The One Stop Centre under the Efficiency Unit (EU) is in operation with effect from 1 December 2008 for receiving building licence applications and coordinating joint inspections for two-storey warehouses.

Introduction

The Government launched the "Be the Smart Regulator" Programme (the Programme) in early 2007 with the aim to streamline licensing processes and reduce compliance costs to business.

The construction industry and the real estate sector, two important sectors of our economy, are amongst the key focus of the Programme. In this regard, it remains an on-going initiative of the Government to actively seek improvement opportunities to enhance the procedures for processing various applications and approvals related to the whole property development cycle.

Objectives of the One Stop Centre

Drawing experience from other economies, the Administration decided to set up a One Stop Centre under the EU for receiving applications and coordinating joint inspections for two-storey warehouse projects so as to minimise the compliance effort of the applicants. Some current practices and procedures in processing this type of applications will be suitably amended for the One Stop Centre. A subsequent review will be carried out to examine the scope and effectiveness of the One Stop Centre and refine the processes where appropriate.

The concept of the One Stop Centre is to provide a centralised office for receiving submissions of plans and related applications (such as those for excavation permit, telephone line connection, technical audit for drainage and water supply connection works, etc.), as well as coordinating joint inspections to be conducted by different Government departments. It aims to provide convenience to the industry by offering a single point of contact. It should also save the time of developers and their authorised persons/ representatives in making applications to different departments and utility companies as well as contacting different parties for inspection.

An Alternative Option

The One Stop Centre will be an additional alternative arrangement to existing processes. Applicants, if they so prefer, can follow the existing procedures of submitting applications and applying for inspections with individual departments. For instance, the centralised processing system as specified in the Practice Note for Authorised Persons and Registered Structural Engineers (PNAP) 30 remains effective.

Concurrent Application for Approval and Consent

To support the One Stop Centre, the Buildings Department (BD) has formulated new procedures to allow for concurrent applications for approval of plans and consent to commencement of building works for two-storey warehouses fulfilling specified criteria. For details, please refer to the revised PNAP 272.

Scope of Services

The One Stop Centre will handle related applications for building a two-storey warehouse. The One Stop Centre will receive from an applicant their applications for approval of plans, consent for commencement of works, excavation permit and technical audit for water supply connection works. The relevant departments would follow up with the subsequent processing work. The One Stop Centre will monitor the progress of each application. After the completion of the construction work, the applicant can submit all relevant applications for issuance of approvals and permits together with their applications to the utility companies in one go to the One Stop Centre. The One Stop Centre will organise a joint inspection by all departments at the request of the applicant.

Benefits

The concept of the One Stop Centre is to provide convenience to applicants at the key points of application submission and request for inspection with the ultimate aim of reducing compliance cost to business for building a two-storey warehouse. The One Stop Centre will also perform the role of monitoring the progress status of each application. For building projects eligible for concurrent applications for building plan approval and consent, BD will process the applications within 45 days from the date of submission. Individual department is also committed to meeting its performance pledges in processing the relevant applications.

Performance Pledge of the One Stop Centre

The One Stop Centre is open for receiving submissions and applications from Monday to Friday (except public holidays) from 8:45 am to 6:00 pm. Upon receiving applications, the One Stop Centre pledges to deliver the documents to reach relevant departments within the next working day.

Procedures and Checklists

Applicants should refer to the following procedure and checklists in submitting their applications and documents to the One Stop Centre:

Procedures of the One Stop Centre
Checklist OSC-1 for Pre-construction Applications
Checklist OSC-2 for Post-construction Applications

Basically, applicants can submit applications in two stages to the One Stop Centre, i.e. pre-construction stage and post-construction stage.

Stage 1: Pre-construction
Submit applications for approval of plans (e.g. building plans, drainage plans, foundation plans, structural plans, demolition plans, hoarding plans and site supervision plans), consent to commencement of works, excavation works and water supply connection works.

Stage 2: Post-construction
Submit applications for drainage connection works, fire services certificate, water supply certificates, occupation permit, certificate of compliance, electricity, telephone lines and joint inspection.

A joint inspection by relevant licensing authorities can be organised as requested by an applicant.

A simple flowchart of the procedure is as follows:

Pre-submission Enquiry

Applicants are encouraged to contact the One Stop Centre before their submissions to clarify any questions they may have regarding the document requirements, the detailed procedures and the best way of making use of the service of the One Stop Centre. Suggestions on how to improve the service are welcome.

For enquiry, please contact the following EU officers, Ms. Uny Hui at 2810 3486 or Ms. Shirley Yeung at 2810 3480 during office hours, or send e-mail to osc@eu.gov.hk.