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2.10 GFA Incentives Roadmap
Buildings Department and BEAM Plus Rating
Currently, the most significant incentive
for new buildings is the GFA concessions.
This roadmap will require coordination
among Buildings Department and other
stakeholders that are in charge of developing
BEAM Plus assessment system.
Establishing minimum performance
The BEAM Plus requirement to qualify for
GFA concessions is simply to register the
project. Thus, it does not require buildings
to gain certification. The BEAM Society
Limited has interpreted the requirement for
registration to mean the projects have to
meet all the prerequisites in each section.
Such a requirement is obviously very lenient,
and the full report suggests an increase in
stringency to bronze level (e.g. minimum
certification).
Re-aligning of incentives
At this moment, the amount of GFA
concessions in Hong Kong is same for
projects that achieve different ratings
of BEAM Plus – all subject developments
are subject to the same concessions
and concession cap regardless of their
environmental
performance
beyond
minimum performance, as stipulated in
APP-151. Therefore, the system does not
provide incentives for building developers
to pursue higher tiered ratings (i.e. BEAM
Plus Platinum or Gold ratings).
A common suggestion is to vary the
concession cap awarded based on BEAM
plus ratings. For instance, the amount of
concession cap for buildings achieving
BEAM Plus Gold and Platinum ratings can
be increased from 10% to 12.5% and 15%,
respectively. While this could incentivise
market in achieving higher-tier BEAM Plus
ratings, there are a number of drawbacks,
such as:
• Firstly, the incentive does not directly
benefit user, the GFA concessions
only applies to secondary items (e.g.
wider lift lobbies, plant rooms), which
many stakeholders at the engagement
consultation perceived to be secondary
benefits at best;
• Secondly, the developers who bear the
cost of the higher certification also do
not directly benefit; and
• Finally, such a scheme effectively
couples environmental performance
with building bulk, which is certainly not
desirable for the sake of sustainability
development.