Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1 Visiting Professor, Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic
University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
E-mail: craigl@deakin.edu.au
2 Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom,
Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
E-mail: bsshen@polyu.edu.hk
ABSTRACT. There is an increasing complexity and interplay between all of the issues
associated with property portfolio decisions. This paper explores the relationships between
financial, environmental and social parameters associated with building adaptive reuse by
way of a case study. A new model predicting adaptive reuse potential is applied to a heritage
building in Hong Kong known as Lui Seng Chun. Such application can assist in the trans-
formation of the building and property industry towards more sustainable practices, strategies
and outcomes, by providing a means by which the industry can identify and rank existing
buildings that have high potential for adaptive reuse. In Hong Kongs case it provides an
ability for sustainable, responsive energy and natural resource management by allowing issues
regarding excessive and inappropriate resource use to be identified and assessed, and ap-
propriate management strategies to be implemented. Given the buildings current age and
condition, Lui Seng Chun has at least 25 years of physical life remaining. The further application
of a multi-criteria sustainability evaluation tool supports the conclusion that an adaptive reuse
strategy for this building will make a demonstrable contribution to the economic, social and
environmental amenity of Hong Kong. The application of these techniques to other buildings
with significant embedded physical life is highly recommended.
activity is about HK$90 billion (2006) of which One in eleven of Hong Kongs historic build-
46.3% is new private and public construction ings have been torn down since 1980. The An-
sites and the remainder is minor new construc- tiquities Advisory Board revealed that 54 out
tion work and renovation activities at existing of 607 buildings it had listed since it was set
building locations. At a global level, buildings up in 1980 have been demolished. There are
consume 32% of world resources, 12% of wa- now 496 graded historic buildings and 81 de-
ter consumption, 40% of waste to landfill, and clared monuments left in Hong Kong. But
40% of air and greenhouse gas emissions graded sites currently have no legal protection
(Harrington et al., 1999; Rees, 1999: Langston (Sunday Morning Post, 2007).
and Ding, 2001; Meillaud et al., 2005). This paper aims to extend previous research
A simple calculation shows that new con- concerning an adaptive reuse potential model
struction adds less than 2% per annum to the by applying it for the first time to a potential
built environment stock in Hong Kong. Yet adaptive reuse project in Hong Kong. Specifi-
greenhouse gas emissions (GGE) in Hong Kong cally, the purposes are to:
are nearing 50 million tonnes (CO2-equivalent) 1. demonstrate the application of the
per annum and rising (http://www.epd.gov.hk/ model in identifying projects with po-
). Expressed in terms of emissions per square tential for adaptive reuse, and
metre, Hong Kong is considered to be the larg- 2. evaluate a project of high potential us-
est producer of GGE in the world (The Stand- ing a multi-criteria approach to deter-
ard, 2007). So it will take perhaps up to a cen- mine if actions to preserve and revital-
tury before the energy efficient strategies of ize it are warranted.
new building construction can make any sig- To achieve these aims a case study of Lui
nificant difference to the greenhouse gas re- Seng Chun in the Mong Kok district of Hong
duction targets of the Hong Kong Government. Kong is explored in detail. This building was
Energy efficient design should therefore be fo- constructed in 1932 and was donated to the
cused on retrofit of existing buildings rather HKSAR Government in 2003. It is currently
than demolition and new construction. We under the care of the Antiquities and Monu-
must better look after what we have (Ball, ments Office (AMO) awaiting further action.
1999). Community consultation concerning this
Existing buildings that are obsolete or rap- project is underway.
idly approaching disuse and potential demoli-
tion are a mine of raw materials for new 2. BACKGROUND
projects; a concept described by Chusid (1993)
as urban ore. Even more effective, rather than 2.1. Adaptive reuse
extracting these raw materials during demoli-
Adaptive reuse is a special form of refur-
tion or deconstruction and assigning them to
bishment that poses quite difficult challenges
new applications, is to leave the basic struc-
for designers. Changing the class (functional
ture and fabric of the building intact, and
classification) of a building will introduce new
change its use. This approach is called adap-
regulatory conditions and perhaps require zon-
tive reuse. Breathing new life into existing
ing consent. There are clear economic, envi-
buildings carries with it environmental and
ronmental and social benefits that can make
social benefits and helps to retain our national
this option attractive to developers. In some
heritage. To date, a focus on economic factors
cases increases in floor space ratios can be ob-
alone has contributed to destruction of build-
tained and concessions received for pursuing
ings well short of their physical lives.
