News roundup: The value of Australia’s great public architecture, plus other stories

For PropertyGuru’s news roundup, the value of Australia’s great public architecture, like libraries and arts centres, that are done in consultation with a community, is in the potential to inspire people. In other stories, Hong Kong has ambitious targets for reducing emissions with a new decarbonisation roadmap, and learn all about India’s stamp duty.

What’s the true value of great public architecture in Australia?

If there’s one thing public architecture can do, it’s divide opinions. Especially over its value.

But the jury chair of a regional architecture award says buildings such as libraries and arts centres have a role to inspire communities, particularly young people to grab opportunities to better themselves.

Kosloff Architecture director Julian Kosloff is the jury chair for the Regional Award for the 2024 Victorian Architecture Awards.

Designs for public buildings can be polarising, with ratepayers typically claiming money used for great architecture could be better spent elsewhere. But Mr. Kosloff said the value of great public architecture done in consultation with a community is in the potential to inspire people.

“You open an arts centre, for example, the potential for that to change the way Geelong might view arts or kids interested in the arts who suddenly find themselves in a career,” he said in realcommercial.com.au.

Among the finalists announced are key public buildings in Geelong, Drysdale, and Queenscliff.

Decarbonising Hong Kong

Hong Kong has ambitious targets for reducing emissions and a new decarbonisation roadmap shows how the city can be a world leader in to combating climate change, as per Savills.

The city’s government has set a target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and has also committed to halve total carbon emissions by 2035, from 2005 levels.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (Austcham), supported by Savills as a knowledge partner, has produced a roadmap for the city to drive decarbonisation of the city by 2050. Input for the roadmap was gathered from industry, government, and bodies such as the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) and Business Environment Council.

Sam Crispin, Sustainability and ESG lead at Savills Asia Pacific, says the real estate industry and asset owners will be crucial partners in ensuring that Hong Kong meets its decarbonisation targets.

“The built environment accounts for 90 percent of electricity consumption in Hong Kong. Our decarbonisation roadmap sets out the key steps that cross-industry collaboration can address. This is not the sole responsibility of regulators and organisations, every one of us has a role to play.”

While the challenge of decarbonisation is enormous, the Savills report found that strong foundations have been laid, and Hong Kong’s building and construction industry already has most of the key elements needed to decarbonise.

What is stamp duty? How does it affect a homebuyer in India?

Stamp duty and registration fees are taxes homebuyers in India pay to state governments at the time of property registry. States have the authority to impose this tax. Consequently, they are responsible for increasing or lowering the rate of stamp duty on the registration of various deeds through which property transfers take place.

Stamp duty is a tax imposed by states in India on various transactions, including those related to property. On various legal instruments used to transfer property rights, states in India charge the tax in the form of stamp duty. This stamp duty is collected at the time of registration of the transaction which can be in the form of sale (through sale deed), gift (through gift deed), exchange (through exchange deed), lease (through lease deed), settlement deed (through a deed of settlement), relinquishment (through a deed of relinquishment) or partition (through a deed of partition).

Know all about stamp duty in this Housing.com special report.

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].