Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho yesterday began her trip to Paris, France, by visiting a social housing project, a zero carbon district and a construction innovation centre.

At the social housing project which is undergoing renovation and will be upgraded into an energy saving and environmentally friendly building, Ms Ho learnt about how Paris minimises the impact of the works on the residents while they remain in place during the renovation.

During the visit, she shared the Housing Authority's (HA) experience in redeveloping aged public housing estates, including conducting detailed studies and listening carefully to stakeholders' views through diversified means to forge a consensus and formulate the most suitable and cost-effective redevelopment plans.

Furthermore, to enhance the sense of well-being of the residents, the Housing Bureau (HB) and the HA launched a resident-oriented "Well-being design" guide last year.

The guide serves as a reference for the future design of new public housing estates and the improvement works of existing estates to create a more comfortable and inclusive estate environment.

In the afternoon, Ms Ho visited Îlot Fertile, a zero carbon district in Paris which is a composite development project with abundant green space, integrating social housing, offices, commercial, retail, hostels and more.

Renewable energy systems and innovative construction technologies are adopted during the construction to implement low-carbon building initiatives and enhance energy efficiency in buildings.

The housing chief pointed out that air ventilation assessments and microclimate studies are carried out for the HA's new public housing developments to enhance environmental performance in aspects such as wind environment, natural ventilation and natural light exposure in buildings.

The HB and the HA have also been actively promoting the application of innovative construction technologies such as Modular Integrated Construction, Multi-trade Integrated Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing and construction robotics.

These help to enhance construction quality and efficiency, shorten construction time and greatly reduce material waste, making the construction more environment friendly.

She said Hong Kong and Paris share the same vision in promoting energy saving and green buildings, and hoped to strengthen relevant co-operation between the two cities.

Ms Ho then visited the Construction Innovation Centre at the Bouygues Construction headquarters and met Bouygues Construction Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pascal Minault and Deputy CEO Pierre-Éric Saint-André to exchange ideas on the latest smart building technologies, green building and sustainable urban development.

She noted that Bouygues Construction and Dragages Hong Kong, headed by the group, have established a presence in Hong Kong for many years and contributed in various infrastructure, government buildings and public housing projects, and that she looked forward to continued collaboration in driving the industry to usher in a new era of smart construction.