Sustainability and environmental considerations are an integral part of our strategy for developing and expanding HKIA.
In support of its pledge to make Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) the world's greenest airport, the Airport Authority (AA) is committed to ensuring that environmental impacts are considered, managed and, whenever possible, minimised at all stages of development projects. The AA also strives to adopt environmental best practices and innovative solutions in the design and construction of airport buildings and facilities.
The green design features adopted when HKIA was first built are the AA's legacy of best practice and form a strong platform for continued leadership and innovation. The T1 Midfield Concourse (T1M) development project illustrated the AA's commitment to best practices and innovation in green building design. Its design has incorporated 35 key green initiatives covering various aspects ranging from energy saving measures, reduced water use to sustainable construction methods to deliver an exemplary sustainable building. The T1M development project won a Grand Award in New Buildings: Completed Projects – Institutional Building at Green Building Award 2016, and achieved a Final Gold rating under BEAM Plus.
Green Airport Design Strategy
In developing HKIA into a Three-Runway System (3RS) and in planning other new developments at HKIA, the AA has established a Green Airport Design Strategy to ensure priority is consistently and systematically placed on considering environmental and green design elements as early as possible in project development, and that these elements are implemented in following works. The AA has also been voluntarily pursuing third-party green building certification for major developments at HKIA. Some examples are listed below:
Hong Kong Green Building Council's BEAM Plus
Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment and Award Scheme (CEEQUAL – now known as BREEAM Infrastructure)
Together with a new Air Traffic Control Tower, the T2C is a new terminal facility of the 3RS Project with green and innovative features incorporated into its design. The project has attained the Provisional Platinum rating under BEAM Plus. It is designed with high energy-performance glazing on building façades to provide excellent thermal insulation performance. Other planned green features include:
The expanded T2 has been designed as an exemplary sustainable building and the project has attained the Provisional Platinum rating under BEAM Plus. Green design features adopted include:
Sky Bridge is a 200-metre long weatherproof footbridge connecting Terminal 1 and T1 Satellite Concourse to replace the bus link on the apron. The project has attained the Final Platinium rating under BEAM Plus. Use of sustainable construction materials and construction methods are the green strategies in this project. To minimise the disruption to the busy airport’s operation, prefabrication method was used, which adopted pre-assembling large modules and components off-site. The prefabricated steel segments were then transported to HKIA and assembled on-site to form the permanent structure. This sustainable construction method can produce a final product with enhanced time and quality control, as well as minimised environmental impacts on adjacent buildings and ambience.
With the achievements obtained from the implementation of the Green Airport Design Strategy for the 3RS and related projects at HKIA, the AA has taken the further step of formulating an airport-wide Green Airport Design and Construction (GADC) Strategy to apply a consistent approach for embedding green design and sustainable construction considerations in both its building and non-building infrastructure projects, as well as developments at HKIA that are implemented via partnership agreement with franchisees and other business partners. This strategy helps ensure a high importance on environmental and green design elements will be put at the project design and development stages. These elements will then be implemented in the subsequent works to minimise the environmental impact over the whole project life cycle.
The implementation of the airport-wide GADC Strategy commenced in July 2021, with an initial two-year trial period.