The Annual General Meeting of the Property and Facility Management Division was held on Tuesday 18 November 2014 at the Surveyors Learning Centre and a total of 20 members attended in person, along with 5 proxies. The Chairman’s Report is as follows:
In the year since the last Annual General Meeting was held on 19 November 2013, the new Council has been involved in several major activities as follows:
1. Regulation of the Property Management Industry
The Home Affairs Department (HAD) submitted a paper to the Legislative Council Panel on Home Affairs (the Panel) on 6 December 2013. There will be a proposed Property Management Services Bill (the Bill) for the mandatory licensing of property management companies (PMCs) providing property management service.
However, PMCs providing only stand-alone services (e.g. cleaning and security services) will be excluded. Owners’ Corporations, other owners’ organisations and individual owners managing their own properties by themselves will also be excluded. A single-tier licensing system will be introduced for PMCs, which will be required to comply with certain criteria and codes of conduct.
A two-tier licensing regime will also be introduced for property management practitioners (PMPs). It was proposed that for a first tier license, various licensing criteria in terms of academic achievement, professional qualifications, period of relevant work experience, and passing a fitness and propriety test would have to be fulfilled. The qualification requirements for a second tier PMP would be lower. For example, the completion of specific diploma/sub-degree courses on property management will suffice for a lower tier licence.
In order to gauge members’ views on the Bill before the Second Reading Debate, Committee Stage, and the Third Reading, the major stakeholders of the industry, including CIHAPB, HKAPMC, HKIFM, HKIS PFMD, HMRB and RICS jointly organised a forum on 7 June 2014 to gather members’ feedback on the Bill.
2. Implementation of Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme
The Council for Sustainable Development (CSD) launched public engagement exercise for the issue of “Waste Reduction by Waste Charging – How to Implement?” on 25 September 2013. This exercise aims to encourage stakeholders and the public to participate in the development of a feasible mechanism to implement fee charging for municipal solid waste (MSW), and to consider the difficulties involved and the related recycling facilities, with a view to reducing community waste at source and promoting the sustainable development of Hong Kong. The public engagement exercise will last for four months and end on 24 January 2014. In view of this, The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors has submitted its comments to CSD on the “Proposed Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme”.
3. AP Easy Building Maintenance Advisory Service Scheme
Due to the ageing of buildings, more and more buildings are required to carry out building maintenance works. However, many owners of private buildings, owing to lack of expert knowledge and experience, have encountered difficulties in appointing Authorized Persons (APs) to assist them in carrying out such works. Many disputes between the owners’ corporations (OCs) and owners have arisen over such building maintenance works. Some of these disputes were related to suspected irregularities.
Upon the invitation of the Home Affairs Department (HAD), HKIS Building Surveying Division and Property & Facility Management Division, together with the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, will take part in the “AP Easy” Building Maintenance Advisory Service Scheme (the Scheme). It is a one-year pilot scheme to start in April 2014 in which members of the professional institutes will provide pro bono professional and tailor-made advisory and support service to OCs to assist them in appointing APs to carry out building maintenance works.
The Scheme is intended to guide the OCs on how to appoint a competent and appropriate project consultant and provide basic knowledge for OCs in monitoring the performance of the consultant. Members are not supposed to get involved in the actual assessment of the building conditions and details of the repair works, not even the specific cost aspect which should be more properly dealt with by the respective consultant appointed. Members are also not supposed to be involved in the works supervision stage of the repair works of the buildings.
A Press Briefing session was hosted by the Home Affairs Department on this “AP Easy” Building Maintenance Advisory Service Scheme on 20 February 2014. The HKIS is a key supporter of this Scheme and we have committed to deploying 30 – 40 volunteer members (from BSD and PFMD) to act as professional advisors to a target group of 50 OCs. According to HAD’s information, there were 70 OCs that have received professional advice from the three professional institutes as of 30 September 2014.
4. HKIS 30th Anniversary Programme – Surveyors Luncheon Talk
On 18 July 2014, the PFMD organised a Surveyors Luncheon for 80 members at the World Trade Centre Club on 38/F, World Trade Centre, Causeway Bay. It was one of events on the HKIS’s 30th Anniversary programme. The Honorary Guest Speaker was Sr Victor So Hing-woh, JP, Chairman of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) who delivered a speech on the topic “Challenges and Opportunities in Tackling Hong Kong’s Problem of Urban Decay”.
