Abstract

Hong Kong has an aging population and has the highest institutionalization rate out of all Asian countries and regions. The provision of elderly care facilities within each district has become a major issue for the local government. To date, there have been few empirical assessments of elderly care facilities in Hong Kong. This paper is a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of the quality of the physical environments of Hong Kong care and attention (C&A) homes and the levels of comfort experienced by their residents. The methodology included observations, questionnaires, and technical measurements. It was found in this study that most of the occupants in the C&A homes were satisfied with the level of thermal comfort; however, they experienced an insufficiently illuminated environment during the daytime, and the noise levels at the five C&A homes exceeded the prescribed noise thresholds under the Hong Kong Planning Department. It is suggested that the Hong Kong POE tool for C&A homes—the RACAS accreditation system—should include more physical environmental indicators in the future, so that the physical environment for elderly people can be improved.