Following is a question by the Hon Chan Han-pan and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, in the Legislative Council today (March 18):
Question:
Since the collapse of a building at Ma Tau Wai Road in To Kwa Wan in 2010, the Buildings Department (BD) has stepped up its inspection of the conditions of buildings aged 50 years or more, and in 2012 BD fully implemented the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS). Under MBIS, owners of private buildings aged 30 years or more, except domestic buildings not exceeding three storeys in height, are required, upon receipt of the statutory notices served by BD, to appoint a registered inspector (RI) to carry out prescribed inspection of the common parts, external walls and projections or signboards of the buildings. These owners are also required to complete the prescribed repairs found necessary by RIs after inspection. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of (i) the number of the aforesaid statutory notices issued by BD, (ii) the number of buildings the prescribed inspection of which was completed, (iii) the number of buildings the inspection of which was approved to extend, and (iv) the number of buildings the repair on which was found necessary by the inspection result, in each of the years since the implementation of MBIS, with a breakdown of such numbers by District Council district;
(2) of the tools and techniques, apart from visual inspections, employed by RIs to inspect buildings;
(3) whether BD has sent staff members to conduct random checks on the buildings the prescribed inspection of which has been completed, so as to verify if the inspection results are true; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(4) whether it will consider conducting tensile strength tests on the concrete of buildings aged 50 years or more, and setting up a database on concrete tensile strength for storing the results of such tests, so as to monitor the ageing of buildings; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Owners of private buildings are responsible for regularly inspecting and repairing their buildings to ensure building safety. The Government has been adopting multi-pronged measures to require owners to discharge their responsibility and enhance building safety. As part of the measures, the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS) was fully implemented on June 30,2012. Founded on the principle "prevention is better than cure", MBIS requires owners of buildings of older ages to carry out regular inspection and repair for their properties so as to tackle the problem of building neglect in Hong Kong at source. My reply to the four-part question is as follows:
(1) The Buildings Department (BD) has since 2013 issued statutory notices for building inspection to target buildings. As of end 2014, BD has issued a total of 31 896 statutory notices for building inspection to 2 575 target buildings. Some of the notices issued have yet to expire. Among the 2 997 statutory notices where the inspection has been completed, there are 1 526 notices where prescribed repair works are found necessary after inspection. Separately, in a total of 786 statutory notices, an extension of time has been granted for the carrying out of the inspection/repair works. Detailed statistics on the above statutory notices, broken down by District Council districts, are set out at Annex.
(2) BD has published a Code of Practice on MBIS and the Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme (CoP) to provide relevant practitioners with detailed guidelines on building and window inspection as well as the required repair works under the two schemes. In respect of building inspection, CoP provides that apart from visual inspection, where circumstances warrant, registered inspectors (RI) may also adopt other suitable testing methods to assess the building condition, such as hammer-tapping, infrared thermography, cover meter survey, crack width measurement, carbonation test, coring and rebound hammer test.
(3) BD will conduct audit checks on the inspection and repair completion reports and certificates submitted by the RIs to ensure the inspection and repair works have been carried out in accordance with the Buildings Ordinance, CoP and relevant guidelines. In case of irregularities, BD will consider instigating prosecution or disciplinary action against the relevant persons.
(4) Under MBIS, an RI may submit to BD a proposal to conduct a detailed investigation having regard to the condition of the building, including testing the condition of concrete where necessary. BD therefore has no plan to conduct such test on all buildings aged 50 years or above or set up a database for the purpose. As mentioned above, we have been adopting multi-pronged measures to enhance building safety. Apart from implementing MBIS, BD has put in place other measures to tackle the safety problem of buildings of older ages. For example, BD in 2010 inspected about 4 000 buildings aged 50 years or above throughout the territory to ascertain their structural safety and took appropriate action, including carrying out emergency works and issuing repair or investigation orders to dilapidated buildings in two cases. BD also regularly sends staff to inspect pre-war buildings throughout the territory to review their safety condition. Moreover, BD will carry out inspection to dangerous or dilapidated private buildings based on reports. In the course of inspection and follow-up of reports, where buildings are found to have safety problems, BD will take enforcement action requiring owners to carry out investigation, repair or demolition works within a specified timeframe.
Ends/Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:00
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