The Buildings Department approved 20 building plans in January - three on Hong Kong Island, five in Kowloon and 12 in the New Territories.

Six were plans for apartment and apartment/commercial developments, one was for a commercial development, four were for factory and industrial developments and nine were for community-services developments.

The department also gave consent for work to begin on 14 building projects in January. When completed, they will provide 19,130 square metres of usable domestic floor space and about 21,000 square metres of usable non-domestic floor space.

The department also issued 18 occupation permits - eight on Hong Kong Island, two in Kowloon and eight in the New Territories.

Of the buildings certified for occupation, the usable floor areas for domestic and non-domestic uses were 102,700 square metres and 47,677 square metres respectively.

The declared cost of the new buildings completed in January totalled nearly $5 billion.

Demolition consents for eight buildings were also issued.