Survey of existing residential buildings and envelope designs in Hong Kong

Some 269 high-rise residential buildings completed in June for the 8-year period from 1985 to 1992 have been studied. Well over 90% of the residential flats are small units with saleable floor area below 70m². Six key building variables affecting heat gain through the building envelope have been investigate, namely building orientation, thermal insulation, window area, glass type, shading and colour of external surface finish. Characteristics (in terms of these 6 building variables) of the 269 buildings have been analysed, and implications for energy consumption in residential buildings are discussed.