| News
Stories: |  |
Click-on these
handy "jump links" to quickly access the news item
you're looking
for. 1.
Hong Kong plants green ideas into high-rise buildings 2.
Developers mixed over land proposal
1. Hong Kong plants green ideas into high-rise buildings
Hong Kong is the first Asian Integer City to plant intelligent and green ideas
into high-rise buildings and turn these ideas into concrete or metallic reality,
the Director of Buildings, Mr Leung Chin-man, said. Speaking at a press conference
to launch the Integer Hong Kong Pavilion today (October 23), Mr Leung said that
we shared Integer's goal of creating homes that were kind to the environment,
cost-efficient to the developer and fully responsive to the changing needs of
contemporary society. He noted that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Government had spared no effort in promoting green and innovative buildings by
providing attractive incentives in exempting the gross floor area and site coverage
calculations for green features. "A total of 65 building plans has been approved
over the past six months bearing green features such as balconies; wider common
corridors and lift lobbies; communal sky gardens; communal podium gardens; acoustic
fins; sunshades and reflectors; and wing walls, wind catchers and funnels. "We
are not going to stop here though. The Government is now exploring ways to provide
further incentives, for instance by granting additional gross floor area to green
features that do not take up extra floor space or by awarding commendations to
buildings for excellence in environmental and energy performance," he said. "We
have also pledged to set up a green labelling system for buildings as from next
year. We are determined to make our buildings ever more people-oriented," Mr Leung
added. Mr Leung said that the Government was also seeking to provide incentives
for a whole range of latest technological inventions. These include red filtering
glass and special sun shading louvres used to reduce the need for air-conditioning;
grey water recycling facilities, water saving taps and sanitary fittings used
to cut down on water consumption; and bio-metric system that recognizes personal
unique features such as fingerprint, iris and intelligent central services. Also
addressing the press conference, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Sir David
Howard said the Integer aim was to stimulate discussion and ideas to help improve
the social, environmental technological and construction aspects of high-rise
living in Hong Kong's high temperature, highly humidity environment. "We hope
that what we will see in Hong Kong will be the start of much wider Integer applications.
We are seeing that Integer principles do work, that people want Integer-type homes,
and we're hoping to stimulate similar debate in Hong Kong," Sir David said. End/Tuesday,
October 23, 2001. [Source:
Hong Kong Government, 23 October 2001] 2.
Developers mixed over land proposal
Calls for a land-sale suspension following last week's disappointing government
auction results have met with mixed views from the market. Developers generally
responded cautiously or declined to comment on the proposal by Shun Tak Holdings
chairman Stanley Ho Hung-sun that the Government follow Singapore's example of
suspending sales for a year. Insignia Brooke consultant Nicholas Brooke, who was
opposed to a suspension, said the Government should instead review the existing
approach and raise the amount of land sales. However, Hampton Victoria Properties
director Simon Chow echoed Mr Ho's views that the SAR should follow Singapore's
example to suspend land sales, saying the property market was still suffering
from an oversupply problem. He said two small residential sites at last week's
auction were sold at reasonable prices but this was because they were in good
locations. Mr Chow said sites in remote areas of the New Territories might not
attract any bids from developers. Mr Ho also urged developers to stop applying
to buy land on the reserve list in a bid to bolster the property market. He said
land sold at low prices would hit the market further. He said he would raise his
proposal with the Real Estate Developers Association (Reda), of which he is president,
and then the Government. He raised the land-sale suspension issue last Thursday,
two days after the disappointing HK$655 million sale of a large commercial site
in Hunghom to Cheung Kong (Holdings) at auction. Analysts said the below-expectations
price of the Hunghom site would be a new benchmark for the market, driving down
the valuation of properties. Reda secretary-general Louis Loong Hon-biu said the
association would discuss the issue of land-sale suspension later. Sino Land executive
director Robert Lee Chi-hong and Cheung Kong executive director Justin Chiu Kwok-hung
would not comment on Mr Ho's proposal. But Mr Chiu said earlier this month he
was against land-sale suspension, saying the property market would have no direction
without land transactions. One analyst said developers would not apply to buy
land on the reserve list and unless prices were low, because the market was weak.
However, accepting low prices for land would mean a waste of public resources.
Mr Brooke said because the Hunghom site was below the price expected, more developers
could apply for land on the reserve list. But he said the reserve list disposal
system effectively reduced the amount of land for sale. The Government has put
all major sites on the list this financial year, but it will not be released until
developers applied and agreed to pay a minimum price deemed acceptable to the
Government. Mr Brooke said it was a worrying sign if the existing disposal approach
continued next year because it would mean ''developers [would be] virtually calling
the shots [on] how much land comes on the market and when''. ''We need a more
balanced land sales approach,'' he said. This financial year, the Government has
raised land revenue of HK$2.16 billion from auctions and tenders. In addition
to six residential sites, two Hunghom commercial sites, which were released off
the reserve list, were sold. Even with an estimated HK$1.7 billion from lease
modifications and land exchanges, land revenue is well short of the Government's
HK$27.35 billion target for this financial year. Four small residential sites
are scheduled for sale in two auctions before the end of this financial year.
There are 15 private residential sites, three commercial and four industrial sites
still on the reserve list. Jones Lang LaSalle senior national director Lau Chun-kong
said the existing arrangement of land sales was good enough, and that the number
of sites for sale already was low. Mr Lau said small-scale land sales could serve
to provide market information. ''Even in a depressed market, information is needed
for property purchasers and developers,'' Mr Lau said. [Source:
SCMP, 24 October 2001] |  |
|
