Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Government announces implementation of elderly-friendly building design and launches Elderly-friendly Building accreditation scheme
With an ageing population in Hong Kong and to encourage ageing in place, “The Chief Executive’s 2023 Policy Address” announced that the Deputy Financial Secretary would co-ordinate with relevant bureaux to put forward proposals to promote elderly-friendly building design. The Task Force announced in November last year a series of specific proposals for elderly-friendly building design and consulted the stakeholders. Stakeholders from the elderly, professional, developer and other sectors generally supported the proposals and provided valuable suggestions for refining the design proposals.
Having considered the views of the stakeholders, the Task Force has refined the proposals announced earlier after balancing various factors, including the needs of the elderly and other users, as well as the practical operational considerations in application by the market and the industry. The key requirements of the proposals to be implemented are as follows:
(1) promoting spatial accessibility to enhance the mobility of the elderly, e.g. provision of an automatic door at the main entrance of residential buildings, adopting wider common corridors and wider main doors of individual units, allowing the addition of lift towers to existing buildings, and using slip-resistant materials;
(2) encouraging the adoption of adaptive design in residential units to facilitate subsequent modifications, such as widening internal corridors and doors, using sliding doors for toilets, and installing grab rails/shower seats in bathrooms, etc;
(3) enhancing elderly well-being, e.g. providing fitness or other facilities for the elderly in recreational spaces, and providing shelters for resting facilities at communal outdoor spaces, etc; and
(4) facilitating the adoption of gerontechnology and Internet of Things, e.g. providing high-speed Internet access in home and public spaces, supporting the installation of smart card systems, motion sensors, etc.
???Please refer to the summary table at the Annex for the detailed proposals.Issued at HKT 18:34
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