Problems in aged building: Sub-divided Flats
Building problems are becoming more apparent when the built environment is getting old and densely populated. Widely-spread unauthorized building works in old buildings may be due to long-standing abuse of occupation of buildings by the owners as well as insufficient resource allocation from the government in tackling the huge number of UBWs.
The fire tragedy occurred at the 8-storey aged building at Ma Tau Wai on 15 June 2011 with several casualties has aroused public attention on this long-standing building safety issue in aged buildings involving sub-divided flats. Sub-division of flats or units may be considered as building works exempted from prior approval and consent by the building authority if it does not involve structural alteration under section 41(3) of the Buildings Ordinance. Thus the works may be carried out quietly without alerting the government authority. To highlight, these works must still fulfill and satisfy all safety and health requirements under the respective building regulations. Although there is no formal statistics carried out on subdivided flats, I believe it is an obvious problem in many aged buildings in old districts. Generally as there was lack of proper design and supervision by competent building professionals, these subdivided flats are often designed and constructed in fault, leading to great fire safety hazard together with other environmental and health or even potential long-term structural safety concerns. In order to enable the public in gaining better understanding on the safety considerations in subdivided flats and the necessary review of the situation, BSD held a press conference on the subject on 21 June 2011. We have also put forward a proposal to the Government on regulating the flat sub-divisioning works. The press release stating HKIS-BSD's concern and our proposal to handle the subject can be extracted (in Chinese) at bsd-201106
Collapse of Canopy at Tuen Mun The recent collapse of a reinforced concrete canopy at an aged industrial building in Tuen Mun on 9 June 2011 has also rung the alarm bell on the safety of similar type of canopies in Hong Kong. Shortly after the incident, our spokesman Mr. David Chan inspected the spot and interviewed by the mass media on behalf of HKIS. The incident has alerted the public attention to the state of maintenance and repair on these high risk cantilevered slab canopies. While the Government is still investigating the cause of the accident, building surveyors should be cautious in checking out the canopy condition when undertaking building survey, maintenance or alteration works which associates with similar construction.
廣東省監理協會年會
應廣東省建設監理協會之邀請，我連同副主席梁志添及前主席黃來發代表建築測量組參加了協會於2011年6月9日及10日於廣州舉行的第三屆一次年會及換屆選舉。同時，協會亦委聘了我們多位前主席及資深建築測量師成為他們的名譽顧問，包括: - 黃比
- 劉智強
- 陳旭明
- 鍾鴻鈞
- 陳文偉
另外，協會亦邀請了我和李海達成為他們的名譽理事，藉此增加雙方溝通聯繫。
How much do you know about our BSD Council?
I think most of you have no idea about BSD Council. BSD Council is made up of a group of enthusiastic corporate members who contribute their effort and time for the development and promotion of our profession and benefits of our members on a voluntary basis. From this issue on, I would like to give a brief introduction of our Working Groups / Panels / Committees one by one so as to give you a glimpse of understanding to our BSD Council. Here, let’s get start from the one which I believe you frequently benefit from its works in your professional development – the CPD Panel.
The Panel is currently led by Mr. Daniel Pong and comprised of members Mr. Nathan Lee, Mr. Peter DY and Ms Astor Chu. The panel searches and organizes CPD events including site visits on interesting, hot and update issues in surveying knowledge and practice. Recent CPD events such as “A Turning Point of Green Building Movement in HK: PNAP APP-152 SBD” and “NT Small Houses vis-a-vis UBWs” have received exhilarating full-house subscriptions. BS Conference is the main dish in the annual menu of CPD for which the CPD panel and Organizing Committee (Convener of BS Conference 2011 is Mr Andrew Kung) have paid their greatest efforts for the success and smooth delivery of the Conference. Your participation to these CPD events is definitely the greatest encouragement to the CPD panel!
