In accordance with the extension of the special work arrangement for government departments, the Buildings Department (BD) will continue to provide emergency services and essential public services, as well as basic and limited-scale public services [https://www.bd.gov.hk/en/whats-new/press-releases/2020/0222-buildings-department-extends-special-work-arrangements-to-march-1.html] between 24 February and 1 March.
You may wish to note that a Drop-in Counter comprising a deposit box and designated tables (for placing bulky items) has been set up in the office of BD’s New Buildings Divisions (NBDs) located at 7/F, 14 Taikoo Wan Road, Hong Kong since the week of 17 February. For the week of 24 February, the drop-in counter will be open from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm on Tuesday (25 February) and Thursday (27 February) for receiving statutory submissions for new building works while the receipt and dispatch counter and all AP/RSE Rooms in the NBDs Office will continue to be closed temporarily. To facilitate receiving BD’s formal notification of receipt of the submissions to be issued at a later stage, the applicants are requested to provide their contact email address in each covering letter of their submissions and a copy of the covering letter. In addition, the handling time of these submissions would inevitably be longer than usual, particularly those to be processed under the centralised processing system.
For submissions processed, applicants would be individually contacted to collect the relevant plans and documents from the above NBDs office on Monday (24 February), Wednesday (26 February) or Friday (28 February).
Regarding submissions received before, BD will concentrate on processing applications for approval of plans, consent applications and occupation permit applications approaching due dates as well as the related site inspections. For statutory submissions received on or after 18 February, priority will be accorded to more critical submissions1 & 2.
To facilitate processing of submissions under the special work arrangement of NBDs, each submission made during the above extended period should be accompanied with a DVD-ROM disc containing the soft copy of all the documents (plans, calculations, reports, etc.) and a set of A3-size hard copy of the submitted plans. If available, a hyperlink for access to the soft copy of the subject submitted plans and supporting documents would be furnished with the case officer via his/her office email3 or NBDs’ dedicated email address at vhs@bd.gov.hk. The soft copy of the submitted Form BA8, Form BA13, Form BA14 and Form BA14A may be forwarded to the email address of the case senior officers and/or case officers.
Due to the special work arrangement, the case officers may contact AP/RSE/RGE to clarify queries on the plan submissions via telephone or email. If the plans are considered as approvable under the Buildings Ordinance (BO) but subject to minor amendments, the plans would be approved and the issues to be rectified / clarified would be listed out in the approval letter. AP/RSE/RGE are required to address these issues in future amendment submission for approval before applying for consent to the commencement of the works. In this connection, AP/RSE/RGE are reminded of their responsibility to ensure that all these issues be fully complied with the relevant regulations and codes of practice before commencement of the works as well as rectifying any contravention of the BO and its subsidiary regulations as and when they are discovered and in any event, before certification of completion of works.
Please contact us by email at vhs@bd.gov.hk for enquiries on urgent matters regarding statutory submissions of new development projects.
In arriving at the above special work arrangement, views from the relevant professional institutions and stakeholder organisations have been taken into account as appropriate. BD will continue to closely liaise with them in our weekly review on the above arrangement.
Buildings Department
23 February 2020
They refer to (i) first submission of general building plans, foundation plans, excavation and lateral support plans and pile cap plans; (ii) amendment plans required for re-application of occupation permits or related to site works being in progress; (iii) applications and re-applications of occupation permit; (iv) applications for consent for commencement of works that are critical milestone to enable works to continue; and (v) certification of completion of building works not resulting in a new building (e.g. alteration and addition works, foundation works, etc.).
Category (i) in Footnote 1 has been extended to cover foundation plans, excavation and lateral support plans and pile cap plans.
Email address is available at https://tel.directory.gov.hk/index_BD_ENG.html)