Stakeholder Engagement

Our stakeholders have rising expectations about us as a purveyor of public services and an impartial government department. We welcome the views of our stakeholders and incorporate their feedback into our operations in order to improve our quality of services.

Our stakeholders include:

Government and related public organisations
Legislators
Construction and industry partners
Suppliers, consultants, and contractors
Academic and research groups
Public buildings users, including physically challenged groups
Environmental groups
Public
International interested parties

Primarily, the aim of the Sustainability Report is to report our performance and address stakeholders' concerns. We would like to invite you to complete our Feedback Form to let us know your views on our Sustainability Report 2005. If you want to obtain further information regarding our work, please contact us by email to sbse/im@archsd.gov.hk or by fax to 25960361.

As a Government Department, we are accountable to the public at large and value their input to our services. We engage with our stakeholders through regular Client Satisfaction Surveys and through our participation with external committees and international associations. An example of our engagement work is our study on integrating universal accessibility into our buildings.

Client Satisfaction Survey

Since 2002, we have been collecting feedback from our clients. The Client Satisfaction Survey is conducted regularly to ascertain our clients' level of satisfaction with the quality of our products and services.

Sustainability is a recurrent theme weaved through the survey, including questions on aesthetics, conscientious use of buildings materials and recycled resources, energy conservation as well as the greening of internal and external environment. The surveyed clients usually include a representative of the end-users (e.g. the school principal of a newly built school), and representatives from the client government (e.g. an Education and Manpower Bureau official).

We have carried out a total of 12 surveys in 2004. We have achieved an average of 80% rating, indicating clients are 'very satisfied' with our projects. All the feedback is reverted back to our Project Directors concerned for future improvements.

Engaging International Associations

To keep ourselves abreast of international development in construction, we have been a member of the International Council for Research and innovation in Building and Construction (CIB) since 1994. It is an international network offering a cross-disciplinary platform for collaboration to improve the built environment. We also participate in their Working Commission W100 on Environmental Assessment of Buildings. CIB has established an "Agenda 21 for Sustainable Construction in Developing Countries", which placed it in the top rank of international organisations addressing sustainability issues.

Universal Accessibility

In the spirit of equal opportunities, we aim to facilitate universal access to buildings and open spaces for people with different abilities. To gauge our stakeholders' opinion, we carried out a comprehensive study on the issue of universal accessibility.

The study represents an example of how stakeholders help us become better designer. During our engagement process, we carried out a comprehensive user feedback survey of one public building and one open space project, met with user groups to review accessibility requirements and user needs, and interviewed occupational therapists and architect specialists to ascertain the feasibility of various designs.

We are honoured that our research document titled "Universal Accessibility - Best Practices and Guidelines" is awarded "Special Architectural Award - Architectural Research" at The Hong Kong Institute of Architects Annual Awards 2004. The Guidelines focus on access strategy, internal and external circulations, sanitary facilities, signage, way-finding, furniture, fittings, maintenance and review.