Submission to BEAM Society Limited on BEAM Plus Existing Buildings v3.0
Clean Air Network (“CAN”) is the only air issue focused non-governmental organisation in Hong Kong. We believe that clean air is fundamental to the overall well-being of the community. Our vision is to achieve clean air for all in Hong Kong.
We welcome the consultation of BEAM Society Limited on BEAM Plus Existing Buildings v3.0. Green building certificates such as BEAM Plus are a driver for building development and management to promote indoor air quality (IAQ). IAQ is important for protecting the physical and mental health as well as the cognitive ability of the public, as we spend most of our time indoors. In particular, for children, exposure to harmful substances may lead to lasting impact on their respiratory and circulatory systems after they grow up.
To encourage the owners and management of more buildings to monitor IAQ and take improvement measures, we recommend the following in BEAM Plus Existing Buildings v3.0:
Credit for the Publication of Real-Time IAQ Data to Occupants and the Public
We welcome the new component “HWB-01-03 Continuous IAQ Monitoring”. Continuous monitoring can give the management of a building a much more comprehensive picture of its IAQ over time than regular sampling, as IAQ can fluctuate due to changes in the weather, human activity and other factors.
We recommend giving one more credit for buildings that publish the data from such continuous monitoring, at least from selected locations in the building, in real time to its occupants and the public. Some shopping malls and offices in Hong Kong, such as AIRSIDE [1], Citygate [2], Pacific Place [3] and Taikoo Place [4] have been publishing such real-time data to the public. Introducing such a credit will show the progressiveness of BEAM Plus, in line with private sector practice in Hong Kong.
Credits for Compliance with Indoor Pollutant Levels or the Formulation of a Response Mechanism
The component “HWB-01-03 Continuous IAQ Monitoring” includes a credit for setting up a system to notify the building management if any of the parameters fail to meet the Good Class requirements of the Indoor Air Quality Certification Scheme for Offices and Public Places of the Environmental Protection Department. Although notification is helpful, without a response mechanism, notification in itself will not lead to improvement in IAQ. We recommend introducing credits for buildings that comply with indoor pollutant levels (to be specified by BEAM Society), based on continuous monitoring of IAQ. Another green building certificate RESET Air is awarded on this basis and can serve as a reference. [5]
Alternatively, a credit can be given for buildings with a response mechanism setting out the mitigation measures, when the monitored parameters fail to meet the Good Class requirements of the certification scheme of the Environmental Protection Department.
Credits for Tenant Initiatives That Cover IAQ
We welcome the credits under BEAM Plus Existing Buildings v3.0 (Beta 0) for buildings with tenant initiatives, such as tenant engagement programmes (under “MAN-04-03 Tenant Engagement Programme”) and green lease (under “MAN-04-01 Green Lease”), on decarbonisation. We recommend giving credits to tenant initiatives that cover components other than decarbonisation under BEAM Plus Existing Buildings v3.0, including IAQ. This way, buildings with tenant initiatives that cover IAQ and other topics but not decarbonisation will also receive credits. This will drive the improvement of IAQ and other green measures in the whole building, including tenant spaces.
Publication of Scorecards of Individual Buildings
We recommend that BEAM Society publish the scorecards of individual buildings in its directory where the building owners and management consent to it. For reference, another green building certificate LEED publishes the score each project gets under each credit head. This will help the occupants of the buildings and the general public understand the performance of the buildings under each credit head and enhance the transparency and credibility of BEAM Plus.
October 2024
Reference
[1] The real time data is published here: https://iaq.airside.com.hk.
[2] The real time data is published here: https://iaq.citygateoutlets.com.hk/en/welcome.
[3] The real time data is published here: https://iaq.pacificplace.com.hk/en/welcome.
[4] The real time data is published here: https://iaq.taikooplace.com/en/welcome.
[5] The “acceptable” and “high performance” standards under RESET Air for PM2.5 are less than 35µg/m3 and 12µg/m3 respectively; for total volatile organic compounds they are less than 500µg/m3 and 400µg/m3 respectively; for carbon dioxide they are less than 1,000 parts per million (ppm) and 600ppm respectively. See “RESET® Air,” RESET, accessed on 10 October 2024, https://reset.build/standard/air.