In addition to provision of high-quality public buildings and facilities for society, ArchSD upholds the values of professional integrity and sustainability. To ensure sustainability practices are maintained across the supply chain, we actively engage and closely communicate with our key stakeholders including clients and business partners. We require all ArchSD's contractors and suppliers to strictly abide by the Hong Kong Laws, such as the anti-corruption laws, upon submission of their tenders.
Client's satisfaction is one of ArchSD's top concerns. We make every endeavour to collect client's feedback, including constant review, measurement and comprehensive analysis. In the year under review, we continued to put emphasis on clients' interests and expectations throughout the lifecycle of projects. Continuous improvement and breakthroughs are foreseeable with our dedication to excellence in service delivery.
To better understand our client satisfaction level, Client Satisfaction Survey is conducted annually as one of our key assessment metrics. In 2018, a total of 9 surveys were conducted for projects that were under planning or newly completed. The survey result was an objective indicator of ArchSD's overall performance throughout the year and our responsiveness in communication with clients.
of the completed projects achieved level of 'Satisfied' or above on overall performance
of the completed projects achieved level of 'Totally Satisfied' or 'Very Satisfied' on overall performance
achieved the target – replying the clients within 2 months after the survey on the progress of the observations raised
Being one of the industry pioneers at the same time aligning with the Government's strategies in climate change mitigation, ArchSD is committed to embedding sustainability elements into both new and existing projects. We drive the implementation of green building initiatives across industries, in particular our contractors and industry partners.
One significant example is that ArchSD has been proactively adopting the Building Environmental Assessment Method (BEAM) on new projects in recent years. This voluntary labelling scheme is welcomed by more industry peers in Hong Kong with our support and effort. The entire life cycle performance of buildings from planning, design and construction to management, operation and maintenance will be examined under the scheme. Buildings will be awarded applicable credits under each performance category as well as an overall performance grade upon fulfilling the assessment criteria.
As of the end of 2018, we have successfully earned the BEAM and BEAM Plus certifications for 54 buildings, and BEAM Plus Interior certifications for 2 offices and BEAM Plus Existing Building (Selective Scheme) for one office.
| Type of Certificate | Rating | Subtotal | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Excellent |
Very Good |
|
BEAM Certification* (Version 1/96R, 2/96 & 2/96R) |
11 |
2 |
13 |
|
Platinum |
Gold |
|
BEAM Certification** (Version 4/03 & 4/04) |
18 |
11 |
29 |
BEAM Plus (New Buildings) Certification*** (Version 1.1 & 1.2) |
5 |
7 |
12 |
Platinum |
|||
BEAM Plus (Interior) Certification |
2 |
2 |
|
Excellent |
|||
BEAM Plus Existing Building (Version 2.0 Selective Scheme) Certification |
1 |
1 |
|
| Total | 57 | ||
ArchSD always prioritise workplace safety and therefore all of our contractors are required to follow applicable site safety requirements and apply industry best practices. Contractors are encouraged to access comprehensive guidance materials in our knowledge bank, including site safety checklists, briefing notes, safety audit results, and other relevant documents. To raise the safety awareness of our contractors, we also actively disseminate information regarding Work Safety Alerts issued by Labour Department and other safety reminders to them periodically.
In order to safeguard the public interest and occupational health of employees, members of our Departmental Safety & Environmental Advisory Unit visit project locations to perform surprise inspections regarding particular site safety issues and to ensure corrective actions are taken in a timely manner.
In 2018, we completed a total of 132 site inspections on selected site safety topics or issues and surprise site safety inspections for new works sites, including:
In order to monitor on-site environmental performance and facilitate continual improvement, diversified measures have been adopted by our contractors and applied on site operations regarding on ArchSD's projects. Innovative and self-initiated practises were also introduced. The four major green and smart practices are described as follows:
ArchSD highly appreciates outstanding performance of contractors, subcontractors and site personnel in demonstrating good environmental performance, site safety and considerate manner in carrying out public works. Therefore, two formal commendation – Considerate Contractors Site Awards and the Green Contractor Award are offered annually.
