HKU Bulletin May 2004 (Vol. 5 No. 3)

15 14 RESEARCH Help for Old Age Buildings T he age-old problem of what to do about Hong Kong’s dangerous old age buildings could become a thing of the past thanks to an ingenious scheme from the Faculty of Architecture. Professor Chau Kwong Wing, Dean of the Facul ty of Architecture and Professor: Chair of Real Estate and Construction and his team want to help set up an independent watchdog that will grade the territory’s tall buildings with a carrot and stick scheme designed to improve safety. They believe their Building Performance Assessment Scheme will also help break the political impasse over what to do about badly maintained and unsafe buildings in Hong Kong. Professor Chau said: “It will give owner’s the impetus and mot ivat ion to improve bui ldings by giving an independent assessment , which wi l l act as a benchmark for future improvements. “This will not cost the owners anything – at least initially – and will give the property market, owners and occupiers information about the safety and maintenance of their buildings.” This move comes the wake of the government’s latest consolation exercise, which is designed to spark debate over how to tackle this catalogue of neglect that of ten has fatal consequences. Falling masonry, signs and illegal structures have all claimed lives across the territory. But determining who is responsible for picking up the tab and tackling these serious issues is clouded by the fact that many of these buildings have no incorporated owners. Without this framework, many owners argue that they are unable to foot the bi l l individual ly and so far the government has refused to enact laws that compel them to ac P t r . ofessor Chau said: “The government has proposed a scheme where people voluntarily inspect their own buildings and come up with a grading system. “The problem with this is that only the owners of good buildings will agree to this. “Our scheme, however, would look at just a core set of issues, be funded independently and fit the government’s purpose.” Chau believes that the University in partnership with other bodies should set up an independent standards and monitoring body to mount this exercise. This wi l l be funded through pr i vate donat ions f rom developers, estate agents, contractors and finance institutions, as well as through public donations and research grants. This will be no selfless act because the University will give these parties a clear benchmark by which to judge properties, as well as act as an incentive to improve these buildings. Chau said: “Owners who disagree with our grading can either appoint a consultant to do their own survey or, if improvements have been made, can be reassessed.” A pi lot project undertaken by the Bui ldings Department estimated that assessing a building would cost $20,000, which would mean a total bill of more than $800 million. But Chau believes this overestimates the cost. He said: “The beauty of our scheme is that it strips down the grading system to just a few key aspects and this would save a considerable amount of money. “This would provide valuable information to us for academic research and the wider community, act as a benchmark for raising standards and save the government money. “It is a win-win-win situation.” Investigating the Skeleton U niversity scientists and surgeons are leading a $50 million project to investigate control of the development and growth of the skeleton and genetic links to degenerative skeletal disorders, such as lower back pain. Researchers believe certain genes may make some people more susceptible to back pain than others, particularly as they M ag i l l e io . ns of people around the world suffer from skeletal disorders which cause long-term pain and physical disability, problems which have become more prevalent with longer life spans. A major propor t ion of these problems, such as degeneration of the discs in the spine, affect the lower back and can cause pain. “By the t ime you get to 60 years old, about 90 per cent of the people wi l l have d i sc degene r a t i on ( DDD ) , ” said Professor Kathy Cheah, Professor: Chair of Biochemistry and Head of the Department of Biochemistry. Professor Cheah is leading the multi-institution research project together with Professor Keith Luk, Professor: Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery. One of the objectives of the programme, which is funded under the Uni versi ty Grants Committee’s Areas of Excellence grants, is to identify genes which predispose to disc degeneration. Finnish scientists had previously identified genetic changes, called TRP2 and TRP3 in short, in two genes (COL9A2 and COL9A3 respectively) that were linked to disc degeneration. Previous studies by the HKU team had found that the prevalence of these genetic changes in Hong Kong Chinese was very different than for the Finns, with the TRP2 being present in 20 per cent of the Southern Chinese population and the TRP3 was absent. But the genetic changes in the COL9 genes do not account for the full range predisposition to DDD. Rather DDD is a complex disease in which many genetic changes each cont r ibute in par t to increased r isk and sever i ty of degeneration. “Not everyone with TRP2 will get this degeneration, but it increases the risk and severity of it happening. People with TRP2 are 2.4 times more likely to have this degeneration and it’s more severe,” Professor Cheah said. Because many as yet unidentified genetic changes contribute to DDD, the challenge is to find the genes involved and assess their relative contribution to risk of developing disease. They will also look to find the genetic causes of premature disc degeneration which arises among young people, a problem that is inherited. The researchers will carry out magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on the spines of 2,000 people and wi l l use genomic technology and stat ist ical genet ics methodology to identify mutations in genes that are associated with predisposition to disc degeneration. Professor Cheah said thei r f indings could be useful in developing a living artificial disc, although treatment is not a direct goal of the project. Current ly, t reatment invol ves surgery, physiotherapy or pain relief and rest. In Hong Kong, degenerative low back di sorders are the second most frequent reason for visits to physicians and the third most common reason for surgical procedures. In 2000 about $200 million was paid out in workers’ compensat ion for these disorders. Another major objective for the project is to investigate how skeletons develop and are maintained. Irregularities can lead to dwarfism, malformed bones and other problems. The team will alter genes in mice to try and understand how the growth of the skeleton is regulated. Professor Cheah said they had already patented a mouse model showing abnormalities in skeletal growth which could result because the skeletal cells have made proteins that were not properly ‘folded’. A better understanding of skeletal growth could be useful in dev ising t reatments for car t i lage replacement , injur ies, osteoarthritis and other conditions, she added. The project will run for about five years. It marks a significant collaborative effort with other institutions as it involves scientists from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, as well as our University. Professor John Leong, our former Professor: Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery and currently President of the Open University, is also acting as collaborator on the project.