A fire safety study of Hong Kong refuge floor building wall layout design

Since 1996, refuge floors have been an indispensable passive building element of the fire protection plan for Hong Kong high-rise buildings. These floors must be designed to comply with the relevant requirements of the Building Codes of Hong Kong. Hence, 50% of the floor area must be deployed for refuge purposes. And they must have at least two fully open building side walls so that a desired wind effect is assumed so that any smoke that enters will be purged from the safe area. Therefore wind-induced natural cross-ventilation is of prime importance for the protection of the refuge floor in fire safety. If this wind effect is not achieved, entering smoke will accumulate and cause the safety system to fail. Therefore fundamental studies of this flow phenomenon are very important and needed. This paper studies the wind-induced flow behaviour of Hong Kong's refuge floors. Different building wall layout designs are addressed. By way of this study, the author suggests that a refuge floor shall be designed to have two opposite building side walls open instead of the present Building Codes that require at least any two of them.     

A longitudinal study of open space zoning and development in Hong Kong

This study evaluates the land-use zoning and development of open space in the hyper-dense, land-hungry city of Hong Kong. The existing literature has generally found that its open space provision is unsatisfactory in both quality and quantity. The study fills the research gap by undertaking an archive research and interpreting the past zoning data from a total of 1573 statutory town plans published between 1965 and 2006. It elucidates how the current ungenerous provision of public open space can be attributed to a number of historical, political and institutional factors including: inefficient division of government responsibilities, lack of public representation, pro-growth planning ideology, revenue-maximizing land sale policy and privatization of urban space. This study concludes that the development of public open space has been prejudiced under the statutory planning system and land allocation process. It suggests that the shrinking of public open space may cause excessive development density that aggravates the deteriorating urban climate in Hong Kong.     

Greenhouse gas emissions in building construction: A case study of One Peking in Hong Kong

The construction of buildings has a very important impact on the environment, and the process of manufacturing and transporting of building materials, and installing and constructing of buildings consumes great energy and emits large quantity of greenhouse gas (GHG). The present paper defines four sources of GHG emissions in building construction, which are: manufacture and transportation of building materials; energy consumption of construction equipment; energy consumption for processing resources; and disposal of construction waste, and then establishes the calculation method of GHG emissions. This paper presents a case study of GHG emissions in building construction in Hong Kong. The results show that 82–87% of the total GHG emissions are from the embodied GHG emissions of building materials, 6–8% are from the transportation of building materials, and 6–9% are due to the energy consumption of construction equipment. The results also indicate that embodied GHG emissions of concrete and reinforced steel account for 94–95% of those of all building materials, and thus the use of recycled building materials, especially reinforced steel, would decrease the GHG emissions by a considerable amount.     

低碳建筑与可持续性建筑的关系探讨

从概念、内涵等方面对低碳建筑、节能建筑、绿色建筑、生态建筑、可持续建筑进行了阐述,分析了低碳建筑与其他四种建筑的区别及这五种建筑的关系,最后说明发展低碳建筑的重要性。     

Subcontracting and its ramifications: A survey of the building industry in Hong Kong

There has been increasing concern on excessive subcontracting. This study reviews the case of Hong Kong, in particular the consequence of high & growing rate of subcontracting and what project managers can do. Based on statistics and elemental cost analyses, we find that as much as 80% of the value of building works is undertaken by small subcontractors. Whilst subcontracting provides the industry with specialized services as well as organizational and managerial flexibility, it has also been attributed to the labour intensity and the lacklustre performance of the industry. It relies on project manages to make the best use of what subcontracting has to offer, whilst avoiding its pitfalls. An assessment of the extent and issues of subcontracting helps us understand how project management could enhance the performance of the projects and then the industry.     

生态建筑从现在从身边做起--生态与可持续发展建筑

提出了可持续发展的意义和紧迫性,阐述了创建生态的建筑观与可持续建筑观的必要性,并从中国北方地区的气候和环境出发,总结了当地生态的建筑技术和设计方法。     

生态建筑与可持续发展

对生态建筑与可持续发展的历程进行了回顾，并对其内容作了分析，经生态建筑理论与实践的探索，论证了建筑设计所应遵循的新的纬度，以利创造一个健康舒适的建筑环境。     

绿色建筑与可持续发展探讨

本文从可持续发展和绿色建筑理念的角度，对我国绿色建筑发展现状加以分析，对存在的问题进行研究，为推进绿色建筑的发展提出了一些建议。     

Political economy and urban planning: a comparative study of Hong Kong,Singapore and Taiwan

This study compares urban planning mechanisms that operate within Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. The political economy of Hong Kong is in a state of flux. While the power of the government and the corporate interests remain largely intact, they are challenged by pro-China interests and a democratizing civil society. The land use planning system reflects this power contest. In face of both strong resistance from the development industry and China's eagerness to perpetuate a market-led society in post-1997 Hong Kong, the outcome of the power contest remains uncertain. The state-centred political economy of Singapore has bred a top–down land use planning system centrally controlled by the government. Not only has the government dominated the plan making process, the legislation has entrusted the public sector to scrutinize and guide private development through a discretionary development control system. The government is able to mobilize resources to implement plans with the tacit consent of a regulated and meritocracy-based society. In contrast, Taiwan's multi-layered government structure and its complicated relationships with business interests (`gold-power' alliance) within a cultural milieu with scant respect for rules and regulations, have produced a complex and yet loosely coordinated land use planning system. The Urban Planning Law emphasizes plan making and implementation by the public sector at the district level, but local authorities lack resources to implement plans. The regulatory development control system, to a large extent, is abused by the community and land use zoning is not taken seriously in general. As plan amendments can be made behind closed doors, the `gold-power' alliance has tried to rezone land for speculative purposes. The impact of the recent democratization process on the society's legal attitudes and the roles of planning in urban governance in Taiwan remains to be seen.     

