An Upgraded Green
Building Rating Tool in Response to Evolving Industry Development

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A Hundred
Industry Professionals Attended the Ceremony in Support of the Launch

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HONG KONG, CHINA -�Media
OutReach�-�5 September 2019 -�The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC)
and BEAM Society Limited (BSL) are pleased to announce the official launch of
BEAM Plus New Buildings version 2.0 (NB v2.0). The
launch ceremony was held at Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) on 4 September 2019. Mr
TSE Chin-wan, BBS, JP, Under Secretary for the Environment and Mr John
KWONG Ka-sing, Principal
Government Engineer, Development
Bureau, HKSARG, officiated
the ceremony as the Guests of Honour.

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Since the launch of BEAM Plus NB v1.2 in 2012,
the rating tool has continued to evolve after taking into account feedback from
the industry. The BEAM Plus NB v2.0 was
hammered out as a result of the suggestions and comments collected over the
past seven years as well as updated government guidance on the adoption of
energy-efficient features and renewable energy technologies. In order to
demonstrate the HKSAR Government's commitment to low-carbon growth, bureaux and
departments are encouraged to achieve BEAM Plus Gold for all major government
buildings.

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With
the objectives of making the NB v2.0 a holistic performance indicator and a
user-friendly assessment tool, the fundamental of BEAM Plus NB v2.0 is to
maintain the assessment criteria at a level beyond statutory requirements,
while enhancing adaptability, certainty and practicality of the assessment. The
upgraded BEAM Plus NB v2.0 is designed to provide practicable, clear and
standardised criteria to assess the performance of green buildings, including
health and wellbeing, hygiene, site impacts, use of materials, water quality,
energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, etc.

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In
particular, the NB v2.0 now places more emphasis on "Health and Wellbeing", which highlights
human environmental quality. Apart from indoor environmental quality, such as lighting,
ventilation, acoustic, indoor air quality, thermal comfort, etc., human centric
design elements are also considered in the assessment. These include, for
example, provision of design measures that encourage healthy and active living,
adoption of biophilic design that increases occupants' connectivity to the
natural environment, etc.�

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Another key assessment aspect added in the BEAM
Plus NB v2.0 assessment is Integrated Design and Construction Management. The
adoption of an integrated design process ensures a building can sustain its
greenness throughout its building life cycle, allowing all stakeholders to
partake in setting the environmental goals and objectives. Moreover, credits
are given to projects that involve BEAM Professionals and BEAM Affiliates, as
well as those that apply smart technologies to facilitate communication among
the project team members.

About The Hong Kong Green Building Council

The
Hong Kong Green Building Council Limited (HKGBC) is a non-profit, member led
organisation established in 2009 and has become a public body under the
Prevention of Bribery Ordinance since 2016. The HKGBC's vision is to help save
the planet and improve the wellbeing of the people of Hong Kong by transforming
the city into a greener built environment. The Founding Members of the HKGBC
include the Construction Industry Council (CIC), the Business Environment
Council (BEC), the BEAM Society Limited (BSL) and the Professional Green
Building Council (PGBC). Its mission is to lead market transformation by
advocating green policies to the Government; introducing green building
practices to all stakeholders; setting design, construction and management
standards for the building profession; and promoting green living to the people
of Hong Kong.

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To
learn more about the HKGBC, please visit www.hkgbc.org.hk.

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About
BEAM Society Limited

BEAM
Society Limited (BSL), owner of Building Environmental Assessment Method (BEAM
& BEAM Plus), is a non-profit organisation committed to developing and
implementing BEAM Plus assessment tools, assessing green buildings and training
BEAM practitioners. �The BSL has become a public body under the
Prevention of Bribery Ordinance since 2016.�

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BEAM
Society Limited continuously strives to improve the overall quality of the
built environment in Hong Kong. BEAM Plus assessment tools, including BEAM Plus
New Buildings, BEAM Plus Existing Buildings, BEAM Plus Interiors and BEAM Plus
Neighbourhood, are currently applicable to the stages of master planning,
building design, construction on site and fit-out and operation.

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To
learn more about the BSL, please visit www.beamsociety.org.hk.