Predicting the conditions of multi-storey residential buildings with the Building Quality Index

For the sake of public health and safety, a territory-wide evaluation of the quality of buildings in Hong Kong is crucial. However, it is a lengthy process to assess the performance of the whole stock of buildings in the city. In this light, a statistical approach for a fast and reliable building evaluation algorithm is proposed. Using the Building Quality Index (BQI) developed by The University of Hong Kong, a regression model associating the relationships between building performance, measured by the BQI, and other exogenous factors was established. The resulting model can be used for estimating the performance of other buildings. A pilot study employing the empirical data of buildings in Hong Kong evidenced a highly positive relationship between the predicted BQI and in-situ BQI scores. This implies that a statistical approach can be adopted to give a broad-brush indication of the performance of all buildings in the city.