Market Intelligence
Design and Construction Hong Kong

Hong Kong Construction Market

The retrofitting sector in Hong Kong represents a significant market for American companies, particularly those involved in energy efficiency, building technology, and sustainable construction.

Hong Kong is home to approximately 42,000 buildings, including 8,000 high-rises and over 1,500 skyscrapers exceeding 100 meters (328 feet) in height. These structures have a significant impact on the city’s electricity consumption and contribute to around 60 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the embodied carbon in buildings accounts for approximately 80 to 90 percent of the total carbon footprint, due to the relatively low day-to-day operational emissions in the city’s tall and densely populated environment.  

In response, Hong Kong has set ambitious targets to reduce emissions by 2035 to 50 percent lower than 2005 levels. This is an interim goal towards the ultimate objective of achieving zero emissions and carbon neutrality by 2050. In order to achieve these objectives, Hong Kong needs to either upgrade its existing built environment comprising of older buildings or demolish them or retrofit more quickly and efficiently. The use of construction materials with lower embodied carbon is essential for the success of retrofitting projects in Hong Kong.

To thrive in the competitive retrofitting sector in Hong Kong, businesses must effectively navigate an environment that values innovation and efficiency. Meeting the requirements of the Building Energy Codes (BEC); obtaining a Certificate of Compliance Registration (COCR); conducting regular energy audits; and staying proactive with predictive maintenance and optimization recommendations are all essential for achieving success. Additionally, diligently documenting compliance is crucial for businesses to flourish in this industry.

Opportunities in Retrofitting

1. HVAC (Water)

  • Replacement of inefficient chillers with more efficient chillers and review of new chiller combination during life-cycle replacement
  • Conversion of air-cooled chillers to water-cooled chillers
  • Replacement of cooling tower constant speed fan by variable speed fan
  • Installation of tube cleaning and other cleaning systems for chiller’s water-cooled condensers
  • Installation of electromagnetic clamp-on device for condensing water systems
  • Conversion of the chilled water system to variable flow by replacing constant speed pumps with variable speed pumps
  • Conversion of de-coupler or differential by-pass chilled water system to variable primary flow system  

2. HVAC (Air)

  • Replacement of air filters with lower pressure drop air filters using sonic, ionization, nanofibrous or other new technologies which can improve filter efficiency
  • Replacement of centrifugal fan in AHU / PAU using EC plug fan
  • Use of demand control fresh air system to reduce fresh air amount when the IAQ meets the desired level according to IAQ sensor input while coupling with variable exhaust system
  • Use of spot cooling, ceiling fans for certain locations such as corridors and lift lobbies  

3. Electrical Systems – Lighting

  • Use of occupancy sensors
  • Use of smart lighting controls
  • Adoption of high-efficacy lighting source
  • Upgrade of light fittings from fluorescent tubes and halogen bulbs to more efficient, longer lasting LEDs  

4. Smart Control Systems

  • Incorporation of smart building energy management platform with IoT infrastructure that can collect building operation data, perform monitoring and evaluation, demand 
    control and optimization of the various systems
  • Implementation of various AI energy optimization solutions to all major equipment with high energy consumption

5. Server Room/ Data Centre

  • Replacement of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) by more energy efficient system
  • Installation of enclosure to separate hot-aisle/ cold-aisle (hot aisle containment/ cold-aisle containment)

6. Carpark

  • Use of zoning for carpark operation
  • Use of demand control to vary exhaust air/fresh air by carbon monoxide (CO) and temperature sensors

7. Green Commercial Kitchen

  • Implementation of energy conservation measures for ventilation systems

8. Heating

  • Replacement of electric or gas heater with heat pump as the heat source to reduce the energy consumption for heating

9. Building Envelope

  • Natural ventilation and lighting
  • Application of coating on roof that can irradiate heat to the cold outer space through the atmosphere
  • Cool external wall and/or roof
  • Renewable energy
  • Photovoltaic (PV) system integrated with green roof
  • Installation of a second plane of glazing behind the building facade 

 

For more information, please contact us at Office.Hongkong@trade.gov.

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