Application of the Adaptive Reuse Potential Model in Hong Kong: A Case Study of Lui Seng Chun '#
government policy directions by regenerating masking these costs can provide strong incen-
derelict public assets. In recent years redun- tives for a transition to more sustainable en-
dant city office buildings have been converted ergy use, less profligate use of new materials,
into high quality residential apartments, bring- and greater use of existing building stock. Re-
ing people back to cities and in the process furbishment is also a greater employment gen-
revitalizing them. In Hong Kong, the Urban erator than new construction. According to
Renewal Authority plays an important role in Tully (1993), refurbishment generates 25%
overseeing such projects (http://www.ura. more employment than new building construc-
org.hk). tion per square metre of floor space as a re-
Adaptive reuse has been successfully ap- sult of the typical labour-intensive activities
plied in many types of facilities, including de- involved in renovation.
fence estates (e.g. Doak, 1999; Van Driesche
and Lane, 2002), airfields (e.g. Gallent et al., 2.2. Adaptive reuse potential model
2000), government buildings (e.g. Abbotts et
al., 2003), and industrial buildings (e.g. Ball, The conceptual framework of an approach
1999; Anon., 2006). Around the world, adap- to identify and rank adaptive reuse potential
tive reuse of historic buildings is seen as fun- (ARP) for existing buildings is described in
damental to sound government policy and sus- Langston et al., (2007). The model requires an
tainable development e.g. in Atlanta, US estimate of the expected physical life of the
(Newman, 2001), Canada (Brandt, 2006), Hong building and the current age of the building,
Kong (Poon, 2001), North Africa (Leone, 2003) both reported in years. It also requires an as-
and Australia (Maggs, 1999; McLaren, 1996). sessment of physical, economic, functional,
Adaptive reuse can be quite dramatic. For technological, social and legal obsolescence.
example, conversion of disused industrial fac- Obsolescence is advanced as a suitable method
tories into shopping centres or churches into to reduce expected physical life in order to cal-
restaurants is possible. Property managers culate objectively the useful life of the build-
should be conscious of adaptive reuse solutions ing. An index of reuse potential expressed as
to redundant space and continually think about a percentage is calculated. Existing buildings
more productive uses for existing premises. in an organizations portfolio, or existing build-
Newman (2001) discussed various political ings across a city or territory, can therefore be
issues relating to historic building reuse, not- ranked according to the potential they offer for
ing that preservation in many cases was predi- adaptive reuse. Where the current building age
cated on reuse, finding a balance between the is close to and less than the useful life, the
interests of developers, property owners and model identifies that planning should com-
preservation advocates. Stakeholder involve- mence.
ment is critical. Ball (1999) found that persist- Useful life is determined from Equation 1.
ently vacant buildings are less able to be re- The form of the equation applies the notion
used than newly vacated premises. So timeli- that useful life is indeed discounted physical
ness is an important characteristic in identi- life, and uses the long-established method of
fying adaptive reuse potential. discount as its basis, where the discount rate
In making decisions about whether to re- is taken as the sum of the obsolescence factors
use a building or to demolish and rebuild, the per annum (i.e. factors are divided by Lp).
energy and waste disposal costs of new action
usually do not include all the environmental
and social costs (Guy and Kibert, 1998). Un-
'$ C. Langston and L. Y. Shen
been developed to provide decision makers with ized and combined. Criteria will be left as
advice about selection, but they are either com- equally weighted.
plicated or expensive to use (Vignes, 1999; and The application of the ARP model and the
Khan et al., 2002), or narrowly focused (Chen use of SINDEX to verify that such potential
and Huang, 2001). Moreover, in the traditional can be realized using a range of financial, so-
decision making process, weighting each crite- cial and environmental criteria is to be dem-
rion is a very difficult process and depends onstrated for an actual project in Hong Kong.
heavily on the personal preference of the deci-
sion maker. Various criteria can be measured
3. CASE STUDY: LUI SENG CHUN
using an appropriately matched methodology
and assembled into a single decision model. 3.1. History
SINDEX is a recent software tool that uses
multiple criteria to calculate a sustainability Lui Seng Chun is located at 119 Lai Chi
index, and has the potential to completely re- Kok Road in the Mong Kok district, one of the
place conventional net present value method- most densely populated areas of Hong Kong.
ologies for ranking and selecting projects. The historic building was designed as a Chi-
Based on an extensive literature review, in- nese shophouse over four levels, exhibiting
dustry survey and testing in the field (Ding wide veranda (external corridors) on most fa-
and Langston, 2002), key objectives were nar- cades. Background information about Lui Seng
rowed down and grouped into four criteria and Chun can be found at http://www.amo.gov.hk/
identified as maximising wealth (investment en/built_reuse1.php, and together with other
return); maximising utility (functional perform- facts available on the public record, has been
ance); minimising resources (energy usage), used to introduce this case study.
