In the past month, I had several opportunities to meet numerous quantity surveyors/cost engineers coming from all corners of the world. It started with the unofficial visit of the representatives from the Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (CIQS) and then continued during my attendance at the congress in Singapore. CIQS Visit On 20 July, two CIQS representatives, viz. Mr Ian Duncan, the past president, and Mr David Lai, the education administrator, together with their wives paid an unofficial visit to the HKIS. They were welcomed in a simple but friendly reception with 10 members of the quantity surveying division (QSD). Ian and David shared their working experiences in Canada. They told us that quantity surveyors in Canada had not been affected by the economic crisis. The cost professionals were busy in preparing cost estimates and in implementing cost controls in both good times and bad times. In return, we told them about the operation of the HKIS and the current situation of the construction industry in Hong Kong. They were assured that when they attended the PAQS Congress in Hong Kong in 2014, they would see several new large completed projects including the government headquarters in admiralty and the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal. Whilst enjoying the Chiu Chow food dinner, they shared with us their travel experiences in Hong Kong. They thanked our warm hospitality and looked forward to our future visit to Canada and CIQS. 7th International Cost Engineering Council (ICEC) World Congress & 14th Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors (PAQS) Congress The congress was organized by the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers (SISV). The theme of the congress was "Sustainable Cost Management: Borderless Innovation". 11members/delegates of the HKIS attended the 7th ICEC World Congress and the 14th PAQS Congress held in Singapore during 23 to 27 July. The members/delegates included Mr Eric Cheng, Mr TT Cheung, Mr Joseph Chong, Mr Lawrence Chung, Dr Paul Ho, Dr Ellen Lau, Prof Anita Liu, Mr Antony Man, Mr K C Tang, Ms Tzena Wong and I. For members information, the ICEC comprises 48 members, which are cost engineering, quantity surveying and project management societies, from over 40 countries located in North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. The ICEC is divided into four regions according to the geographical areas. The ICEC World Congress is held bi-annually in the four regions by rotation. This year the World Congress was held in Asia (Region 4). The PAQS comprising quantity surveying societies from 13 countries is an international association of national organizations representing quantity surveyors in the Asia and the Pacific region. The members of the HKIS have great involvement in these two international organizations. This includes: ICEC - Mr TT Cheung: Administrative Vice Chair PAQS - Mr T T Cheung: Chair of Sustainability Committee - Mr Joseph Chong: Chair of Young Quantity Surveyors Group (YQSG) - Dr Paul Ho: Chair of Research Committee - Prof Anita Liu: Secretary of Education and Accreditation Committee - Dr Ellen Lau: Secretary of Research Committee Meetings The full day ICEC Council meeting was held on 24 July (Saturday). Amongst the 30 items in the agenda, the discussions included the reports from the four regions. Mr Antony Man, Vice-Chairman of the QSD, and I represented the HKIS and reported the updated information of the HKIS to the meeting. Some highlights of the meeting included: - ICEC was considering the development of an ICEC knowledge portal in respect of international project costs. - Mr T T Cheung received a n ICEC Region an d Chairman's Award in recognition of his contribution in the region and assistance to the ICEC Chairman, Mr Peter Cox and the Region 4 Director, Mr Teoh Wooi Sin, in the past two years. - Mr Murtala Oladapo from Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors (Region 3), Senior Administrative Vice Chairman, was elected as the new Chairman of ICEC for a term of two years from July 2010. Other key officers of the ICEC elected for a term of two years were: - Senior Vice Chair : Casten Wrestrom (Denmark) - Administrative Vice Chair : Ms Alexia Nalewaik (USA) and Mr TT Cheung (Hong Kong) - Technical Vice Chair : Mr Adesh Jain (India) - Secretary Treasurer : Dr Peter Smith (Australia) In the early morning of the following day, the PAQS Board meeting commenced with the report from the remarked the big step taken by the PAQS accreditation scheme, which achieved its first accreditation with the University of Unitec of New Zealand. Following the reports from the committee, the representatives of the member countries presented their reports to the meeting. Mr Antony Man and I represented the HKIS and reported the key developments of the HKIS and the major events of the Hong Kong Construction Industry since the meeting last year. There were lengthy discussions on two items, viz. setting up a council of advisors and establishing a code of professional conduct for a prospective institute. A consensus was obtained on the former whilst the latter would have to be reviewed by each member country for further deliberation in the next meeting. Congress The two-day congress started with a dragon dance and three welcoming speeches. This followed with an impressive speech by the guest-of-honour, Dr Amy Khor, the Senior Parliamentary Secretary and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. This year, the congress had 38 papers and six of them were from the members/delegates of the HKIS. They included: - The application of construction cost yardsticks for the planning and control of construction cost for public rental housing in Hong Kong : Mr TT Cheung and Mr Lawrence K W Chung - How prime are prime cost rates: Mr Eric Cheng -Probabilistic service life estimation of roofing systems: Dr Paul H K Ho - A multi-disciplinary approach in reviewing professional codes of conduct: Dr Ellen Lau - Web-based document management systems in the construction industry of Hong Kong : Ms Tzena Y C Wong - Costing of 'green' home initiatives in urban renewal projects: Mr Daniel C W Ho The PAQS has obtained the copyrights of the papers and will post them onto the PAQS web-sites for members information. Further, the QSD will arrange some of the Other highlights - One of the key note speakers advised that the Singapore government had given full support in sustainable development, which included substantial subsidies on environmental installations e.g. PV panels and mandatory requirements of environmental standards for new developments. Under the government's effort, several 'green' buildings including a zero energy building were built as examples to the construction industry in the past few years. - We took the opportunity to explore the possibility of establishing a reciprocity agreement with the representative of our American counterpart, the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACEI). We made a good start and would continue the dialogue in the coming months. -Acquaintance with the delegates from other international societies would facilitate the exchange of information relating to quantity surveying and the practices adopted in other countries. For example, performance auditing in the construction industry is being advocated in the U.S.A. as against traditional control-based systems in the light of the evolving built environment. Quantity Surveyors working in Brunei would be expected to be multi-skilled and to have the ability to manage both building works and building services installations. - The 15th PAQS Congress with the theme "Cost Control in a world emerging from adversity" will be held in Columbo, Sri Lanka, the pearl of the Indian Ocean. We were advised to be physically fit for attendance in the congress in Sri Lanka as the attendants would be expected to join mountain walks. Visit to SISV Ten HKIS members/delegates took the opportunity to pay a visit to the SISV after the closing of the congress. We were received by the President of the SISV QSD, Mr Goh Ngan Hong, the treasurer, Mr Silas Loh and other SISV representatives in its newly owned premise. Mr Goh briefed us the organization of the SISV. It comprised three divisions, viz. valuers, land surveyors and quantity surveyors. Each division has fully autonomy of its business. The head of the division is called the president. One of the presidents takes up the role as the chairman to lead the SISV. The visit allowed us to have a detailed and fruitful discussion with Mr Goh in respect of the future cooperation between the QSD of SISV, ISM (Institute of Surveyors, Malaysia) and the HKIS. It was agreed that the quantity surveying division (QSD) of the SISV, ISM and HKIS should continue sharing the skills and knowledge of quantity surveying between the three institutes. Such sharing of information should take place through divisional level for the sake of efficiency and effectiveness. During the farewell dinner, we had the same discussion and agreement with Mr Chew Nane Cheong Chris, the Chairman of the ISM QSD, on such co-operation mode.