With the objectives of raising awareness of construction site safety and promoting good practices in both safety and environmental aspects, the Considerate Contractors Site Award Scheme is jointly organised by DEVB and Construction Industry Council annually to recognise the contractors' effort. For public works sites, nominated entrants of public work site are divided into two categories based on the contract nature – (i) New Work Contracts and (ii) Repair, Maintenance, Alteration and Addition (RMAA) Works Contracts. To ensure fairness and objectivity, comprehensive assessment will be done with coverage of multiple aspects such as environmental consciousness, site safety performance and management. There are six award categories in total, including Considerate Contractors Site Awards, the Outstanding Environmental Management and Performance Awards, Model Worker Awards, Model Frontline Supervisor Awards, Model Subcontractor Frontline Supervisor Awards and Model Subcontractor Awards.
The 25th Considerate Contractors Site Award Scheme Award Presentation Ceremony was held on 27 May 2019, where top performing 'considerate' sites from both the public works and the non-public works celebrated their success. ArchSD's contractors received the great honour of 4 awards including:
| Contracts | Achievements |
|---|---|
| Considerate Contractors Site Award | |
New Works Category |
|
Construction of Sports Centre, Community Hall and Football Pitches in Area 1, Tai Po (Contract No. SS E509) Contractor: Hanison Construction Company Limited |
Gold |
Conversion of the Former French Mission Building for Accommodation Use by Law-related Organisations and Related Purposes at Battery Path, Central (Contract No. RF E512)Contractor: Hop Lee Builders Company Limited |
Merit |
Design and Construction of Kwun Tong Staff Quarters at 4 Tseung Kwan O Road, Kowloon (Contract No.SS D502) Contractor: Yau Lee Construction Company Limited |
Merit |
RMAA Works Category |
|
Term Contract for Ground Investigation and Laboratory Testing for which Architectural Services Department is Responsible in Hong Kong, Kowloon, New Territories and the Outlying Islands (Contract No. TC E521) Contractor: Geotechnics & Concrete Engineering (H.K.) Limited |
Merit |
As a contractor for the design and construction of Kwun Tong Staff Quarters at 4 Tseung Kwan O Road, we work closely with ArchSD to demolish two blocks of existing residential buildings and develop the new staff quarters. In this project, we achieved BEAM Plus, practised dust suppression control measures and complied with other environmental regulations as set out in the contract specification, while adopting innovative measures including prefabrication and precast elements. ArchSD management staff made frequent site visits to monitor progress and provide technical support to our frontline staff as well as to keep us abreast of the latest OHS practices to ensure zero accidents. ArchSD solicited some of our ideas and suggestions during construction phase such as putting on hold the percussive pilling during students' examination period to control the noise impact to the neighbourhood.
We are also encouraged by ArchSD to strive for excellence while benchmarking our site performance with the industry. As such, we participated in different incentive schemes such as 'Pay for Safety and Environment Scheme' and 'Green Contractor Award 2018' to apply more green measures on site. We are pleased that our project was commended with Merit Award in Public Works – New Works of the 25th Considerate Contractors Site Award Scheme.
Throughout this project, we are happy to create partner synergy and build up a closer relationship with ArchSD, who has offered us sufficient resources and professional guidance. We look forward to our future partnership and will continue to explore sustainable initiatives for the industry.
We highly appreciate the dedication of our contractor and project team in completion of this project successfully. On top of advocating mutual trust and collaboration to remain steadfast in our mission, we will continue to listen to the feedback and suggestions of our contractor and encourage them to provide innovative solutions for delivering quality, cost effectiveness and sustainable facilities for the community.
To reinforce the importance of environmental conservation during construction, ArchSD organises the Green Contractor Award annually to compliment contractors' effort in sustainability. Aiming to minimise environmental impact at construction sites, green measures taken regarding daily operations are highly appreciated, such as energy saving, water conservation, waste reduction, emissions mitigation and environmental management.
In 2018, 1 Gold, 2 Silver, and 1 Term Contract Awards were presented to the following contractors, which involved projects under construction during the year or maintenance projects with contract sums exceeding $30 million.
Contract No. SS D502
Design and Construction of Kwun Tong Staff Quarters at 4 Tseung Kwan O Road, Kowloon
Contract No. RF E512
Conversion of the Former French Mission Building for Accommodation Use by Law-related Organisations and Related Purposes at Battery Path, Central
Contract No.: SS C502
Design and Construction of West Kowloon Government Offices in Yau Ma Tei
Contract No.: SS E501
Design and Construction of Transport Department's Vehicle Examination Centre at Sai Tso Wan Road, Tsing Yi, New Territories
Contract No.: TC E971
Term Contract for the Design and Construction of Minor Works to Government and Subvented Properties for which the Architectural Services Department is Responsible [Contract Area : Hong Kong Island, Lantau Island and Outlying Islands (South)]
