NEW offices and hotels will have to be energy efficient under proposals announced yesterday by the Buildings Department.
But the department will be unable to say how much energy will be saved for two years. The data will not be available until architects and engineers feed the results from newly-completed developments into a computer database.
Assistant Director of Buildings (Legal and Management), Cheng Wei-dart, said the information would be used to assess whether the regulations went far enough.
'We may have to change the targets if we find there is only a minor effect on energy consumption,' he said.
The laws, which will come into effect on July 21, follow more than three years of studies by government and independent building engineers.
Architects will have to submit building plans showing details of energy efficient measures and how they comply with the new laws.