Government announces implementation of elderly-friendly building design and launches Elderly-friendly Building accreditation scheme
The Government announced today (July 22) that the Task Force on Promoting Elderly-friendly Building Design (Task Force) led by the Deputy Financial Secretary, Mr Michael Wong, has formulated the proposals on elderly-friendly building design for implementation in phases starting from the middle of this year. Meanwhile, the Development Bureau (DEVB), in collaboration with the Hong Kong Green Building Council Limited (HKGBC) and the BEAM Society Limited (BSL), has launched a voluntary Elderly-friendly Building accreditation scheme to encourage the industry to adopt the recommended best practices for elderly-friendly building design.
With an ageing population in Hong Kong and to encourage ageing in place, "The Chief Executive's 2023 Policy Address" announced that the Deputy Financial Secretary would co-ordinate with relevant bureaux to put forward proposals to promote elderly-friendly building design. The Task Force announced in November last year a series of specific proposals for elderly-friendly building design and consulted the stakeholders. Stakeholders from the elderly, professional, developer and other sectors generally supported the proposals and provided valuable suggestions for refining the design proposals.
Having considered the views of the stakeholders, the Task Force has refined the proposals announced earlier after balancing various factors, including the needs of the elderly and other users, as well as the practical operational considerations in application by the market and the industry. The key requirements of the proposals to be implemented are as follows:
(1) promoting spatial accessibility to enhance the mobility of the elderly, e.g. provision of an automatic door at the main entrance of residential buildings, adopting wider common corridors and wider main doors of individual units, allowing the addition of lift towers to existing buildings, and using slip-resistant materials;
(2) encouraging the adoption of adaptive design in residential units to facilitate subsequent modifications, such as widening internal corridors and doors, using sliding doors for toilets, and installing grab rails/shower seats in bathrooms, etc;
(3) enhancing elderly well-being, e.g. providing fitness or other facilities for the elderly in recreational spaces, and providing shelters for resting facilities at communal outdoor spaces, etc; and
(4) facilitating the adoption of gerontechnology and Internet of Things, e.g. providing high-speed Internet access in home and public spaces, supporting the installation of smart card systems, motion sensors, etc.
Please refer to the summary table at the Annex for the detailed proposals.
Apart from new private residential buildings, composite buildings and commercial premises often patronised by the elderly (e.g. shopping complexes and clinics, etc), the above proposals are also applicable to alterations and additions to existing buildings of these building types. As for public housing developments and government buildings, the Government will also endeavor to adhere to the proposals. The proposals comprise both encouraged features and mandatory requirements, and the proposals will be implemented in two phases. For the encouraged features (including promoted features through incentives and the recommended best practices), the Buildings Department (BD) has administratively updated the practice notes and the "Design Manual: Barrier Free Access" for implementation. As for the mandatory design requirements, the Government will implement them through amendments to the Building (Planning) Regulations in the first half of 2026.
In addition, to encourage and facilitate the industry to adopt the recommended best practices for elderly-friendly building design, the DEVB, in collaboration with the HKGBC and the BSL, has launched the Elderly-friendly Building accreditation scheme. The scheme is voluntary and applicable to both new and existing buildings. Buildings that have adopted the specified recommended best practices, as assessed by the BSL, are eligible for the Elderly-friendly Building certification issued by the HKGBC. To promote participation in the accreditation scheme, the Elderly-friendly Building certification can be one of the "specific standards" for granting gross floor area (GFA) concessions by the BD (Note). In addition, the accreditation scheme also dovetails with the work of the Working Group on Promoting Silver Economy led by the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration to promote the development of the silver economy.
The accreditation scheme is open for application from today. Please visit the website (www.beamsociety.org.hk/en/BEAM-Plus/BEAM-Plus-Theme-Certification) for details and to apply (beamplusadmin.my.salesforce-sites.com/), or call 3610 5700 to enquire about the details of the scheme from the BSL.
A Government spokesman said, "After more than a year's effort, the Task Force on Promoting Elderly-friendly Building Design has formulated the final proposals and accomplished its mission. The Government is grateful to stakeholders for their support in promoting elderly-friendly building design and looks forward to facilitating and encouraging the industry to actively incorporate elderly-friendly building design elements into their buildings according to their own circumstances through various means to support ageing in place and make Hong Kong a livable city recognised by the silver hair market."
Note: Starting from June 30, 2024, building projects are normally required to attain the "Anticipated Gold" rating in the BEAM Plus in order to be eligible for GFA concessions for green/amenity features. If a project can only achieve the "Anticipated Silver" or "Anticipated Bronze" rating, it has to demonstrate compliance with one or more of the specific standards stipulated by the BD in order to be eligible for GFA concessions. Currently, the specific standards include (a) enhanced greening provision; (b) health and well-being; (c) enhanced natural ventilation; (d) adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in plan submissions; and (e) adoption of multi-trade integrated mechanical, electrical and plumbing in building services (MiMEP).
Source: AI-found images
