, where pre-war buildings
still have their original canopies. [Source:
SCMP, 3 October 2001] |  |
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