During the 60’s and 70’s, “Landscape Architect” was not a well-known profession to Hong Kong citizens. There were not many landscape architects practicing in Hong Kong at that time. The earliest professionals in Hong Kong engaged in the landscape industry were mostly recruited from overseas or returned practitioners after training abroad. With the economic take-off, expansion of population and rapid development of real estate, the demand for the landscape architectural professionals had been greatly increased. Hence, landscape architects in Hong Kong had gradually developed to a comprehensive local professional body, together with the architects, engineers, planners and surveyors providing a range of professional design, planning and construction services in various development projects.
The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (HKILA) was founded in April 1988. The organization of the landscape architectural profession was first established with the founding of the Hong Kong Landscape Group operating as a chapter of the Landscape Institute of United Kingdom. In the interests of maintaining and promoting local standards and services, the HKILA was inaugurated in 1988 as the professional body for those engaged in the practice of landscape architecture in Hong Kong, with the main aim of promoting the highest standard in the arts and sciences of landscape architecture and management throughout Hong Kong. A mutual professional recognition with Australia Institute of Landscape Architects and New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects was established in the next year. The legal status of the HKILA was confirmed and objectives of the HKILA were defined with the enactment of the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects Incorporation Ordinance in 1996.
As Hong Kong building professionals were facing more complex design and technical requirements, practicing professional landscape architects felt the need to make effective regulations to monitor practicing landscape professionals of different backgrounds and diverse qualifications in order to raise the professional standard. All members of the HKILA voted in 1995 in favor to establish a landscape architects registration ordinance via a private bill. With the assistance of Hon. Leg Co Member HO Shing Tin representing the Architectural, Planning and Surveying Constituency at that time, the Landscape Architects Registration Ordinance (LARO) CAP. 516 was finally adopted in May 1997 after two years of consultation and legislative process. HKILA subsequently set up a committee to appoint members to the Landscape Architects Registration Board (LARB). The LARB was formally established in August in the same year, aiming to develop professional standards for local and overseas landscape architects practicing in Hong Kong and to provide registration service for them. Through the registration system, the general public could recognize the qualified landscape architects and to protect the profession’s highest standards.
With the establishment of the HKILA, adoption of LARO and setting up of the LARB, and provision of master/bachelor degree programs of landscape architecture/studies in the University of Hong Kong and Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, the professional services provided by the landscape architects in Hong Kong become more consolidated and standardized. Recently, those graduates educated and trained in the overseas and local have gradually replaced those expatriate landscape architects came to Hong Kong in the early years. Localization of the landscape profession in Hong Kong has been leisurely taken shape and developed into a professional body with local talents as the mainstream manpower.
Hong Kong is a worldwide recognized landscape architectural design capital. Landscape architects in Hong Kong provide a wide range of consultancy services, including public open spaces, waterfronts and recreational facilities planning and design; landscape designs in commercial, residential and resort projects; green infrastructures as well as environmental conservation, etc.
High quality landscape design services in Hong Kong attract an increasing number of property developers and governments from Mainland China and South East Asia. Numerous competition prizes awarded to Hong Kong landscape architects are exemplary of the success and excellence of our landscape industry.
The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (HKILA) promotes design excellence through its annual design awards providing a valuable platform for landscape architects to receive recognition for their outstanding achievements. Apart from organizing landscape design competitions, HKILA has also developed a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme to meet the evolving demands from both local and international clients.
Landscape architects in Hong Kong provide professional consultancy service in private practices or work in various government departments.
Landscape architects in private consultancy companies provide a wide range of landscape professional services in design, planning, open space developments and multi-disciplinary projects for clients (in HK, China and overseas) in both public and private sectors. Their scope of services is very extensive with the following major categories:
Landscape architects also work in various government bureau/departments and provide specialized landscape services as follows:
Landscape architects are responsible for central coordination of government’s greening and landscape planning and design efforts also advocate the adoption of a professional approach to quality landscape design and planting practices in the upstream, and proper vegetation maintenance in the downstream, with protection of public safety as a priority consideration.
Landscape architects provide landscape and project management services for government’s various public parks, government buildings, public space.
Landscape architects are responsible for landscape and streetscape design and advisory services to highways projects from inception, construction to maintenance stages; vegetation maintenance on slopes and within expressways, and management of the ACABAS Secretariat.
Landscape architects provide professional advice on land uses, developments and planning in Hong Kong, formulate standards and guidelines for the green coverage, develop according landscape architecture.
Landscape architects provide landscape planning, design and project supervision services for all types of public works projects, including new towns, site formation, slope, coastal and greening master plans.
Landscape Architects are mainly deployed on (a) preparing landscape master plans, detailed plans, and planting plans to utilize open spaces in public housing developments under the Housing Authority, or for other government departments;
(b) Landscape planning and designs with the sustainability principle and approach help to create a coherent environment of housing development.
Landscape architects provide landscape technical advice on tree preservation and removal proposals and landscape master plan/proposal submissions for development projects on private land.
Landscape architects provide landscape greening enhancement for the sewage treatment plant, sewage treatment works, sewage and flood pumping facilities.
Landscape architects provide greening enhancement for the waterworks facilities and projects.
Nowadays, there are significant changes of requirements for living environment with the improving living standard in Hong Kong and Mainland China. As the living pattern of people has gradually changed from small community style to metropolitan nature, landscape design also evolves from relatively simple nature to landscape design with diverse elements that could accommodate the ever-changing requirements. For example, landscape architects now need to take into account the impacts of development proposals on the surrounding environment and ecology; whether the proposals could cope with the future development of economy, culture and community; and whether the proposals are in line with the local government’s long term urban planning and sustainable development policy. Same as the future development of architectural, engineering and planning professionals, Hong Kong landscape architects also need to make changes in order to cope with the ever increasing demands of the society and general public.
Due to Hong Kong’s recent economic transformation, the major clients of many landscape consultant firms have shifted from local to Mainland developers, and provincial or municipal governments. With the implementation of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), exchanges of the landscape professionals between Hong Kong and Mainland China would become more frequent. Thus, Hong Kong landscape profession would has much greater development potential in education, professional services, greening and environmental planning. Hong Kong landscape architects should make use of these opportunities for promoting their business to overseas and striding forward to international development.
For long-term development, due to Hong Kong is enjoying the convergence of professionals from all over the world with different cultural background, a better living environment with local characteristics can be created in response to the unique living style of Hong Kong people, geography and climate. Continual efforts by the landscape profession in this aspect are desperately required, particularly, with the establishment of Greening and Landscape, and Tree Management Offices in March 2010 by Development Bureau of the HKSAR Government to advocate new strategic greening, landscape and tree management policies for the sustainable development of Hong Kong’s green environment. Hence, the landscape profession in Hong Kong should also continue to conduct researches and in-depth studies for the new realm of design in order to achieve better outcomes and the sustainable environment, so that human beings could live in harmonious with nature.
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