The Quality Building Award 2020 (QBA 2020) is now officially open for nomination. QBA is a biennial award that recognizes buildings of outstanding quality and those that demonstrate outstanding teamwork. QBA 2020 will mark the award’s tenth edition, with the theme being “Transforming Communities‧Build with Heart and Care”. Co-founded in 2002 by nine of Hong Kong’s leading professional institutions, QBA has become established as the one of the property sector’s most coveted honours.
Transforming Communities: Build with Heart and Care
Hong Kong is one of the world’s busiest international cities, and its stunning cityscape and competitive building industry has always reflected that. That said, the organizing committee recognizes that buildings are the places people live and work, eat and sleep, dream and wonder. Quality buildings bring joy and health, poorly designed ones bring risk and suffering.
For this year’s award, the organizers hope to reinforce an important truth – that quality buildings are built with heart and care to serve people’s needs first, while transforming communities for the better. This also provides a platform for professional building project teams to be recognized for positive contributions to the community through high quality building work.
Addition of Mainland China-based Juror Reflects Growing International Awareness
In response to QBA’s growing recognition outside of Hong Kong, this year’s organizing committee has, for the first time, invited a mainland Chinese juror to join the jury panel – Mr Liang Jian Ming, President, Guangdong Construction Industry Association. This decision also reflects the increasing number of Hong Kong-Mainland collaborations in an array of high-quality building projects (some involved in the Greater Bay Area initiative).
Ir Peter K. W. Mok, Chairman of QBA 2020 Organizing Committee, said: “It is an honour to be selected to chair QBA’s tenth edition. For this year’s awards, we hope to emphasize the commitment building professionals have to strengthening communities while remembering that the building industry is about putting people first. We also recognize the growing room for cooperation across borders in an increasingly integrated world, and so we hope including a juror from outside of Hong Kong will send a positive signal in our industry to cooperate more with others.”
Key dates
| Date | Items |
| 20 June 2019 | Award Briefing Session & Kick off Press Conference
Nominations Open |
| 8 November 2019 | Nomination Submission Deadline (closed at 12nn HKT) |
| December 2019 | Stage 1: First Screening |
| 18-19 January 2020 | Stage 2: Site Visit |
| Late January 2020 | Finalists Announcement |
| March 2020 | Stage 3: Finalists Presentation to Jury Panel & Conference |
Categories and Eligibility
The six award categories for QBA 2020 are as follows:
| CATEGORIES | NOMINATION REQUIREMENTS* |
| 1) Hong Kong Residential
(Single Building) |
– Nominated new buildings must be a single independent structure/ single tower, not part of a complex containing other buildings.
– The Major Function of the nominated building must be for residential use. |
| 2) Hong Kong Residential
(Multiple Buildings) |
– Nominated new buildings must be a group of buildings/ more than a single tower of similar kinds, which form a residential complex.
– The Major Function of the nominated multiple buildings must be for residential use. |
| 3) Hong Kong Non-Residential
(New Building – Government, Institution or Community) |
– The Major Function of the nominated new building must be for Government, Institution or Community use.
– Nominated new buildings may be single or multiple buildings. |
| 4) Hong Kong Non-Residential (New Building – Non- Government, Institution or Community) | – The Major Function of the nominated new building must be for non-residential use or non-GIC use.
– Nominated new buildings may be single or multiple buildings. |
| 5) Hong Kong Building (Renovation / Revitalization) | – Any nominated existing building must have undergone and completed a renovation, restoration, revitalization or similar process to its physical structure and/or communal facilities.
– Nominated existing buildings may be residential or non-residential building. |
| 6) Building Outside Hong Kong | – Nominated buildings must be outside the territorial limits of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
– Nominated buildings can be new or existing building. – Any nominated existing building must have undergone and completed a renovation, restoration, revitalization or similar process to its physical structure and/or communal facilities. – The Major Function of the nominated building may be a residential or non-residential building. |
- Eligible buildings should possess either Occupation Permits (OP or Phased OP), Acknowledgement letters on Form BA14 or Confirmation letter of Substantial Completion between 1 July 2016 and 30 June 2019 as stated in the submission requirements.
Award Tiers
Multiple awards are provided every year. They are ranked as follows:
| AWARD TYPE | DESCRIPTION |
| Quality Excellence Award | Only one The Quality Excellence Award will be presented to a project within the territorial limits of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with outstanding OVERALL quality that is judged to be the BEST among all the Grand Award Winners. |
| Grand Awards* | There will be a Grand Award Winner(s) for each nomination category. This is the highest recognition to projects at the category level. |
| Merits* | There will be recognition of merit(s) for each nomination category. |
| Finalists** | There will be recognition of finalist(s) for each nomination that has passed the first screening, site visits and presented at the Finalist Presentation to Jury Panel & Conference. |
* QBA 2020 Organizing Committee reserves the right not to bestow an award if the Jury Panel deems that no nomination is worth receiving that particular award. The decision of the Jury Panel shall be final.
** Finalist qualification will be usurped if the project team is unable to present at the Finalist Presentation to Jury Panel & Conference.
Jury Panel Members
QBA 2020 is supported by the following industry leaders as Jurors. Jurors are selected from various backgrounds to provide a balanced perspective:
| Jury Panel Chairman |
| Mr YU Tak Cheung, JP
Deputy Director, Buildings Department, Hong Kong SAR Government |
| Jury Panel Vice-chairman |
| Ir Peter K. W. MOK
Chairman, QBA 2020 Organizing Committee |
| Members |
| Mr Kenneth FOO
President, The Hong Kong Chapter of International Facility Management Association |
| Ir C. S. Ho
Deputy Chairmen, Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency |
| Mr Eddie LAM
Frist Vice President, The Hong Kong Construction Association |
| Mrs Sylvia LAM, JP
Director, Architectural Services Department, Hong Kong SAR Government |
| Prof LEE Chack Fan, GBS, SBS, JP
President, Chu Hai College of Higher Education |
| Mr Li Kwok Hing Felix FHKIA, RA
President, The Hong Kong Institute of Architects |
| Mr Liang Jian Ming
President, Guangdong Construction Industry Association |
| Sr SHIU Wai Yee, Winnie
Senior Vice-President, The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors |
| Cr SHUM Hau-tak, Daniel
President, Hong Kong Institute of Construction Managers |
| Mr SIT Wing Hang, Alfred, JP
Director, Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, Hong Kong SAR Government |
| Dr Rosman C.C. WAI
Lecturer, Division of Architectural Conservation Programmes, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong |
| Ms YU Chun
Vice President, The Hong Kong Institute of Housing |
| Ir Ringo YU Shek Man
President, The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers |
Official category details, the latest updated jury panel, and further information can be found at qba.com. Follow our facebook page at facebook.com/QBAHK.