Frequently Asked Questions

1) What is the aim of the Best Landscape Award for Private Property Development 2024?

The Best Landscape Award for Private Property Development 2024 aims to bring about sustained improvement in the environment in private property developments and promote greening by giving recognition to private developments that excel in landscape design and horticultural maintenance and encouraging private bodies to incorporate more green elements of quality in the planning and management of horticultural efforts for the benefit of such developments.

2) How many categories are there?

The Award is presented in 5 categories.  They are namely the categories of Large-Scale Domestic Property, Medium-scale Domestic Property, Small-scale Domestic Property, Large-scale Non-domestic Property and Small and Medium-scale Non-domestic Property.  Nominated projects in each category are split into 3 divisions according to property age: below 6 years, between 6 and below 21 years, and 21 years or above.

3) What is the difference among the eligibility criteria for the categories of Large-scale Domestic Property, Medium-scale Domestic Property and Small-scale Domestic Property?

Domestic properties nominated for the Award are categorised in accordance with their site area.  Domestic properties with a site area of 20 000 square metres or above come under the category of Large-Scale Domestic Property.  Those with a site area from 2 000 square metres to below 20 000 square metres fall under the category of Medium-scale Domestic Property.  Those with a site area under 2 000 square metres fall under the category of Small-scale Domestic Property.

4) What is the difference between the eligibility criteria for the categories of Large-scale Non-domestic Property and Small and Medium-scale Non-domestic Property?

Non-domestic properties nominated for the Award are categorised in accordance with their gross floor area.  Non-domestic properties with a gross floor area of 40 000 square metres or above fall under the category of Large-scale Non-domestic Property.  Those with a gross floor area under 40 000 square metres come under the category of Small and Medium-scale Non-domestic Property.

5) How is the age of the property in an entry calculated?

The age of the property in an entry is calculated from the date the Occupation Permit (OP) is issued by the Building Authority of the Buildings Department to the deadline of nomination.

6) For properties completed in phases, can they being nominated as one single entry?

If an entry comprising two or more phases is nominated as one single entry, the phases in question should belong to the same age category. The age of the property is calculated based on the date the Occupation Permit (OP) is issued by the Building Authority of the Buildings Department.

7) Who is eligible to nominate entries?

Entries may be nominated by the developer/management company/design company/owners’ organisation/landscape or horticultural company of the property with prior consent from the owners’ representative group of the property concerned (if applicable).  Each entry can only be nominated once in the same year of competition.

8) How many nomination forms were received for the Award in 2022?

We received a total of 212 nomination forms.

9) How many awards were given out for the Award in 2022?

Winners were selected for 61 awards, namely 13 Gold Awards, 36 Merit Awards and 12 Environmental Efficiency Awards from among the entries in various categories by the Panel of Judges at its meeting on 2 September 2022.

10) May past awardees compete for this year’s Award?

Yes.

11) What are the assessment criteria?

Other than one newly added criterion (i.e. “Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health”) regarding horticultural maintenance, the assessment criteria are basically the same as those for the Award in 2022.  Details are as follows:

(a) Soft Landscape Design

• Visual and landscape quality;
• Sustainability, including site coverage of greenery;
• Enhancement to urban livability;
• Improvement to micro-environment; 
• Improvement to neighbouring landscape; and
• Use of new construction techniques and modern construction solutions.

(b) Tree and Horticultural Management and Maintenance

• Excellence of tree management, with work covering the records on survey, protection and reprovision in relation to all the trees in the site as well as tree risk management;
• Excellence of horticultural and landscape maintenance;
• Formulation of a sound work regime for the delivery of tree related services by workers / employees in a safe and healthy manner,  with reference  to  the prevailing guidelines on occupational safety and health  issued by  the  Labour Department  and  the guidelines  on  arboriculture occupational safety and health issued by the Development Bureau;
• Plant health and proper pruning;
• Environmental cleanliness and hygiene conditions;
• Involvement and interaction of users; and
• Use of new technology in maintenance.

In addition, the weighting of assessment criteria for various categories is as follows:

	Category	Soft Landscape Design	Horticultural Maintenance
(a)	Properties below 6 years of age	70%	30%
(b)	Properties between 6 and below 21 years of age	50%	50%
(c)	Properties of 21 years of age or above	30%	70%