BEAM Plus Existing Buildings

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BEAM PLUS FOR EXISTING BUILDINGS OVERVIEW
V ERSION 1.2
Copyright © 2012 BEAM Society Limited. All rights reserved.
Both Version 4/04 ‘New Buildings’[6] and Version 5/04 ‘Existing Buildings’
[7] had significant upgrades to the previous BEAM documents in 2004.
These versions had been developed from the pilot versions 4/03 and 5/03
which were published in June 2003, following extensive review by the
BEAM Society Technical Review Panel, supported by further research
and development. Besides expanding the range of building developments
that can be assessed, these versions of BEAM widened the coverage of
issues that could further define the quality and sustainability of the
buildings.
In 2009, climate change and global warming became international issues.
Various countries both developed and developing cooperated to help
improve the situation. In response to the critical global environmental
issue, BEAM was further developed to meet the higher expectations of
the public and community. This gave birth to the BEAM Plus Version 1.1
in 2010 [8].
BEAM SOCIETY
LIMITED
BEAM is owned and operated by BEAM Society Limited [ 9 ], an
independent not-for-profit organisation whose membership is drawn from
many professional and interest groups in Hong Kong’s building
construction and real estate sectors. Following initial funding from The
Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong (REDA), BEAM
development is funded from assessment fees with voluntary support from
the efforts of BEAM Society’s members and associates, and the
professional supporting team.
A S UCCESS STORY On a per capita basis, BEAM has assessed more buildings and more
square meters of space than any other similar scheme in use worldwide.
Most of the assessed buildings were air-conditioned commercial buildings
and high-rise residential buildings, which are the leading users of energy
and other natural resources in Hong Kong. In raising awareness about
the environmental impact of buildings, BEAM has contributed to the
development of green and sustainable buildings in the HKSAR. BEAM
will continue contributing to this development process by widening its
coverage and setting higher performance standards.
BEAM ACHIEVEMENTS As of May 2012, BEAM had provided recognition for improved building
performance in more than 230 landmark properties in Hong Kong,
Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, comprising over 13 million m 2 of space.
The comprehensive BEAM standards for New and Existing Buildings will
definitely lead to a significant increase on this number.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT To build on this success BEAM is being developed further by providing:
 on-line support to Clients; and
 web-based tools for the purpose of preliminary self assessments.
VERSION 1.2 OF BEAM PLUS Version 1.2 of BEAM Plus contains minor amendments to the guidelines
to add clarity to the assessment process. This will not affect the technical
content of the document.
6 BEAM Society. BEAM 4/04. Building Environmental Assessment Method for New Buildings. 2004.
7 BEAM Society. BEAM 5/04. Building Environmental Assessment Method for Existing Buildings. 2004.
8 BEAM Society. BEAM Plus Version 1.1 (2010.04)
9 BEAM Society Limited
(Ref. 3,4, 5, 6, 7 are available at )