CONSTRUCTION OF GOVERNMENT OFFICE BUILDINGS ...

PART 1:
INTRODUCTION
Government office accommodation policy
1.1 The Government’s policy for the acquisition and allocation of government office
accommodation (Note 1) is to relocate government departments from leased accommodation to
government-owned accommodation, and as far as practicable from prime locations of high rental
value to non-prime locations of low rental value, subject to any specific departmental location
requirements. The Government aims to house departments in government-owned accommodation
because:
(a) it is more cost-effective (Note 2);
(b)
it has security of tenure; and
(c)
it can better meet users’ special requirements, especially those involving extensive and
expensive fittings.
1.2 To meet the need for additional office space, the Government usually has the following
options:
(a)
construction of office buildings to meet long-term accommodation needs, if suitable sites
are available;
(b)
purchase of office accommodation from private developers, if resources permit and the
market situation is favourable; and
(c)
leasing of the required accommodation to cater for departments’ specific location
requirements, and for departments’ immediate or short-term accommodation needs which
cannot be met from the existing stock of government premises.
Note 1: Government office accommodation includes general office and departmental specialist
accommodation, such as health care centres.
Note 2:
According to the Government Property Agency, government-owned accommodation is more
cost-effective in terms of the payback period. The payback period for purchased accommodation is
about 15 to 20 years and the payback period for constructed accommodation is even shorter.
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