May saw 32 building plans approved, with five on Hong Kong Island, nine in Kowloon and 18 in the New Territories, the Buildings Department says.

Of the approved plans, 16 were for apartment and apartment/commercial developments, five for commercial developments, four for factory and industrial developments and seven for community-services developments.

Consent was given for work to start on 13 building projects that, when completed, will provide 97,977 square metres of gross floor area for domestic use, involving 1,264 units, and 151,360 square metres of gross floor area for non-domestic use. The department has received work-commencement notifications for six building projects.

The department also issued 15 occupation permits - five on Hong Kong Island, three in Kowloon and seven in the New Territories. The gross floor areas for domestic use were 18,543 square metres, involving 51 units, and 133,600 square metres for non-domestic use. The declared cost of the new buildings completed in May totalled about $2.5 billion.

In addition, seven demolition consents involving seven building structures were issued. There were 2,160 complaints against unauthorised building works in May, and 3,643 removal orders on unauthorised works.