With the rising awareness of the importance of a quality and sustainable built environment, the organisations continues to develop different innovations (such as IoT technology, Digital Twin and various PropTech improvements) and make enhancements for various sustainability, wellness and health & safety practices by obtaining accreditations under WELL, LEED and BEAM Plus certification systems With these regards, having a more spacious space at proper location for the management office and control room for housing the new equipment for control and monitoring purpose is increasingly essential. It is also important to provide comfortable amenity facilities for the building management staff such as offices, guard room, kiosk and counter with sufficient ventilation and lighting system, separate storage space, changing rooms, lavatories, rest space and etc.
Indeed, in different regions, the local governments also see the importance of the provision of property management amenity features and set them out as code of practices or lawful regulations. For instance, in the Mainland China, these provisions are mandatory requirements and are stipulated in the Building Management Regulations enacted by the General Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, and each city or province has its own required minimum percentage or limit. You can find a summary table of the said mandatory requirements of some of the major cities in the Mainland China in Appendix A for reference.
Recently, the Buildings Department is doing a public consultation to gather the views on what appropriate changes would be applied to the Buildings Department’s Practice Note for Authorized Person, Registered Structural Engineers and Registered Geotechnical Engineers, in particular provisions on the various percentages and limits as referred to under PNAP APP-151and PNAP APP-42.
IFMA Hong Kong Chapter would now like to invite our members to submit your views in the appropriate percentages or limits of “caretakers’ quarters, counter, office, store, guard room and lavatory for watchman and management staff and owners’ corporation office”, which is eligible to apply for GFA concession. Please complete and return the questionnaire by Wednesday, 9th August 2023.