On 25 February 2014, the University attended the Indoor Air Quality Certificate Award Ceremony 2013 organized by the Environmental Protection Department of HKSAR Government and received an Excellent Class (Entire Building) Certificate under the Indoor Air Quality Certification Scheme for the indoor air quality performance in Lo Kwee-Seong Integrated Biomedical Sciences Building.

The building is a nine-storey, state-of-the-art building that houses the Faculty of Medicine’s research activities and provides support for many of the Faculty’s scientific and developmental initiatives. One of its many green features is variable air-flow in the air-conditioning system and carbon dioxide sensors for the regulation of fresh air inflow. Earlier in 2013, the building received a Platinum Standard rating from the Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method Society (BEAM), a non-profit organization that runs a voluntary green building labelling scheme.

The Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Certification Scheme is a voluntary programme launched by the government in 2003 to improve IAQ and promote public awareness of the importance of IAQ. To obtain an IAQ certificate, the owner/management of premises/building has to engage an approved IAQ Certificate Issuing Body to carry out a walk-through inspection to ascertain the IAQ and certify the building as meeting IAQ objectives. To achieve ‘good’ and ‘excellent’ standards for IAQ, a participating building has to comply with the scheme’s specified ‘IAQ objectives’ for the levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, respirable suspended particulates, ozone, formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds and various other substances in indoor air.