and minimising impact (loss of habitat). The Mr. Lui Leung (alias Lui Hung Wai), the
basis of the SINDEX methodology is normal- first owner of Lui Seng Chun, was born in
ized weighted criteria and is further described Taishan County of the Guangdong Province.
in Ding and Langston (2004). Upon his arrival in Hong Kong, he became ac-
Wealth is measured as a benefit-cost ratio tively engaged in transport and trading busi-
and includes all aspects of life cycle cost (e.g. nesses. He was one of the founders of the
maintenance, durability, future replacement). Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Ltd. In
A weighted evaluation matrix (criteria and 1929, Mr. Lui purchased land in Lai Chi Kok
performance) is used to measure utility in a Road from the Government and appointed Mr.
quantitative manner. Energy usage (including Bourne, a local architect who specialized in
both embodied and operating energy) is meas- designing shophouses, to construct Lui Seng
ured as annualised GJ or GJ/m2. Assessment Chun. The construction work was completed
scorecards (questionnaires) are used to quan- by 1932. The ground floor of the building was
tify loss of habitat (both environmental and occupied by a Chinese bone-setting medicine
cultural) and can be expressed as a risk prob- shop named Lui Seng Chun, while the up-
ability factor. When all four criteria are com- per floors became living quarters for the mem-
bined, an indexing algorithm (formula) is cre- bers of Luis family. The name Lui Seng Chun
ated that rank projects and facilities on their was derived from a pair of rhymed couplets,
contribution to sustainable development. The implying Luis medicine could bring a patient
algorithm is termed the sustainability index back to life.
(Langston and Ding, 2001). Each criterion is Mr. Lui Leung passed away in 1944 and
measured in different units and later normal- the shop was closed down a few years later.
Application of the Adaptive Reuse Potential Model in Hong Kong: A Case Study of Lui Seng Chun ''
The building was subsequently used as accom- front. The deep verandahs help prevent rain
modation and let out as tailor shops. In 2000, from flooding the house, block sunlight and
the Lui family proposed to the Antiquities and keep the indoor area cool. This together with
Monuments Office to donate the building to the stone plaque marked with the name of the
the Government. The transfer of the building medicine shop installed at the top of the build-
was accomplished in October 2003. ing are all typical architectural features of pre-
Lui Seng Chun not only bears witness to war Chinese tenements. The main facade of
the history of a well-known family in Hong the building was lavishly decorated with clas-
Kong, but also illustrates the past community sical Italianate designs, one of which is the
life, economic activities and architecture of the broken pediment at the shop. The curved
territory. Figure 2 is a recent photograph. front elevation was designed to make better
Being a four-storey building, Lui Seng Chun use of the narrow strip of land restricted by
is a typical Kee-lau or Tong-lau (Chinese the road junction. In terms of structure, the
tenement). This type of two-to-four-storey resi- external walls of the building are made of plas-
dence integrating Chinese and Western archi- tered red brickwork with columns and beams
tectural styles was very popular in the early of reinforced concrete. Lui Seng Chun is re-
20th century. garded as the representative of Kee-lau of
Lui Seng Chun reflects the Neo-Classical the pre-war period in Hong Kong.
style that is characterized by a square-shaped Following the completion of basic repair
frame and a row of decorative balustrades in works on Lui Seng Chun in 2005, AMO com-
missioned a consultancy study on its potential while buildings sited in an area of low popula-
for adaptive reuse and sustainable develop- tion density receive a 20% reduction. Interim
ment. The consultancy study is to take into scores are also possible, with average popula-
account a series of relevant factors, including tion density receiving a 10% reduction. Lui
its historical background and building struc- Seng Chun would logically receive a 0% re-
ture, district characteristics, transportation duction as it sits in a retail centre in one of
and tourism attractiveness etc. when drawing the most densely populated areas of Hong
up possible adaptive reuse proposals. Liu Seng Kong.
Chun is registered as a Grade I historic build- Functional obsolescence can be measured
ing in Hong Kong, but sadly this does not guar- by determining the extent of flexibility
antee its preservation (Sunday Morning Post, imbedded in a buildings design. Useful life is
2007). effectively reduced if building layouts are in-
flexible to change. A scale is developed such
3.2. Application of the ARP model to Lui that buildings with a low churn cost receive a
Seng Chun 0% reduction, while buildings with a high
churn cost receive a 20% reduction. Interim
Lui Seng Chun was constructed in 1932. scores are also possible, with typical churn
Its current building age is therefore 75 years. costs receiving a 10% reduction. The building
The physical life is estimated conservatively being largely open design would attract a low
at 100 years. The useful life of the building is churn cost for alterations, and so a reduction
determined by discounting the physical life of 5% has been assumed. No actual data on
by expected obsolescence, comprising physical, churn costs exists for this building.
economic, functional, technological, social and Technological obsolescence can be measured
legal criteria. by the buildings use of operational energy.
