Collapse Tragedy of 45J Ma Tau Wai Road Subsequent to my report in the February issue, Hon. Raymond Ho sent to the Institute another letter on 27 February for which we responded on 11 March. Copy of both letters can be viewed through the following link: Letter on February Letter on March Building Surveyor Volunteer Team Up to March 5, we have received more than 90 calls from the public. After screening and clarifications, more than 20 inspections have been carried out accordingly. The volunteer inspection scheme has been well received by the callers and our effort was appreciated. Most of the worries and queries from the public have been eased and tackled by our inspectors over the phone. For the inspected cases, we managed to inspect common areas and not only the callers’ flats but also some other flats so as to give advice on the overall condition of the buildings. By doing so, we hope to trigger some owners to start coordinating their repair works. In addition to providing professional advices, our volunteers also supplied callers with relevant information like details of loan and grant schemes on Building Safety and services provided by Property Management Advisory Centre under the Hong Kong Housing Society. In this way, they can approach appropriate organisations for further assistance like setting up of Owners Corporation and reference materials on employing consultants for repair works. As it shows how building surveyors care the society, I appeal your support by joining the volunteer team. You could leave your contact to Mr. Gary Ku of HKIS through 2526 3679 or email to [email protected]. Another press conference will be held in April. Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme and Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme A forum to let members of the Institute express their views was held on March12 with almost 100 members of various divisions attending and the majority were building surveyors. In the forum, our vice-chairman, Mr Vincent Ho, gave a briefing on the consultation documents and led the discussions on topics which were most concerned by surveyors. After obtaining the consensus, Vincent attended the Bills Committee on Building (Amendment) Bill 2010 Meeting held on March 20 and expressed our views. Subsequently, we have submitted a paper listing our comments to the Bills Committee and copied to Development Bureau. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Kenny Tse who is the convenor of the working group on this matter. Last but not the least, members are reminded that Registered Inspector under MBIS must be a Registered Professional Surveyor. So you should consider becoming a RPS(BS)! General Speci.cation for BuildingMaintenance Works in Residential Buildings I am pleased to inform you that our project for preparation of the above mentioned specification is almost completed. Upon finalisation of cover design, each corporate member of BSD will receive a hard copy and a CD for its soft copy. Moreover, soft copy will be available for downloading through our website. Please wait for our announcement in April/May. Welcoming Party for Newly Quali.ed Members Following our successful welcoming party to newly qualified members in our Annual Dinner last November, the Council decided to hold another welcoming party in the last Friday of April 2010. Newly qualified Members after November 2009 will be invited to attend. Please ensure you will not miss our invitation through email. Maintenance Cost Information System It comes to our notice that the public is difficult to know or compare the maintenance cost in the market because such maintenance cost data or index for maintenance works, unlike new development projects, are rarely found. The Council has recently formed a working group for setting up a well-recognized maintenance cost information system. With the assistance from Hong Kong Housing Society and the academics, the information could help layman owners and IO to have a rough idea on the cost range for repairing their buildings. The working group has already worked out a template for cost data input of some common building repair items and identified some reliable data sources. Data input and formatting of the maintenance cost information system will be the next step.