Being responsible for providing preventive maintenance services for over 8,000 government buildings, the Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) inspects the external walls of buildings for cracks and other defects. The work requires substantial manual efforts and consumes a lot of resources. For those tall buildings located in high building-density areas, the Department may need to set up scaffolds or use suspended working platforms to conduct close examinations, which are costly and prone to safety risks for the staff working at height. In addition, the increasing number of aged government buildings puts pressure on ArchSD’s manpower.

ArchSD actively explores the use of innovation and technology to address the challenges, and has started a trial project on 15 selected government buildings with funding support from the TechConnect Block Vote.

A drone equipped with visible light and a thermographic camera is deployed to capture the images of the external wall condition. The images are then automatically analyzed by AI for defect identification. A web-based cloud platform is also developed to help the staff to navigate the inspection findings on defects identified by AI intuitively for necessary follow-up repairs.





Drones take over inspections of buildings

In addition, the ArchSD uses drones to inspect buildings. Sr Property Services Mgr Mr. LAU Cheuk Kit pointed out that the department tested drone inspections on three residential estates in 2020, taking aerial photographs and using artificial intelligence to identify issues like cracks and peeling on external walls. This was officially implemented last year and is currently used on 15 buildings, including the General Post Office, Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Center and Tai Fu Tai Mansion. He added that most of the some 40 to 50 declared monuments maintained by the ArchSD have Chinese-style tiled roofs. Lau emphasized that previously inspections required erecting scaffolds, but the new high-definition drone cameras save about one-third of the manpower needed. He expressed satisfaction with the results and said drones will be used to inspect more buildings going forward.