An occupant load survey for residential buildings in Hong Kong

Occupant load profile is an essential parameter for planning facilities, operations, water and energy consumptions of a residential building. In view of growing concerns on the effectiveness of building designs, in terms of space utilization, equipment sizing, energy performance and consumption, occupant loads have been specified in some building regulations, design guides and codes of practice. However, the determination of an occupant load would be varied from time to time and difficulties would be encountered at the building design stage. In this study, occupant load profiles of government-funded and non-government funded residential buildings and their variations throughout a day were studied from interview surveys of 720 households in Hong Kong. The results showed that the average maximum occupant load factors of the surveyed apartments were 0.08 person per m2 and 0.09 person per m2 for government-funded and non-government funded residential buildings respectively. The daytime occupant load variations were 60% to 80% for the former buildings, and as low as 20% for the latter. The survey results would be a useful source of references for those professionals involved in designing, operating and managing residential buildings in a high dense environment similar to Hong Kong.