5. The 2014 Quality Property and Facility Management Award (QPFMA)
This year, HKIS jointly held the Quality Property and Facility Management Awards 2014 (QPFMA 2014) along with The Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies (HKAPMC). Starting in 2010, QPFMA is a biennial award that honours outstanding projects within the property and facility management industry.
This year, the QPFMA 2014 was organized with the theme “Moving Forward to the New Era of Property and Facility Management – Sustainability and Liveability”. Beginning with a call for nominations, this year’s awards went through a series of activities to determine the winners, including several site visits and a CPD Conference where finalists delivered engaging presentations to an elite panel of jurors. The winners were revealed at the QPFMA 2014 Award Presentation Banquet, held on 12 September 2014, at the Crystal Ballroom of the Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hong Kong in Tsim Sha Tsui.
The banquet turned out to be a delightful and lively occasion where the industry came together under one roof to celebrate progress of the industry. The Guest of Honour for the event was Mr WONG Kam Sing, JP, Secretary for the Environment, HKSAR Government, who shared his vision for Hong Kong’s future with the guests of the evening. Many easily recognised and distinguished persons were among the more than 260 guests at the banquet.
6. Publications & Researches
The Division’s new leaflet and brochure were published in mid 2014 while the Green Property Management Practice will be published in early 2015.
We have also appointed the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2014 to conduct a research project on “Contributions of Property and Facility Management Industry in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to Hong Kong” and the University of Hong Kong in 2014 to conduct another research project on “The effective use of web-based management tools for the property management companies in Hong Kong”.
7. CPD Events and Seminars
A summary showing the CPD events and seminars conducted by the Division in 2013/2014 is shown below:
- 13 March Mandatory Building and Window Inspection Schemes
- 14 April Commercial Properties Securitization: The Essence of Property Asset Management
- 23 May A critical view on Hong Kong Property Market Trend Year Ahead Yi Jing (易經)
- 28 May Sustainable Building Index (SBI) Verifier Training Course
- 18 July Surveyors Lunch (by PFMD)
- 22 August Structural Considerations for A & A and Conversion Works
- 6 October ISO 50001 Energy Management System
8. Overseas Visits and Conferences
A summary showing the overseas visits and conferences attended by representatives of the Division during 2013/2014 is shown below:
- Inaugural Conference organised by SISV and APFM on Management Corporation and Strata Management on 10 April 2014 at the York Hotel Singapore.
- Technical visit to Tianjin held from 28 to 30 April 2014.
- A meeting in Shanghai on 11 June 2014 to meet representatives of the China Banking Regulator Commission Shanghai Office on cooperation with the asset management profession on the Mainland. The GPD and PFMD would jointly arrange seminars on related topics and assist in the setting up of the profession in Shanghai.
- A meeting with delegates of MOHURD at HKIS Office on 26 September 2014.
- A courtesy visit to Beijing from 2 to 5 November 2014 together with the Mainland Affairs Committee.
- The 2014 Mainland and Hong Kong Construction Industry Forum on “Collaborative Development with a Global Perspective - Integrated Project Management with Innovative Technology” in Nanning during 9 to 11 November 2014.
9. Membership Growth
Membership growth is always on our division’s mind. As of 31 October 2014, we have a total membership of 800. In addition, we welcomed 11 new members and 3 probationers in 2014. We shall continue to publicise ourselves to undergraduates and expect more young graduates to join our division in the coming years.
10. Way Forward
The Council has been making its best endeavors to reflect members’ comments and concerns to HAD regarding the legislation of the Property Management Services Bill and the implementation of the Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme.
The upcoming year will be a challenging year for us, as we will be arranging a Management Conference cum 10th Year Anniversary Celebration Ceremony in May 2015.
Finally, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to all Council Members for their valuable contributions and unfailing support to the growth and development of the Division and also thank you for the support of all fellow members and look forward to the continuous success of the Division in the years ahead.
