Publications to aid Building Maintenance Works in Residential Buildings With the hard work from working group led by Mr Alan Sin, we have finished the production of a General Specification for Building Maintenance Works in Residential Buildings. It is part of the series of publications initiated by BSD Council in recent years to aid building maintenance works in residential buildings. Other publications include Guide to Prepare a Building Maintenance Manual (released in September 2009) and Standard form of Contract for Maintenance Works (a joint venture project with QSD which is still under preparation). Moreover, we have recently committed a research through the City University to provide rough indication of cost for common items of maintenance works in residential buildings. A working group led by Mr Vincent Ho will look after this research and meanwhile we have obtained kind assistance from Hong Kong Housing Society for this research. Soft copy of the General Specification for Building Maintenance Works in Residential Buildings is available for download from the HKIS website. For all probationers and corporate members of BSD, hard copy is available for collection in the HKIS office. Please complete the attached form to collect your personal copy. Building Surveyor Volunteer Scheme During the three-month period starting from 8 February 2010, we have received 107 enquiries from the public. After screening, we have sent out our volunteers to meet the enquirers and carry out inspections accordingly. Our vice-chairman, Mr Vincent Ho, held a press conference in 29 June together with two group leaders Mr Andrew Lam and Mr Kenny Tse, to highlight some of our findings which were well-received by the media. We are going to hold a CPD event to let the volunteers to share their experiences and show our appreciations. I believe all participants have updated their surveying skills through the briefings sessions and site inspections carried out in the past few months. Moreover, I am proud of your coherence and dedication to take up the volunteer work as we have got more than 100 helping hands. It did present to the public that Building Surveyors care and serve the society. CPD Event On 31 May 2010, a CPD event 'Mandatory Inspection of Buildings Is a Paradigm Shift?' was held at Surveyors Learning Centre. Our speaker, Professor Barnabas Chung, attracted a full house of more than 150 attendees including senior officials from the Buildings Department. Professor Chung provided some historical cases of building collapse in Hong Kong and shared his views on the upcoming Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme. I believe all the attendees have enriched their knowledge on Building Inspection and the rationale behind. One and half day CPD event has been scheduled on 9 July in Shenzhen with speakers from the CAEC and site visit. More than 100 members have expressed their interests to join. If you wish to join but has not yet voiced out your intention, you are required to pay more. Shanghai Conference on Project Management in November The Institute will jointly organize a Conference on Project Management in Shanghai on 5-6 November 2010. On 7 November 2010, there will be a site visit to Shanghai Expo Buildings. If you are interested to join the conference, please be aware of our announcements about details of the Conference soon.