Town Planning Board Visit to Spain
I took part in an overseas visit of the Town Planning Board to Barcelona, Bilbao and Madrid in Spain from 9-18 September 2011.
Apart from the Roman old town called Ciutat Vella, Barcelona is famous for its grid square city extension pattern in the planning context. It is very amazing to note that the grid square pattern of the city area was developed 150 years ago and is now still well maintained. I visited a number of stunning architecture designed by the famous designer Antoni Gaudi including Sagrada Familia and Park Guell. During my visit to the Picasso Museum, I discovered that Picasso actually spent his early years in Barcelona before he moved to Paris.
My second stop is Bilbao which is situated in the north-central part of Spain. The most symbolic building in Bilbao is the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, which is really a masterpiece. The museum is situated at a former old dock and warehouse area which has been transformed into a modern waterfront area. My last stop is Madrid. The Madrid Town Planning Department organized tours on a project which was recently completed to improve some old built-up area along the Madrid River (Manzanares River) and some of their public housing projects. Madrid is also very famous for its art museums. I personally like the most famous Prado Museum that features one of the finest collections of European paintings.
The group had met the planning and conservation government officials in the three cities and had gained a lot of valuable experience on town planning and urban development through the exchange.
Planning and Development Conference November 2011
The Planning and Development Conference will be held on 12 November 2011 at the Surveyors Learning Centre. The theme of conference is Housing Strategies for People in Limited Development Space. We are delighted that the following distinguished speakers will deliver topics in relation to the housing strategies in Hong Kong:-
Hon. C.Y. Leung Convenor, Non-official Members of the Executive Council
Mr Marco Wu Former Deputy Director of Housing, Former Director of Building
Ms Melissa Pang Chief Development Manager, MTRC
Mr Barry Cheung Chairman, Urban Renewal Authority
Mr Jimmy Leung Director of Planning, Planning Department of HKSAR Government
Mr Augustine Wong Representative of The Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong (REDA)
Mr Duncan Warren Pescod Director of Housing, Housing Department of HKSAR Government
Mr Wong Bay President, President,HKIS
All members are welcome. Please don't miss the chance to join this important event and enroll as soon as possible.
CPD Events
The planning and development activities encompass a lot of expertise and skills. Its scope covers not only those of the traditional surveying skills and know-how, but also the purview of other professionals like architects, planners, engineers, landscape architects and lawyers. Thorough the years, the Planning and Development Division ("PDD") strives to conduct cross-professional functions and CPD events to enrich and sustain the skills of our members. The recent collaborations with other professional disciplines like architects, planners and landscape architects have demonstrated our determination to achieve such goal.
We are going to organize a CPD event with the HKIE (Environmental Stream) in November this year on how to clean up a brown field site before carrying out development. Besides, further to our visit to Guangdong (廣東發展訪問團與及廣東論壇) in May this year, we are going to hold our PDD Conference 2011 on 12 November 2011. In order to secure a seat, I would advise you promptly book your ticket now. Do pay attention to our news at the Surveyors Times, as more interesting functions and CPD functions will come along the pipeline!
Planning and Development Conference 2011
(Event Code.CPD/PDD/2011111)
Theme: Housing Strategies for People in Limited
Development Space
Date: 12th November 2011 (Saturday)
Time: 9:00am – 1:00pm
Venue: Surveyors Learning Centre Suite 811-812, Jardine House,
1 Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong
About Conference:
Provision of housing and rising housing prices is an important issue in Hong Kong. Affordability for the general public and new generation is a critical issue.
In the face of shortage of land and rising population, the Conference is to examine past and current problems, how we could tackle the issue and aims to provide possible solutions.
Registration Fee:
HK$300 per person
All institute members, students and other professional institute members are welcome. For registration, please download the standard reservation form from HKIS website.
