Hong Kong Industrialist Aug Oct 2021

Revitalising Industrial Buildings for Advanced Industries 活化工廈兩步走 工廈工業雙轉型 T he land and space for advanced industries will soon be in tight supply as Hong Kong pursues local re-industrialisation. According to the estimate of Planning Department, the shortage of land for special industry use will reach 70 hectares in 2033. There’s an urgency for the government to make forward-looking plan to ensure sufficient space is provided for the thriving emerging industries and transforming traditional industries. Besides allocating land for industrial purposes in new development areas, existing industrial buildings also has great potential to be upgraded for advanced industries. Earlier this year, the government announced the pilot scheme for charging land premiums at standard rates for redevelopment of industrial buildings to enhance certainty on land premiums and motivate more building owners to carry out revitalisation works. This also poses a great opportunity to rejuvenate aged industrial buildings to provide specifications needed by advanced industries. Taking the food industry as an example. This industry contributes one-third of the total industry value-add of all manufacturing sectors in Hong Kong with a broad industrial value chain. As the industry cuts across multiple sectors from raw materials, food processing, quality assurance, packaging to food waste treatment, there are enormous possibilities to adopt new technology and more efficient manufacturing processes to become high value-add manufacturing locally. At this moment, a significant portion of small to medium-sized food factories still operate in older industrial buildings, which has a lot of restrictions in ventilation, wastewater treatment and other environmental factors. Better building specification must be provided for manufacturers to introduce more advanced machines when they pursue industrial upgrade. Moreover, the government shall pilot multi-storey co-factory designs in new industrial buildings with shared water treatment, packaging and logistic facilities, as a blueprint for developing advanced food manufacturing industrial parks in the future. 隨 著香港步入再工業化時代，先進工業用地將會面臨短缺。據規劃署估算，至2033年相關用地短缺將會飆升 至70 公頃，政府必須及早規劃提供合適空間予新興產業或傳統產業升級生產線，以免工業發展遇上瓶頸。 除了在新發展區劃出工業用地外，現存的舊式工廈亦具有升級的空間。今年初，政府推出工廈重建「標準金額」補 地價先導計劃，期望增加補價確定性，促使舊工廈業主開展重建及改裝計劃，不單能釋放土地空間，也是提升工廈 的環境條件的契機，更符合先進工業或傳統行業轉型的需要。 以我從事的食品製造業為例，行業佔香港整體製造業增加價值超過三分之一，產業鏈牽涉面廣，由原材料、食品加 工過程、品質監控、包裝技術、廚餘處理等，都有引入創新科技、改善產能的空間，非常適合在香港進行高增值的 製造業。現時，不少中小型的食品工場仍設置於舊式工廈，但建築物的通風、污水處理或其他環境條件有頗大限 制，必須改善建築設計方能容許業界引入更高端的設備。政府更可考慮在新型工廈裡試行共用設計，讓不同樓層 的食品加工廠共享污水處理、包裝設施及物流配套等，作為將來建設先進食品工業園的藍本。 Anthony Lam 林世豪 Executive Deputy Chairman 常務副主席 LEADERSHIP VIEWS | 我觀我見 10 | 8-10/2021