AGM of November 26 Research and Publication The Council has just finished the research with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in August 2010 namely “Benchmarking Management Fees for Office Buildings in Hong Kong”. The published report has been sent to all members of the Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies, related government departments and universities. The key researcher, Dr K.K. Lo has agreed to conduct a CPD seminar in order to brief members on the details of the study. It is anticipated that the CPD will be held in January 2011. Similar to last year’s report on residential buildings, a free copy of the report will be provided to all participants of the event. The research of a “Green Property Management Practice” which was commenced in late 2009 is at its final stage of drafting. Our Honorary Secretary, Charles Hung, would like to make it more interesting by adding photos and other materials. It will most probably be published around early 2011. The Council has just decided to commence another research on “Facility Management for Elders in Public/Subsidized Housing” with the City University of Hong Kong. The CityU is now arranging focus group discussion with all related stakeholders which will be held in December 2010. The English version of HKIS Guide to Good Property Management Practices has attracted much public attention since its publication. Inherited with this overwhelming success, we are going to translate it into Chinese in order to facilitate much wider recognition and possibly encourage adoption by the owners¡¦ corporation. The Chinese version may also help accelerate our promotion in the Mainland China. The translation draft has just been finished by the consultant and Daniel Hui is now arranging proofreading and cross checking of its accuracy. We expect the Chinese Guide can be published by early 2011. The Council has formed a working group for the formulation of a series of standard agreement on the provision of various property and facility management services. The first simplified version of agreement is close to its final drafting stage and we expect it can be published early next year. This simplified version of agreement is intended to be used by owners’ corporation on the appointment of property management agent, hence, Chinese translation will also be produced alongside with the English one. Assessment of Professional Competence One important and memorial milestone of our Division this year was we have the birth of the first candidate, Mr Pierre Leung, who has gone through the whole APC process and qualified as a PFM Surveyor. There will be another four candidates attending the practical task later this month. It was glad to learn that there are increasing number of university graduates joined as probationers and embarked our Division’s APC, and we expect there will be more members qualifying through our assessment and become a PFM Surveyor. To facilitate probationers to familiarize with our assessment, we organized the first APC Workshop on 29 October 2010. Experienced assessor and Pierre were invited to share with the APC candidates how they could become a qualified surveyor. CPD Event In the Annual general Meeting of last year, I promised to arrange not less than 20-hours CPD events a year for members. My recent summation indicated that the total hours of CPD events organized by the Division between December 2009 and November 2010 achieved this pledge although marginally. I will not repeat the details in this report but the CPD include seminars, luncheon, site visit and workshop. I must thank for Daniel Hui and his team’s hard work, and I am quite sure that Daniel will keep up with this good record in the coming year. Visit and Networking As reported in earlier Surveyors Times, the Council intends to open dialogue with the China Property Management Institute (CPMI) for possible reciprocal recognition. A letter was sent to the President of CPMI on 7 January 2010. Formal requests were raised to 中聯辦 and the Development Bureau for the arrangement of a face-to-face discussion. A visit is indeed planned in November 2010 to CPMI Beijing Headquarter. However, we were just informed by the Development Bureau that the visit will be withheld until further notice. Our Division maintains good connection with the Guangdong Property Management Industry Institute (GDPMII) after the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation last November when we visited Guangzhou. Four of our Council members, namely Gary Yeung, Eddie Hui, Nelson Ho and Daniel Hui, were also nominated by the GDPMII as Property Management Expert of Guangzhou and Certificate Presentation Ceremony was held last December. Through the introduction by GDPMII, the 山東省住房和城鄉建設廳 and the 佛山市房地產業協會 visited our Institute on 12 May 2010 and 9 July 2010 respectively. The Council warmly received the two teams of delegates and the Division Brochure published last year was a useful tool for introducing our Institute/Division. I was invited by the City University of Hong Kong to attend its Information Day held on 9 October 2010. I took the opportunity to conduct a short briefing session to more than a 100 F7 students introducing our Institute/Division. With the kind arrangement of our Council Member, Prof Eddie Hui, the Council visited the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on 23 February 2010 and met the year-three students of the BSc (Hons) in Property Management Degree. They are all potential candidates of our probationers. To enable a good relationship within and outside the Institute, I have attended the Annual Dinner of GPD/PDD, LSD and QSD; and various organizations externally including the ISCM, HKIFM and HKAPMC; and Spring Reception of HAD and 中聯辦. Quality Property and Facility Management Award Our Division jointly organized the Award with the HKAPMC. Through the QPFMA, we aspire to honour outstanding property and facility management service in Hong Kong. The deadline for nomination will be 30 November 2010 and the Secretariat received tremendous enquiries in the past few weeks. The Judging Criteria will focus on management, maintenance, cleaning, security and finance services, and other outstanding performance on environmental protection and value-added services. There will be a CPD Conference held in around January 2011 to allow entrant teams to share their valuable management experience with our members. The award presentation ceremony has been planned in March 2011. I must take this opportunity to thank for our Council Members who have actively participated as Organizing Committee Members. FIG International Congress 2010 I attended the Congress held between 11 and 16 April could take a more active involvement in FIG activities especially those of Commission 8 on Spatial Planning and Development, and Commission 9 on Valuation and Management of Real Estate. Listing of Organization Providing Property and Facility Management Services The Council anticipated needs in the market where property owners are looking for professional property and facility management services and therefore formulated a list of organization corresponding to such expectation. The organization must be registered in Hong Kong and employed at least one PFM Surveyor. Information of those acceptable organizations has been uploaded to our website for public reference. Proposed Licensing of Property Management Industry The HAD appointed Deloitte Consulting to carry out a preliminary study on this proposed regulatory framework and the Council was invited to attend their Discussion Workshop held in March 2010. The Council welcomes the licensing of property management companies whilst having reservation on the licensing of practitioners. I have reported the Council’s comment earlier in the Surveyors Times. As the proposed statutory regime has a far reaching effect on our members, the Council has been actively looking after its development. The HAD had already submitted a paper to the Legislative Council Panel for Home Affairs for discussion. A face-to-face discussion was held with the Deputy Director of Home Affairs on 13 October 2010 and the Council’s concern was raised. It was noted that HAD is in the course of formulating a consultation document. The Deputy Director agreed to attend a briefing session for our members to explain the detail of the document when it is materialized. In the Policy Address of the Chief Executive published last month, such statutory intention was also publicized. Conclusion Finally, I must thank for the dedicated hardwork of the Council Members without which the achievements of the Council would not be that fruitful, and of such a success. I look forward to continuous success of the Council in the coming year.