暖通空调和可持续建筑发展

在建筑相关专业中,暖通空调（建筑环境与设备工程）与可持续建筑的关系最为紧密,并已经在教育、设计、评价等方面做出了相应的贡献,未来还可以在科研、产品研发、设备安装、标准制定等多个方面发挥更大的作用。     

关于建筑经济的可持续发展探究

分析了建筑经济可持续性发展的现状,从加强重视程度、加强宣传和教育、加强技术创新、加强人才培训、加强设计水平、加强监督体系等方面提出了加强建筑经济可持续性发展的措施。     

A survey of building envelope designs for commercial buildings in Hong Kong

Nearly 1 million m² of gross floor area is represented by the survey which identified four different building envelope designs. To enable judgements to be made on construction cost and time, a comparative study was carried out based on a 40-storey generic office building.     

有机建筑与可持续发展

本文阐述了有机建筑的发展过程,思路及主要特征.从有机建筑"天人合一,道法自然"与环境共生,协调发展的角度,探讨了它的可持续发展性.进而引伸出我们应如何对待可持续发展和具有可持续发展观的建筑.     

论可持续发展与建材革新

阐述了我国建材工业坚持可持续发展战略的重要意义,分析了可持续发展观的内涵,论述了可持续发展观在工业领域的实现措施及其在建材业方面引起的建筑材料革新,最后指出了开发绿色建材的战略意义.     

Evaluations of existing waste recycling methods: A Hong Kong study

Environmental problems have been considered as a serious situation in Hong Kong construction. Waste management is pressing harder with the alarming signal warning the industry. Reuse, recycling and reducing the wastes are considered as the only methods to recover the wastes generated; however, the implementations still have much room for improvement. In order to ameliorate the existing situations, evaluations of the existing waste recycling methods are studied in this research. A telephone interviewing to the recyclers, site visits to the construction and demolition sites (including the Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate Phase 1) and the centralized recycling plant in Tuen Mun Area 38 are under investigation. Difficulties encountered for various recycling parties are investigated. Rather than the poor quality found from the recyclable materials, they found the high investment cost, lengthy demolition period and limited space caused the major barriers for them. Therefore, some recommendations are suggested: (i) proposing a higher landfill charging scheme; (ii) setting up a centralized centre for recycling the materials; (iii) examining the Hong Kong government should be supported in the provision of land for recycling plants; (iv) implementing innovative demolition methods; (v) allowing some locations in town for residents’ easy access to drop-off recyclable materials; (vi) allowing flexible demolition periods; (vii) setting up recycling plant in town or in the form of mobile installations; (viii) reusing the reusable components as donations to the charity organization; (ix) providing higher flexibility in receiving concrete waste in Tuen Mun Area 38 recycling plant; and (x) balancing the supply and demand of recycled materials through legislations or incentive schemes.     

可持续发展的绿色建筑

从可持续发展要求的角度介绍了绿色建筑和绿色技术的概念,阐述了绿色建筑和绿色技术的特征,探讨了绿色建筑设计和绿色技术在绿色建筑中的应用,以实现建筑业的可持续发展。     

上海与香港大都市定位发展的比较研究

全球经济一体化的新形势下,上海的国际地位日益突显,香港国际城市的地位也不断提升。21世纪(特别是我国加入WTO)后,上海与香港的大都市如何定位?两个国际性城市将如何发挥各自特点、各自优势,并在今后的竞争中如何相互补充、相得益彰,必须从高层面、多视角方面进行比较研究。本文就这些基本问题作深入研究。     

Construction loans and industry development: the case of Hong Kong

Building contractors are generally small private firms. Bank loans are their major, if not only, source of external finance. However, building and construction loans represent a mere minuscule portion of all bank loans in Hong Kong, suggesting that contractors may have been neglected by banks. With the case of Hong Kong, this study examines the lack of supply and demand of construction finance, and the implications for industry competition and innovation. Contractors’ perceptions were solicited through a questionnaire survey. Key issues identified were further explored in subsequent interviews. The results were then triangulated with secondary data. It is found that although contractors do not usually have enough assets to pledge as collateral, they generally do not need to borrow that much. The provision of interim payments has enabled them to work with small capital outlay. However, the interim payment mechanism has induced a low barrier to entry, which has helped perpetuate the vicious circle of labour intensiveness of building construction, exploitation of labour‐only subcontracting, proliferation of small subcontractors and intense rivalry between firms. The findings conclude that contractors’ limited access to finance generally and bank loans in particular has posed a major barrier to innovation and hence industry development.     

Field measurements of wind effects on the tallest building in Hong Kong

Central Plaza has a height of approximately 374 m and is 78‐storeys tall. It is the tallest structure in Hong Kong and was the highest reinforced‐concrete building in the world when it was built several years ago. This paper describes some results obtained from the full‐scale measurements of wind effects on Central Plaza. The field data such as wind speed, wind direction and acceleration responses have been measured during the close passage of several typhoons in recent years. Detailed analysis of the field data is conducted to investigate wind effects on the tall building. The full‐scale measurements are compared with the wind tunnel results. The amplitude‐dependent characteristics of damping that were obtained by using the random decrement technique are investigated on the basis of the field measurements. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.