Dear Stakeholders,

On behalf of Architectural Services Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, I welcome you to our sixth Sustainability Report, SR 2009. This presents our sustainable development activities in 2008 and, similar to last year, this report has achieved the A+ level of the Global Reporting Initiatives' (GRI) G3 guidelines.

Last year, we continued to develop our sustainable development strategy and our management systems by setting ourselves more challenging targets for continual improvement in our economic, social and environmental performance.

In response to climate change issues and reducing our contribution of greenhouse gas emission in Hong Kong, we have incorporated updated environmental requirements, energy efficient installations and greening works to bring about economic, social and environmental benefits to our community and have chosen the title "Focusing on Greener Buildings" for this report in order to showcase our green building design and construction.

In 2008, construction costs soared, and they along with the global financial crisis, have posed some of the greatest challenges to the operating environment of the construction industry. In order to alleviate the situation, we have supported Government policy in the creation of additional job opportunities through speeding up project commencement time.

In the face of such a changing working environment, we do not intend to rest on our laurels but will work closely with the industry in order to promote further green buildings in Hong Kong.

I hope that you will find this report informative, and I would encourage you to provide your comments and suggestions via our Feedback. Your comments will be important for improving our performance in the future.

Mrs Marigold Lau JP
Director of Architectural Services