(25 September 2015, Hong Kong) – BEAM Society Limited (BSL) and the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) are pleased to announce that the enhanced version of BEAM Plus Existing Buildings (EB) Assessment Tool v2.0 (Tool v2.0) is released today, in coincidence with the celebration of the 5th anniversary of BSL.
The launch of BEAM Plus Existing Buildings Assessment Tool v2.0 is taking place during the BSL 5th Anniversary Conference, which is officiated by Mr WONG Kam-sing, JP, Secretary for the Environment of the Government of the HKSAR. Over 400 industry experts and stakeholders from the government and the private sectors witness the launch of the Existing Buildings assessment tool v2.0.
“Better than Yesterday” is one of the key guiding concepts of the major revision of Tool v2.0 for the objective of encouraging more existing buildings to go green by meeting a set of challenging, yet practically achievable standards by means of self-improvement to raise the environmental merits of the buildings to a higher level. The new version aims at helping the transformation of aged building stock of Hong Kongto greener buildings and creating a healthier living and working environment. It advocates reduction in carbon emissions, waste reduction, water conservation and a greener city, in alignment with the ambitions of the Energy Saving Plan released by the Environment Bureau in May 2015.
To better reflect the environmental merits of an existing building with a more holistic metrics, BSL has introduced an additional category of performance aspects in the revamped version of the Tool v2.0. Apart from the existing six performance categories of the current BEAM Plus Existing Buildings Rating Tool viz. Site Aspects (SA), Energy Use (EU), Water Use (WU), Materials Aspects (MA), Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and Innovations and Additions (IA), a new category “Management (MAN)” has been introduced to encourage and promote green practices and management. Moreover, Materials Aspects has been reconstituted as Materials and Waste Aspects (MWA) to enhance the importance of waste reduction and treatment in the operations and management of buildings.
In order to enable greener existing buildings, which are understandably subject to different constraints, to go green, applicants will be offered two alternative approaches of assessment under Tool v2.0 assessment, namely Comprehensive Scheme A & B and Selective Scheme. The former scheme provides either one-step or stepwise, but eventually holistic assessment, while the latter provides the flexibility of carrying out assessment on selective aspects as considered practicable by the applicants. Various levels of practical requirements and flexible implementation options are available in the new tool to encourage wider participation.
Subsequent to the launch of BEAM Plus Existing Buildings Assessment Tool v2.0, BSL will conduct training course for BEAM Professional / BEAM Affiliate to enhance their professional skills and knowledge on the subject of the enhanced EB tool, which will cover the tool framework and aspects under the Comprehensive Scheme and Selective Scheme of Tool v2.0. It is expected that BEAM Plus Existing Buildings (EB) Assessment Tool v2.0 will begin to accept applications in the first quarter of 2016. Projects will be registered at HKGBC. The assessment work will be entrusted to BSL. Upon assessment, HKGBC will issue certificates. Upon the official launch of Tool v2.0, the project registration of EBv1.2 will be ceased.