Periscope
Doubts over new green panels on building walls
"At present, the department has already planted greenery on rooftops of some of its shopping malls, car parks and other related small structures.
Extension of greening features to private buildings has also been encouraged by the government. Since 2001, it has allowed green features like balconies, communal podium gardens and communal sky gardens to be exempted from calculation of gross floor plan of the development projects that include those green features. Such exemption is to encourage private developers to include green roof features into their building projects, as the land premium of green features is also exempted.
Kim Chan Kim-on, a consultant of the
Hong Kong Institute of Planners, said
the exemption was an incentive for private
developers to include more trees and
flowers in their projects. It also benefits
the developers. "A larger gross floor area
and more open spaces are resulted from
the exemption, and it will help raise the
prices of the buildings,” the urban planner
said.
Still, Mr Chan said the government was not doing enough to promote greening "for the people”. "It is better to have more open spaces where people can sit, touch and enjoy…rather than something merely decorative,” he said.
He questioned the effectiveness of the vertical greening panels on integrating the greenery with the people. The vertical green panels, he said, are something "hung high up” that people "cannot touch”.
"How many people can really enjoy the
green rooftops?” he questioned.
He called on the government not to
carry out greening "simply for the sake
of incorporating more greenery”.
Jim Chi-yung (left) and Kim Chan Kim-on (right) both
call for more planning on greening policies.