Visit to the China Engineering Cost Association (CECA)
I led a team of 14 delegates from the Quantity Surveying Division on a visit to the China Engineering Cost Association (CECA) in Beijing from 30 October to 1 November 2012. The delegates included HKIS Senior Vice President, Sr Stephen Lai; Past HKIS President and Past QSD Chair, Sr TT Cheung and Sr Francis Leung; Past QSD Chairs, Sr Dr Professor Anita Liu and Sr Antony Man; QSD Vice Chairman, Sr Keith Yim; QSD Council Members, Sr Jacob Lam and Sr YM Lee; QSD Members in the Beijing Forum, Sr Simon Tuen, Sr CY Wong, Sr Kenn Ng, Sr Daniel Leung, and Sr CY Wu; and I.
The purpose of the visit was twofold: (1) meeting with QSD members at the Beijing Forum; (2) visiting and meeting with the new Board Members of CECA to discuss the various matters relating to the future cooperation between the HKIS QSD and CECA, and the extension of the existing Reciprocity Agreement.
On 31 October 2012, we met with the new Board Members of CECA, viz. the President, 徐惠琴女仕; the Secretary- General, 吳佐民先生; the Vice Secretary, 施笠女仕; the Director, 孔憲珍女仕; the Deputy Directors, 舒宇先生and 張興旺先生; and officials from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MoHURD), 譚華處長. During the meeting, the following issues were discussed:
- Arrangements for the re-registration of the first batch of Cost Engineers (Hong Kong Region) who were registered in December 2008. We agreed that the re-registration will be arranged by the HKIS, and letters have been issued to these members to inform them of the procedures for submitting their applications and required documents for re-registration.
- Arrangements for the presentation of certificates of registration and stamps for the 65 newly-registered Cost Engineers. We agreed that the presentation will be arranged for December in Shenzhen.
- The possibility of organizing a joint conference in China next year. Since the PAQS Congress next year will be held in May in Xian, the earliest date that this conference can be held is in November. We agreed that the possible time and details of the conference will be further discussed early next year.
- The possible arrangement of the 3rd Reciprocity Training and Assessment for CECA Members and HKIS (QSD) Members in 2013. We agreed that this will be arranged should members have prior needs for joining this reciprocity assessment. The HKIS (QSD) will send out letters to ask members about their needs in due course.
- The problems encountered by the QS Consultants of Hong Kong when they applied for registration in other provinces.
- The arrangements for the PAQS Congress 2013 in Xian and the PAQS Congress 2014 in Hong Kong. The meeting was fruitful and laid a foundation for the future reciprocity arrangement and cooperation between CECA and the HKIS.
After the meeting, CECA arranged a dinner reception for us. Senior officials from MoHURD, viz. 劉燦定額司司長, 楊麗坤副主任, and 趙毅明處長, also joined us at the dinner and we had happy discussions on and shared our experiences of institutional affairs.
The SISV BIM Conference in Singapore
I led a team of 23 delegates from the Quantity Surveying Division to visit the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers (SISV) and attend the BIM Conference organized by the SISV in Singapore from 8 to 10 November 2012. The visit was organized by the Chairman of the QSD BIM Subcommittee, Sr KC Tang. The delegates included Past HKIS President and Past QSD Chair, Sr TT Cheung; QSD Vice Chairmen, Sr Keith Yim and Sr Honby Chan; QSD Honorary Secretary, Sr KL Wong; BIM Sub-Committee Chairman, Sr KC Tang; QSD Council Members, Sr Raymond Kam, Sr Evenlyn Kwok, Sr Dr Sandy Tang, Sr Dr Thomas Ng, Sr Amelia Fok, Sr Joe Wu, Sr Dr Mei-yung Leung, Sr Mickey Wong, and Sr Anthony Tam; Representatives from the Housing Department, Sr Sunny Choi and Sr Tommy Ip; Representatives from the Hong Kong Institute of Building Information Modelling (HKIBIM), Chairman, Ir Francis Leung, and members, Mr Elvis Li; other QSD members, Sr Raymond Chu, Ms Sophia Zhang, Ms Elaine Leung, and Ms Man-yuk Wong; and I.
The Conference was held on 9 November at the Capital Tower in Singapore. Its theme was “BIM & The QS”. The Conference was attended by more than 150 participants. We were welcomed by the Chairman of the SISV, Mr Tang Tuck Kim; the President of the SISV QSD, Mr Teoh Wooi Sin;
the Honorary Treasurer of the SISV, Mr Eugene Seah; the Vice President of the SISV QSD and also the Chairman of the Conference Organizing Committee, Mr Silas Loh; and the Vice President of the SISV QSD, Mr Khoo Sze Boon. Apart from the speakers from Singapore, we had the following speakers from Hong Kong:
- Sr Thomas Ho – The Hong Kong BIM Journey
- Sr Sunny Choi – The Hong Kong Housing Authority’s BIM Journey
- Sr Joe Wu and Sr Anthony Tam – Developer’s Cost Control with BIM for 3D to 4D and 5D
- Ir Francis Leung – Joint Research on BIM Quantity Takeoff by HKIS & HKIBIM
The Conference was successful in sharing the technology and knowledge of and experiences with BIM in Singapore and Hong Kong amongst practitioners in the QS Profession
and the Construction Industry.
After the Conference, we paid a visit to the SISV and were received by the President of the SISV QSD, Mr Teoh Wooi Sin; Immediate Past President, Mr Goh Ngan Hong; and other representatives of the SISV. We had fruitful discussions on institutional affairs and future cooperation between the two Institutes, in particular cooperation in BIM development for the QS Profession.
Apart from the visit to the SISV, we also visited Langdon & Seah Singapore Pte Ltd. on 8 November, where we were welcomed by the Deputy Chairman of the Company, Mr Eugene Seah, and the Executive Directors, Mr Teoh Wooi Sin and Mr Khoo Sze Boon. Eugene also gave us a presentation on his experiences with and knowledge of BIM.
We also visited the Singapore Office of Obayashi Corporation on the same day. We were welcomed by their Deputy General Manager, Mr Yuichiro Sakai, and their Project Director, Mr Eiichiro Okano. Mr Okano also gave us a presentation on their company experiences with BIM.
On 10 November, we visited Hexacon Construction Pte Ltd. We were welcomed by the General Manager–Projects, Mr Dominic Choy. Mr Choy enlightened us on his company’s BIM experience by introducing its newly-completed project, “The Star Vista,” which houses the biggest performance hall in Singapore. The talk was followed by a visit to the building.
It is worth noting that the Singaporean Government has fully supported the use of BIM by publishing National BIM standards and guides. Building plan submissions for construction approval are required to be in BIM file format. Training courses have been organized for over 1,000 working construction practitioners to use BIM. Funding (Singapore $35,000 x 6 projects per company, or HK$1.35M!!) is given to projects using BIM to achieve productivity gains.
These visits were fruitful and laid a foundation for the QSD to develop BIM technology for the QS Profession and to organize similar conferences in Hong Kong. Certainly, all delegates would like to share their experiences with other members.
The 17th Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors Congress
The 2013 Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors (PAQS) Congress will be held in Xian, China from 18 to 21 May 2013 and be hosted by the China Engineering Cost Association (CECA). The theme of this Congress is “Construction Information – Cornerstone of the Valuation Management”. Papers are now invited for this Congres s and the deadlines for submission are as follows:
- Abstracts of the paper must be received by the Secretariat on or before 15 December 2012.
- Papers must be received by the Secretariat on or before 15 February 2013.
For details of this Congress and the paper submissions, please visit the PAQS 2013 official website at http://www.paqs2013.cn.
