Held on 24 March, the Estate Management Advisory Committee (EMAC) biennial seminar was attended by over 700 EMAC members from Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories to exchange their views and experience in estate management.

Addressing the theme of “Healthy Living in Harmonious Estate”, Mr Lui Kwong-fai, Chief Manager/Management (Support Services 2) and Mr Chau Yuen-leung, Senior Housing Manager (Public Housing Resources Management) of the Housing Department shared with the participants the latest information on “Building Harmonious Community” and “Cherishing Public Housing Resources”. Other speakers, including representatives from the Department of Health, the Police Force (Crime Prevention Bureau), the Shun Lee Neighbourhood Elderly Centre of Hong Kong Christian Service as well as the EMACs of Shun Lee and Tin Yuet Estates, shared their experience in promoting healthy living and harmonious community as well as organising caring activities for the elderly. Members actively involved in the question and answer session and gave constructive suggestions.

Certificates were also presented to EMACs that had paid much efforts to promote fire safety and organise healthy living functions at their estates last year. To provide more comprehensive information about the theme of the seminar, an exhibition was set up in the venue.

The EMAC Scheme has been introduced by the Housing Authority to its public housing estates since 1995. So far 140 EMACs have been set up.

Staff of the Housing Department (HD) and members of the HD Volunteer Corp have recently taken part in the annual Hong Kong Tree Planting Day.

Held on 31 March, the event was supported by about 2 200 participants, including over 150 from the HD Volunteer Corp, HD staff and their family members. Several thousands of saplings were planted at Tai Shu Ha Road West in Tai Tong of Yuen Long, to restore the planting area devastated by fires and to make the environment green.

The Housing Authority (HA) has been granted awards at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Hong Kong Property Awards organised by the RICS for the first time in Hong Kong. The HA’s Responsive In-flat Maintenance Services (RIMS) team was the Winner in the “Project Management Team of the Year” category and received a Merit award in the “Best Project Team of the Year” category. The project team of the Lift Addition Programme for the Old Aged Public Rental Housing Estates was presented the Merit award in the “Project Management Team of the Year” category. The award presentation ceremony was held on 9 March.

Since the establishment of the RIMS team in 2008, more than 130 briefings or meetings, 300 site visits or inspections, as well as 180 training classes were arranged to provide support for over 1 000 staff from exisitng 22 District Maintenance Offices, 22 Property Services Administration Units and 203 Estate Offices, all out-sourced Property Services Agencies and District Maintenance Contractors. The above awards are recognition of the dedication and concerted efforts of all parties in the past years. The RIMS team will continue to provide quality in-flat maintenance service to the HA’s tenants.

The project team of the Lift Addition Programme for the Old Aged Public Rental Housing estates was set up to provide new lifts to aged low-rise estates currently without the facilities. Under the programme, 72 lifts and 18 footbridges in 29 estates are to be built this year. New construction methods, such as pre-fabricated steel lift tower and machine-room-less lift, were developed and adopted, resulting in shortening the construction period and reducing the nuisance to the nearby tenants during construction. Comparing to the traditional reinforced concrete construction, the new method has a lower project cost and higher energy efficiency.

Director of Housing Mr D W Pescod was invited for a short video interview after the ceremony. Please click here for the video.

The Housing Authority’s (HA’s) contractors of new works and maintenance works have recently been commended in the Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme 2011/2012. A total of 15 awards were received, including two Gold, four Silver, four Bronze and five Merit awards in the categories of Building Sites (Public Sector), Building Sites (Sub-Contractors), Civil Engineering Sites (Sub-Contractors), Renovation and Maintenance Works, Minor Renovation and Maintenance Works and Safety Teams.

Co-officiating at the award presentation ceremony, Acting Assistant Director of Housing (Development and Procurement) Mr Lawrence Chung said that site safety is the responsibility of everyone; contractors should make concerted effort with their employees to strive for the goal of “zero incident”.

The scheme is an annual event organised by the Labour Department to raise safety awareness among stakeholders and to promote a safety culture in the industry. It has been well received and supported by different organisations of the industry.

Various shopping centres of the Housing Authority (HA) had put on colourful decorations and organised a series activities to celebrate Easter.

Decorations in Tin Yan, Mei Tin, Lei Muk Shue, Kwai Chung, Hoi Lai, Yau Lai and Choi Tak shopping centres featured a “Music Tour with the Easter Bunny Band”. The lovely Easter bunnies were well received by the shoppers.

A series of activities ranging from musical instrument performance, magic shows, balloon-twisting tricks by clowns, game booths, handicraft workshops, to free tasting of traditional delicacies were organised in the above seven shopping centres on 7 and 8 April. Parades by mascots of the Sylvanian Families were also lined up, followed by photo sessions for shoppers. In addition, variety shows were staged in Kwai Chung Shopping Centre and Choi Tak Shopping Centre on 8 April. The programme, which included a silver band show, beat boxing, sand drawing and performance by famous pop singers, added to the festive atmosphere.

