The 15th Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors (PAQS) Congress (23-26 July 2011)- Cost Management in a world Emerging from Adversity
The 15th PAQS Congress was hosted by the Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Sri Lanka at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka last month. The President and the QSD Chairman together with 7 other delegates of HKIS (Wong Bay, Antony Man, T T Cheung, Thomas Ho, Dr Paul Ho, K C Tang, Joseph Chong, Dr Mei-yung Leung and Dr Ellen Lau) attended the PAQS Board Meeting, International Cost Engineering Council (ICEC) Region 4 Board Meeting and the PAQS Congress. It was 12:30am on 23 July 2011 when we arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake, which is about 37km north of the commercial capital of Colombo. The Architectural Services Department of HKSAR also sent a delegate, Mr Alvin Chan, to the Congress.
The PAQS Board Meeting was held on 24 July 2011 (9:00am to 5:00pm) comprising an exchange of souvenir ceremony and a photo taking session for the Board Members at the end of the Board Meeting. The Chair of ICEC, Mr Murtala Oladapo and the Global President of RICS, Mr Ong See Lian were also in the meeting. The following agenda items were discussed and confirmed:
1. The Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Sri Lanka (IQSSL) was confirmed Full Member of the PAQS whereas Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACEI) tendered its resignation from the PAQS. The total number of Full Members of PAQS is 10. Application for membership had been received from the Philippine Institute of Certified Quantity Surveyors (PICQS) and PICQS was confirmed Associate Member of PAQS.
2. Congratulations to Dr Mei-yung Leung who was presented the PAQS Academic Excellence Award. This Award recognizes excellence in academic and research performance that has application or benefit that transcends national boundaries. Dr Leung is an Assistant Professor of the City University of Hong Kong and her research interests include project management, value management, conflict management, stress management, facilities management and construction education.
3. Proposal for the formation of PAQS Council of Advisors was confirmed after discussion for the past two years. One of the core values of PAQS is the bond and harmony which has been developed since its establishment in 1995. This value should be maintained and treasured by all future PAQS leaders. These Advisors shall provide advice on matters relating to major policy and development of PAQS business and serve as ambassadors of PAQS. 7 past PAQS Chairmen were appointed for a term of 2 years:
- Mr T T Cheung (HKIS);
- Mr Dennis Lenard (AIQS);
- Mr Edward Tang (SISV);
- Mr Ong See Lian (ISM);
- Mr Trevor Main (AIQS);
- Mr Takayoshi Sato (BSIJ); and
- Mr Teoh Wooi Sin (SISV).
4. The Chair of Sustainability Committee, Mr T T Cheung submitted and presented a discussion paper on the election system for Office Bearers of PAQS on behalf of a working group (including Mr T T Cheung, Mr Edward Tang, Mr Ong See Lian, Mr Trevor Main, Mr Takayoshi Sato and Mr Teoh Wooi Sin). Under the current mutual agreement ("gentleman agreement") by member institutes, the Office Bearers are elected under a rotation system and therefore each member institute would have opportunity to take the lead and share the responsibility in serving the PAQS. "Opened" election was proposed for position of the 2nd Vice Chairman due to the increase of member institutes of PAQS in the recent years. With the further consultation and revised consolidated paper in the next few months, the issue will be decided in the next PAQS Board Meeting in 2012 in Brunei Darussalam.
5. Future PAQS Congresses were confirmed as follows:
- 2012 - Brunei Darussalam (PUJA; 7-10 July 2012)
- 2013 - PRC China (CECA)
- 2014 - Hong Kong (HKIS; 30th Anniversary)
- 2015 - Japan (BSIJ)
Regarding the PAQS 2014 to be held in Hong Kong, our Past President, Mr Francis Leung was appointed the Chairman of the organizing committee.
6. The following Officer Bearers of PAQS were elected at the meeting for 2011 to 2013:
- Chairman - Mr Gordon Cairney (NZIQS)
- 1st Vice Chairperson - Mdm Ma Guizhi (CECA)
- 2nd Vice Chairman - Mr Ian Duncan (CIQS)
- Secretary - Mr John Granville (NZIQS)
- Treasurer - Mr Trevor Main (AIQS)
The following are papers presented by the Hong Kong delegates at the PAQS Congress:
- BIM - Based life cycle assessment tool for sustainable construction [Iris X Han, Llewellyn C M Tang and Dr Paul Ho]
- Labour productivity in the Hong Kong Construction Sector [Dr Paul Ho]
- Quantity Surveyors' role and strategies for green building compliance and certification in private developments in Hong Kong [Joseph H C Chong and Park Ling]
- A new chapter of green buildings in Hong Kong [Daniel C W Ho and Dr Paul Ho]
- A review of cost planning methodology adopted in managing engineering projects [Dr Ellen Lau]
- An internet FAST software for facilitating value management discussion [Dr Mei-yung Leung and Jingyu Yu]
- How to set up excel spreadsheets to measure, transfer and bill Bills of Quantities in a real time manner [Tang Ki-cheung]
Among he papers presented in the PAQS Congress, the second paper above of Dr Paul Ho was selected the best paper of the year. Congratulations! The Institute would like to encourage more young members to submit their papers for the Congress in the coming years. There is a PAQS-Iwata Traveling Scholarship Competition. The theme of the PAQS Congress 2012 is Innovating and Sustaining: Challenges and Opportunities. Abstracts and papers are to be submitted on or before 1 March 2012 and 1 May 2012 respectively.
The 2nd Batch Training and Assessment under the Reciprocity Agreement between the China Engineering Cost Association (CECA) and the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors
Meeting was held with CECA (Madam Ma Guizhi, the Vice- President and the Secretary-General) in Beijing on 15 July 2011 and a confirmation letter dated 30 May 2011 was received from CECA. 166 HKIS members of the Quantity Surveying Division were conferred the qualification of the PRC Registered Cost Engineer by CECA after the training and assessment last October. Please refer to the website of QSD for the list of members. Presentation of the Certificate of Qualification by CECA is scheduled in October 2011 and the subsequent process of registration will be arranged thereafter. Details of registration will follow the requirements of the notice from Ministry of Construction (currently Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development) dated 25 February 2008. These can be found in the QSD website.
We congratulate the 172 members of the CECA, who successfully passed the training and assessment held in November 2010 in Shenzhen. They will become our members after the final endorsement of the Board of Membership and the General Council.