Physical obsolescence can be measured by Useful life is effectively reduced if a building
an examination of maintenance policy and per- is reliant on high levels of energy in order to
formance. Useful life is effectively reduced if provide occupant comfort. A scale is developed
building elements are not properly maintained. such that buildings with low energy demand
A scale is developed such that buildings with receive a 0% reduction, while buildings with
a high maintenance budget receive a 0% re- intense energy demand receive a 20% reduc-
duction, while buildings with a low mainte- tion. Interim scores are also possible, with con-
nance budget receive a 20% reduction. Interim ventional operating energy performance receiv-
scores are also possible, with normal mainte- ing a 10% reduction. The building has a small
nance intensity receiving a 10% reduction. For narrow floor plan with high ceilings, signifi-
Lui Seng Chun, maintenance was minimal for cant ventilation openings and large covered
most of its life, and it has been left in a state balconies all around. It has little reliance on
of disrepair more recently, so a score of 20% mechanical systems for occupancy. A value of
has been chosen. 0% for technological obsolescence has therefore
Economic obsolescence can be measured by been selected.
the location of a building to a city centre or Social obsolescence can be measured by the
central business district. Useful life is effec- relationship between building function and the
tively reduced if a building is located in a rela- marketplace. Useful life is effectively reduced
tively low populated area. A scale is developed if building feasibility is based on external in-
such that buildings sited in an area of high come. A scale is developed such that buildings
population density receive a 0% reduction, with fully owned and occupied space receive a
Application of the Adaptive Reuse Potential Model in Hong Kong: A Case Study of Lui Seng Chun
Notes:
1. All values are expressed in HK$ in todays
terms (2007) as the adopted discount rate
is net of inflation.
2. The building was donated to AMO and has
no purchase or residual value.
3. A refurbishment cost of HK$2million has
been estimated.
4. The rent expectation for the building is
HK$200/m2 per month as an average across
ground and upper floor net rentable areas
assuming full tenancy.
5. Annual expenditure includes wages opera-
tional costs for tenants.
6. Major repair activities are budgeting every
5 years.
7. Analyses greater than 30 years do not sig-
nificantly affect NPV or BCR calculations.
Figure 4. Maximize wealth input screen
Application of the Adaptive Reuse Potential Model in Hong Kong: A Case Study of Lui Seng Chun !
Notes:
1. Heritage preservation through an economically sustain-
able activity is sought.
2. Building egress and access is a problem.
Notes:
1. Energy figures are annual.
2. Embodied energy relates only to the refurbishment
works.
3. Minimal operating energy demand is expected (i.e. no
air conditioning).
4. Targets are based on typical Hong Kong practices.
" C. Langston and L. Y. Shen
Ding, G. and Langston, C. (2002) A Methodology Langston, C. and Lauge-Kristensen, R. (2002) Stra-
for Assessing the Sustainability of Construc- tegic Management of Built Facilities,
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SANTRAUKA
Priimant sprendimus dl nuosavybs portfelio, kyla vis sudtingesni ir tarpusavyje labiau susijusi klausim. iame
darbe nagrinjami ryiai tarp finansini, aplinkos ir socialini parametr, susijusi su pastat naudojimu. Naujas
modelis, numatantis potencial pastat naudojim, taikomas Honkonge esaniam paveldo pastatui, vadinamam Lui
Seng Chun. Transformuojant pastat ir nuosavybs industrij, kai siekiama darnesni praktikos, strategij ir rezultat,
is modelis gali bti naudingas, nes suteiks priemoni, padsiani identifikuoti ir klasifikuoti tuos pastatus, kuri
naudojimo potencialas didelis. Honkongo atveju tai galimyb imtis darnaus, atsakingo energijos ir gamtini itekli
valdymo, nes galima nustatyti ir vertinti besaikio bei netinkamo itekli naudojimo problemas ir diegti reikiamas
vadybos strategijas. Atsivelgiant pastato ami ir bkl, Lui Seng Chun fizikai dar gali gyvuoti bent 25 metus.
Toliau naudojamas daugiakriterinio darnos vertinimo rankis patvirtina ivad, kad naudojimo strategija iame pastate
nemenkai prisids prie viso Honkongo ekonominio, socialinio ir aplinkos patrauklumo. Rekomenduojama taikyti
iuos metodus kitiems pastatams valdyti, kuri likusi naudojimo trukm dar yra netrumpa.