Customers who made purchases in the above mentioned shopping centres on specified dates could redeem gifts featuring the Sylvanian Families on presentation of their receipts. The response was so overwhelming that all the gifts were gone before long.

Congratulations to five of our Housing Department (HD) staff – Eunice Mak Hoi-cheung, Senior Planning Officer; Fok Chuck-leung, Quantity Surveyor; and Isabella Shum Fung-ho, Senior Personal Secretary from the Development and Construction Division; as well as Ling Ming-tak, Principal Technical Officer (Architectural); and Chan Shu-on, Senior Technical Officer (Building Services) from the Estate Management Division. They recently received the Secretary for Civil Service’s Commendation 2011 in recognition of their consistent and outstanding performance in the civil service. Housing Dimensions has interviewed them to share their thoughts and feelings on winning the awards.

When asked how they felt about receiving the commendations, they all replied humbly that the merit did not just belong to them but also to their teammates, as the awards were a result of the dedication, hard work and team spirit of everyone involved. Being the longest serving member of staff among the award recipients, Ling recalled the most memorable moments in his past 37 years with the HD, “I was put in charge of the ‘Tenants Purchase Scheme’ in 2000. I was assigned to work on the building plans in support of the launch of the Tenants Purchase Scheme. There were only two other colleagues in the team. We needed to cooperate and work with colleagues from different divisions and every rank. I learned a lot in the process, especially in the beginning when working with people we were not familiar with. I soon learned that with mutual respect and hard work we can build trust quickly. I also remember the many preperations made prior to the IPO of the Link REIT. During that time, we had to handle in a short time the building plans of some 180 commercial facilities of the Housing Authority (HA). All these were real challenges for me.”

Chan, who joined the HD in 1979, said, “One day in 1996, shortly after midnight, I received a phone call from a colleague, saying that a fire had broken out in the main switch room at Kai Yip Estate and urging me to seek assistance. I rushed to the scene even though I was not a site staff of the estate. I helped to find out why and how the fire had broken out, while also taking photos for record purposes. In less than 24 hours, after a series of coordination exercises with different parties, the switch was functional again.” He continued excitedly, “Although the process was exhausting – the technical staff worked non-stop for over 10 hours, we felt that the difficult task was well worth the effort when we saw electricity supply was resumed for the residents.”

Eunice has worked in the HD for over 20 years. She considered the research done on parking space requirements in public housing estates between 2006 and 2008 was the most rewarding project for her. She explained, “To ensure our parking spaces are used effectively, a detailed research study was carried out. The research involved more than 8 000 telephone calls to public housing residents together with several hundred home visits. The results showed the need to trim existing planning standards. The subsequent report was submitted to the Transport Advisory Committee and other relevant government departments. The proposal to decrease the ratio of parking places in public housing estates was finally endorsed and the ratio of the number of flats to parking places changed from 13 to 1 to the present figure of around 26 to 1. The surplus parking spaces can then be used for developing community facilities.” Eunice participated in the redevelopment of Tin Heng Car Park in Tin Shui Wai, where surplus parking spaces were converted into the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Telebet cum Volunteer and Training Centre. She was also responsible for filing an application to convert land, originally zoned for an open air car park, into an amenities and community building at Tin Ching Estate. Those projects have not only brought job opportunities for local residents, they have also provided spaces for non-governmental organisations to offer a variety of community services for residents.

Isabella, who joined the HD in 1996, was assigned to the newly-established Quality Task Force in March 2000. She helped to liaise with the representatives of different industries, institutions and professional bodies participating in the consultation conferences. At the same time she had to make sure that all documentation was ready for the meetings. She said, “There were only a few temporary staff responsible for all the secretarial and clerical duties. The high turnover rate really took its toll in the beginning. Luckily, I could see everyone encouraging each other and working together, which eventually got all the work done.”

When asked how they maintain their consistent and positive performance and how they cope with the pressure of heavy workload, Ling shared, “Exercise is one of the best ways to relieve pressure. I love swimming and football. Occasionally I cannot sleep because of work worries. When a solution comes to mind, I write it down straight away. I can then fall asleep peacefully.” Chan combines work with pleasure. He visits shopping malls with his wife, taking note of their design and building structure as a reference to his own responsibilities. Work thus becomes a matter of enjoyment for Chan. Eunice said, “We should take a proactive and optimistic attitude towards work, discussing and cooperating with others to tackle difficulties as a team. I also exercise regularly to keep a clear-head. I am particularly keen on yoga and also participate in dragon boat races.” Isabella agreed to the importance of a positive and optimistic attitude in dealing with work. Her motto was: “Do not compare with others or be afraid of losing out; and be willing to work that little bit extra.”

During our short meeting, the award winners impressed Housing Dimensions reporters with their enthusiasm and willingness to take on challenges, which, together with their team spirit, provide the driving force for their consistently outstanding performance.

(Note from editor: Chan Shu-on commenced his retirement in March. We wish him a happy and healthy retirement. Award recipient Mr Fok Chuck-leung was unable to join the interview due to personal commitments.)