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The Council for Sustainable Development (the Council) today (June 20) launched a public engagement process on Building Design to Foster a Quality and Sustainable Built Environment.

Mr. Bernard Chan, the Chairman of the Council, explained that a quality and sustainable built environment is one that is well balanced for the needs of the present and the future from the economic, social and environmental perspectives. This is a complex subject. He appealed to all sectors to participate in the public discussion, including professional groups, green groups, property developers, academia, and the end users – the property owners and tenants. This is the key to making this exercise a success, in terms of both the process itself and the outcomes it would bring about.

The Council has recognized that there are increasing public concern in recent years on the impact of building design on our quality of life. The Council has also taken note of such other ongoing initiatives taken by the Government as the progressive review of the Outline Zoning Plans, review of the Urban Renewal Strategy and heritage conservation, among others, and concurred that this engagement would focus on the design of buildings within their own site boundary. In particular, this public engagement process will seek views on the following three areas:

• Ways to achieve sustainable design in terms of building separation, building setback from narrow streets and greenery
• Balancing the need for essential, green and amenity features of buildings against the increase in building height and size that they create
• Improving energy efficiency through more effective building design

An Invitation for Response (IR) document, launched today as the major source of information in this exercise, outlines the background and current situations of our built environment, information on potential solutions and how these solutions, if implemented, will affect the built environment and eventually our living quality. Mr. Chan stressed that consideration of what solutions are to be adopted is a balancing act, as there is no perfect solution that comes without trade-offs; and for that reason the IR document clearly explains the pros and cons of all potential solutions from the economic, social and environmental perspectives.

The launch marks the third stage, i.e. public involvement, of a five-stage public engagement process of the Council after the first two, namely, the identification of priority area and preparation of the IR document. Following today's launch, a series of forums, seminars and workshops, etc to engage the stakeholders will be organised. Besides the IR document, a dedicated website [www.susdev.org.hk] also provides “infotainment” which includes a knowledge portal, a photo gallery, online games, a public forum and much more for the public to explore. The next stage is the analysis of the community's views and preparation of a report putting forward the community's views and the Council's recommendations on the way forward to Government. After receiving the Council's report and recommendations in early 2010, the Government will consider the report and provide response as the last stage to close the loop. This mode of engagement has been considered bottom-up, open, transparent and inclusive to engage stakeholders in dialogue, information sharing and decision-making.

The IR document is available from the Council's dedicated website (www.susdev.org.hk) and District Offices. Public are encourage to send views to the Council Secretariat (Email: comments@susdev.org.hk; Fax: 3150 8168; Mail: Sustainable Development Division, M/F Murray Building, Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong). This public engagement process will last more than four months until October 31, 2009.

Ends/Saturday, June 20, 2009