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The Council for Sustainable Development (the Council) today released an update on the latest position of the public engagement exercise on Building Design to Foster a Quality and Sustainable Built Environment.

According to the Public Policy Research Institute of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Independent Reporting Agency (IRA) of the engagement exercise, a total of about 1,600 written submissions and records have been analysed, including about 1,400 submissions from organisations and individuals.

About 2,400 people, including those from the trade, professional bodies, environmental groups, the academia as well as general members of the public, participated in 65 public engagement events (including five regional engagement sessions) organised by the Council and its partner organisations between 20 June and 31 October 2009.

Mr. Bernard Chan, the Chairman of the Council, was content with the participation and both the breadth and the depth of the views from key stakeholders and the general public for such a complex subject, demonstrating the increasing public attention on the impact of building design on our quality of life.

To take forward the preparation of the Council's recommendations and report, the Council is implementing a new arrangement for the discussion and development of the recommendations to be submitted to the Government. Under the new arrangement, a series of Working Sessions will be conducted between February and March. These Working Sessions are a unified platform for the official and non-official members of the Council, the Strategy Sub-committee and the Support Group to review the analysed public views, and converge and discuss the way forward and some pointers for the recommendations, in order to assist the preparation of the Council’s recommendations and report to be submitted to the Government.

The first Working Session was held on 5 February 2010, at which members discussed the public aspiration of a quality and sustainable built environment as reflected in the public engagement, and some pointers for recommendations on built environment from a wider perspective. Other key items including sustainable building design guidelines and building energy efficiency, as well as gross floor area concessions, will be discussed at future Working Sessions to be held in February to March 2010.

The over four-month public engagement was launched on 20 June 2009 and ended on 31 October 2009. The Council aims to submit its report and recommendations to the Government by mid 2010.

Ends/Thursday, February 11, 2010