Identification of Quality Failures in Building Energy Renovation Projects in Northern China

Building energy renovations contribute significantly to energy sustainability and environmental protection. These advantages have increased the importance of renovating existing residential buildings in many countries. In China, the government has supported the energy-saving renovation of existing urban residential buildings since 2007. However,...

Transaction costs (TCs) in green building (GB) incentive schemes: Gross Floor Area (GFA) Concession Scheme in Hong Kong

It is claimed that transaction costs (TCs) affect the effectiveness of any green building (GB) policy. However, few studies have empirically applied TC analysis to GB incentives, which normally should have analyzed the TCs borne by different stakeholders. These include TC typology and determinants during the implementation process, especially...

Applicability of ‘Aging in Place’ in redeveloped public rental housing estates in Hong Kong

Rapidly aging society is a global phenomenon with serious societal impact. With the rapid growth in the aging population in Hong Kong, it is foreseeable that every flat unit will accommodate one senior citizen. To address this looming problem, the Hong Kong Government has introduced several aged friendly home design elements and care...

Learning from best practices in sustainable urbanization

Attempts for implementing sustainable urbanization have been reported and documented around the world. These efforts have led to a vast number of exemplary sustainable urbanization practices, classified as best practices. Best practices contain valuable information in the form of experiences, and learning from them represents an opportunity...

Costs and Benefits of Implementing Green Building Policy

Green building (GB) policies have been implemented to promote GB and address climate change. Most of the existing literatures have studied the costs and benefits of developing GB, without considerations of GB policies’ impacts. This paper aims to study costs and benefits of implementing GB policy from developers’ perspective. It takes the Gross...

Stakeholders’ Expectations in Urban Renewal Projects in China: A Key Step towards Sustainability

China’s fast growth of economy and urbanization have driven large-scale urban renewal projects, thus triggering a wide spectrum of unsustainable problems. Little research has systematically explored the stakeholders’ expectations in urban renewal projects in China. A deeper understanding of the divergent interests and expectations of the key...

Transaction Costs (TCs) in Building Regulations and Control for Green Buildings: Case Study of Hong Kong

About 40% of global energy consumption and nearly one-third of global CO2 emissions are on account of buildings. In Hong Kong, buildings consume up to 90% of electricity during construction and operation, where all the design and construction of private developments is subject to control under the Buildings<br/>Ordinance. The way building...

Study on Governance of Urban Renewal in the UK, Hong Kong and China: the Way to Sustainability

China’s fast growth of economy and urbanization has created a world record on its own since its reform and opening-up policy in late 1970s. This drives mass demolition and reconstruction and leaves a short lifespan of existing buildings through unsustainable urban renewal. Many developed countries/regions, such as the UK and Hong Kong, have long...

New Development of China’s National Evaluation Standard for Green Building (ESGB-2014)

In 2006, China published the first National Evaluation Standard for Green Building (ESGB), which soon became the most widely spread evaluation system in the country. With the fast growth of urbanization, ESGB 2006 version no longer meets the current needs and requires an update. Based on the implementation outcomes of ESGB 2006 and expert...