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More
Publicity to Improve Awareness
Although we have initiated numerous activities and campaigns, our
work in this area will continue. Results of an opinion survey that
we commissioned from The University of Hong Kong suggested that the
environmental awareness of tenants and tenants' awareness of our environmental
efforts was barely satisfactory. We therefore plan to provide more
publicity on our efforts and to organise more campaigns to raise general
environmental awareness. Only through community participation will
our efforts be rewarded more significantly. Targets to improve awareness
have been set for the next four years. We will periodically check
awareness ratings by conducting
opinion surveys.
Other actions for the coming year include:
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Produce
a video for distribution to all of our offices in order to enhance
the awareness of all staff. We intend to launch the video shows
in June 2001. |
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Set
up a "Green Corner" in our Headquarters building to
promote and publicise environmental initiatives to our staff. |
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We
will co-organise with the Environmental Campaign Committee the
Green Property Management Award for public housing and the Green
Property Management Ambassadors Scheme. We will also participate
enthusiastically in the schemes. |
Partnering
We have completed a comprehensive review of our procurement practice,
including:
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Assessing
the environmental impacts of some products that we commonly
use |
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Surveying
the environmental commitment of some typical contractors and
service providers |
Green
and Innovative Buildings
We
contributed to the new government guidelines contained
in the Joint Practice Note on "Green
and Innovative Buildings" issued in February
2001. The new guidelines exempt some environmentally friendly
building design features from calculation of floor area
and site coverage and are expected to encourage a wider
adoption of green features into buildings, resulting in
a better living environment. |
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We now have a policy
governing environmentally responsible purchasing and we are compiling
Action Plans for implementation by each business branch. We will make
our policies known to all our service providers and product suppliers
as a first step towards encouraging environmentally responsible practices
throughout our supply chain.
Other Measures
Other measures we have followed up in the past year include:
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Workshops
on 13 projects have been organised since November 1999, to identify
and address potential issues, including environmental matters
on construction sites. |
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Research
has been commissioned to identify means to reduce construction
waste arising on construction sites, and to reduce noise impacts
associated with construction activities. |
Green
Estate Concept
Over
the past year, we have been working in conjunction with teams
of architects and consultants on how to design a "Green
Estate". This work involves investigating the feasibility
of the concept. It also involves looking at the available technology
and its suitability for incorporation into future estates.
Some of the ideas that we are looking into, or have already
tested to various degrees in different projects include:
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Automated
Refuse Collection Systems (ARCS). |
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Use
of environmentally friendly building materials. |
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Use
of environmentally friendly construction methods. |
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Environmentally
responsible methods & materials in estate maintenance
& management. |
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The
Automated Refuse Collection System provides significant
improvements in hygiene, prevention of odours and in reducing
manual handling of refuse by collecting refuse in a totally
concealed manner. The system has been installed in six
completed projects comprising 10 500 flats.
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Collection
and use of rainwater for watering plants. |
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Grey-water
recycling and reuse. |
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Use
of solar energy. |
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Estate
greening and landscaping measures. |
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Segregation
of pedestrian areas from traffic flow. |
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Improving
block layouts to encourage greater natural daylight, better
ventilation & improved micro-climate around our estates. |
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Optimising
layouts with respect to protection of residents from external
environmental factors such as traffic noise and air emissions. |
We also intend
to investigate alternative building design features and building materials.
Eventually these can be incorporated into our future designs to improve
the environmental performance of the buildings. In the long term,
we will further explore new ideas that will allow us to define effective
measures that can be selected for use in future developments according
to the characteristics of each site. With the adoption of such features,
we hope to achieve an "Excellent" rating for future estates
under the HK-BEAM Residential rating.
Integer
In another related initiative, we are a partner in the construction
of a concept flat based on the "Intelligent & Green"
concept from the United Kingdom called "Integer". The concept
flat will be used to demonstrate and test innovative and environmentally
conscious designs and construction materials/methods. Construction
of the concept flat will be completed by November 2001 and will be
a showcase for inspiring architects, designers, and those working
in the construction industry. |
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2001
Housing Authority. All rights reserved.