I refer to the article by Philip Bowring headlined 'Wall of silence round developers' (South China Morning Post, December 3).
Mr Bowring said he came to the Buildings Department some time ago and asked to view the approved building plans for the redevelopment of a neighbouring building, which shared common areas and access with the building which he part-owned, but his request was refused. His comments require clarification.
Any person intending to construct a new building has to appoint an authorised person registered under the Buildings Ordinance and submit plans to the Building Authority for approval. An approved building plan is a plan for a proposed building that complies with the standards and requirements (mainly in respect of safety and public health) of the ordinance. Whether the person will actually build and has the right to construct the building is another matter.
A building plan submitted to the Building Authority for approval is artistic work, which is protected under the Copyright Ordinance. The authority has an obligation to keep any such plan submitted in confidence until it becomes a document in the public domain, for example, when the building has been completed. The copyright of a building plan belongs to the authorised person who prepares and submits the plan to the authority. We cannot release or show a copy of the plan, before a building is completed, to the public, without the consent of this person. Also in accordance with the Code on Access to Information, the approved plans, being third-party information, cannot be disclosed without the third party's consent. Following the publication of Mr Bowring's article, we contacted the authorised person of the redevelopment project to which Mr Bowring referred. This person was not prepared to disclose the building plan.
AU CHOI-KAI