The Buildings Department (BD) issued today (May 31) the Practice Note for Authorized Persons, Registered Structural Engineers and Registered Geotechnical Engineers (PNAP) APP-161 to promulgate the gross floor area (GFA) concession for new buildings adopting Modulated Integrated Construction (MiC) with a view to promoting its wider use in Hong Kong.
A spokesman for the BD said that to encourage greater adoption of MiC in new buildings, 6 per cent of the floor area constructed by MiC may be disregarded from the calculation of GFA of a development and at the same time not be subject to the overall GFA cap of 10 per cent.
The spokesman said, "MiC means dividing a building into numerous freestanding modules, with most of the manufacturing works of each module being completed off-site in the factory and then transported to the site for assembly. It enhances productivity, site safety, environmental performance and cost-effectiveness. The new initiative has taken into consideration that adoption of MiC may reduce the usable floor area. It is expected that this initiative in floor area concession will encourage more adoption of this construction method by the industry."
He added that, in line with the new initiative, the PNAP APP-151 and the Joint Practice Note No. 2 issued by the BD, the Lands Department and the Planning Department have also been updated correspondingly.
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