Innovating Beyond The Moment

Amid climate and environmental change, we strive to leverage our expertise to create architecture that is sustainable and climate-resilient. As a leader in the construction sector, we shoulder the responsibility of a government department to create green workplace. To this end, we have formulated a departmental Quality, Environmental, Health and Safety Policy with commitments on pollution prevent and energy and resources conservation. We are also committed to fostering employee environmental awareness through programmes and daily engagement to optimise our sustainability efforts.

In addition to the policy, our IMS lays a solid foundation for overall environmental and energy management (ISO 14001 and ISO 50001), occupational health and safety (ISO 45001) and quality management (ISO 9001). It enables us to use international standards to benchmark our performance. Guidelines, procedures and strategies based on this system are used to monitor and improve our performance in energy, waste, water use and indoor air quality.

Through the joint efforts of management and staff, ArchSD is once again awarded the Hong Kong Green Organisation Certificate (HKGOC). Consecutive recognition of the Environmental Campaign Committee serves as a testament to our continuous efforts and a driving force to our conscientious contribution to environmental protection in our workplace in the future.

Climate change demands that we take action and contribute to the government's long-term plan on achieving carbon neutrality in 2050. Acknowledging energy consumption, principally electricity consumption, is the primary source of our carbon footprint, we manage our consumption practices across our operating premises to ensure efficient energy utilisation. We continue to monitor our electricity use and explore different energy efficiency measures, such as lighting retrofitting works at our offices, to minimise the related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

ArchSD is pleased to have maintained HKGOC’s ‘Excellent Level’ Energywi$e certificate in the reporting year. We are deeply honoured that our energy saving efforts have been widely recognised by the industry and the public.

ArchSD formulates proactive measures to incorporate the elements set out in the Hong Kong's Climate Action Plan 2050 published by Environment Bureau, including a set of city-wide carbon emission reduction targets and actionable items.

To understand our direct and indirect GHG emissions and move towards the common goal, we conduct regular audits to verify our carbon footprint. These are carried out in accordance with the international Greenhouse Gas Protocol and refer to guidelines published by the Environmental Protection Department and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department.

Three major GHGs – CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O, produced by our electricity and fuel consumption – are tracked closely. Other operating data will also be reviewed, to ensure that the audits are consistent and measurable, and that they faithfully reflect our performance.

The carbon emissions produced by our office located at the Queensway Government offices (QGO) have remained stable over the past five years.

Upgrades to the APB Centre’s air conditioning, regular maintenance and the application of energy efficiency features resulted in a gradual drop of about 27.76% in carbon emissions in 2020 compared to 2016.

To support the government’s advocacy on waste management, we encourage waste reduction at source and promotes active recycling across our branches and offices. Green housekeeping guidelines are issued to disseminate information about appropriate practices in waste reduction, recycling and handling. For example, the guidelines set out principles for paper consumption and reduction to avoid unnecessary wastage. At the APB Centre and QGO, collection facilities are set up for the collection of various recyclables, including but not limited to wastepaper, plastic bottles, used toner cartridges, aluminum cans and used CDs.

Additionally, we formulate annual targets to drive improvement progress, together with close monitoring on the implementation of different waste management programmes.

Our responsible waste management efforts have, for consecutive years, earned us an ‘Excellence Level’ Wastewi$e Certificate (part of the HKGOC Scheme).

We strive to conserve water resources by efficient water usage and deploying different water saving devices. We have installed auto-sensing taps and dual flush cisterns to avoid excessive use. We closely track consumption and flushing, and regularly maintain the water supply system. Our green housekeeping circular outlines good practices to raise our staff’s awareness of water conservation.

To ensure a green and healthy working environment, we adhere to good management practices suggested in the guidelines published by Environmental Protection Department and we support its voluntary Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Certificate Scheme to pursue a good performance in IAQ. Our IAQ performance is regularly assessed by accredited bodies.

During the reporting year, we are honoured that both APB Centre and QGO have been awarded 'Good Level' IAQwi$e Certificates.

ArchSD does not limit our efforts in resource efficiency improvement and pollution prevention, but also nurtures environmental awareness across our workplace and invites our staff to join the department’s long-term environmental sustainability journey. We integrate green elements into our employees’ work culture and make clear the part they play in environmental protection. To that end, we constantly disseminate environmental messages and reminders of good practices via the intranet, emails and other communication channels to them.

We also encourage our staff to participate in activities and training sessions related to environmental initiatives, global issues, and trends, both internally and externally organised. During the year, in spite of pandemic situation, our staff took part in 36 environmental related training courses. We have also established a team of 74 Green Wardens to help the spread of green messages and support the implementation of ArchSD's green programmes and activities. We also support employees to obtain professional qualifications in diverse environmental domains. For example, some of our staff members maintain the BEAM Pro green building-related qualifications. With the resources and time devoted, we believe that the environmental awareness and knowledge at all levels in ArchSD will increase.