Professor Anthony Cheung, Chairman of the Housing Authority (HA), hosted an annual dinner on 30 April to thank members of the HA and its Committees for their contribution in the past year as well as to bid farewell to outgoing members and welcome new members.

The dinner also marked the start of the 60^th Anniversary year of public housing development in Hong Kong.

At the dinner, Professor Cheung said the development of public housing remains the collective memories of several generations in Hong Kong. Sixty years is a significant milestone and a good opportunity for the HA to reflect on how public housing development has touched the lives of so many in Hong Kong. Throughout the 60^th Anniversary year, activities in the public housing estates will be enhanced to reach out to the pubic so that they can better understand the work of the HA.

A video entitled "60 Years of Public Housing Development in Hong Kong", which highlights the building and unit designs, estate management and sustainable development of Hong Kong's public housing, was shown during the dinner.

Members of the public can view the video on the HA/Housing Department website (www.housingauthority.gov.hk).

The achievements of the Housing Authority (HA) in the project management field in public housing projects were again recognised locally and internationally. Following the reaping of the “High Commendation” award of the Asia Pacific Federation of Project Management Awards 2012 in December 2012, the Choi Wan Road Public Housing Development was again granted the “Winner” under the Construction/Engineering Category of the Hong Kong Institute of Project Management (HKIPM) Achievement Awards 2012.

The award was presented at the 2013 HKIPM Annual Dinner celebrating their 10^th Anniversary cum Award Presentation which was held on 13 April and attended by more than 200 project managers and professionals from local and across the Asia Pacific region. The project team was particularly delighted to receive the award from Secretary for Transport and Housing Professor Anthony Cheung, who was also the guest of honour of the event.

The HKIPM Award acknowledges HA’s exemplary achievements in the Choi Wan Road Development not only in terms of time, cost and quality control, but also the extra efforts in innovations, green initiatives and care for the community. The development comprising three housing estates (Choi Ying Estate, Choi Tak Estate and Choi Fook Estate) successfully transformed an abandoned quarry into a green community, providing homes for 35 000 people in 17 domestic blocks, and supported with ancillary facilities such as shopping centres, carparks, welfare facilities and public open spaces.

In the award presentation ceremony held on 26 April, the Housing Authority (HA) won three awards in the Quality Property and Facility Management Award (QPFMA) 2012. Lam Tin Estate and Ching Ho Estate won the Award of Excellence and Ping Shek Estate got the Award of Merit.

QPFMA is a biennale award co-organised by the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors and the Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies. The award aspires to honour and recognise outstanding projects in the property and facility management industry. The award is held in high esteem by the industry and the winners are short-listed from keen competition. The theme for QPFMA 2012 was “Championing Innovative Services through Quality Management”. These awards demonstrate the industry’s recognition of our high standard of property management services, especially in facilities management and determination to engage residents in environmental initiatives.

The Housing Authority’s (HA’s) contractors of new works and maintenance works have recently been commended in the Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme 2012/2013. A total of 11 awards were received, including two Gold, two Silver, two Bronze and five Merit awards in the categories of Building Sites (Public Sector), Minor Renovation and Maintenance Works, Building Sites (Sub-Contractors) and Safety Teams.

Co-officiating at the award presentation ceremony, Assistant Director of Housing (Development and Procurement) Mrs Irene Cheng said that ensuring safety at work is always our top priority in a site of any size or type. With concerted efforts from the management to front-line staff to ensure site safety, both the employers and employees will be equally benefited.

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.

The Housing Authority (HA) strives to promote and participate in environmental protection works. A large amount of resources for promoting environmental protection works in the public rental housing (PRH) estates is allocated annually, achieving satisfactory results. In 2 May 2013, Tin Ching Estate received the gold award in the "2012 Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence Sectoral Awards (Property Management)".

The HA has introduced a series of new initiatives for environmental protection in Tin Ching Estate. Upon the completion of the Tin Ching Amenity and Community Building (ACB) in 2011, we conducted a pilot study in collaboration with the Chinese University of Hong Kong to use specific soil and vegetation to do filtration for ensuring the quality of the underground water. We also installed a "Rain Cyclical Irrigation System" – using special designed plastic planter trays to store rain water for irrigation during sunny day in all lift lobbies of the ACB. Moreover; through the trial food waste composter scheme in 2012, we transformed 22 900 kg of food waste collected from residents into 3 000 kg of compost which serves as fertilizer for the community farm of the estate.

In addition, through the property management company, the HA has introduced the environmental ambassador scheme to strengthen communication with the residents. We also jointly organised a series of promotion activities for environmental protection such as green carnivals and green planting day, with the Estate Management Advisory Committee, Mutual Aid Committees and Non-Governmental Organisations in the district. The awareness of environmental protection among residents has been raised and the waste recycle rate has significantly increased. The recycle rates of waste paper, waste metal and waste plastic increased by respectively 65%, 121% and 123% last year.

Mother's Day is just around the corner! This year marks the 60^th Anniversary of public housing development in Hong Kong. To echo with the theme of the 60^th Anniversary, the designs for the Mother’s Day decorations at six shopping centres of the Housing Authority (HA) have incorporated the 60^th Anniversary elements. Photo shooting areas have been set up in Choi Tak, Hoi Lai, Yau Lai and Lei Muk Shue Shopping Centres, where customers can capture warm and touching moments in photos with their beloved mothers.

Using paper art techiques, large heart-shaped flower displays were created at Choi Tak, Hoi Lai, Kwai Chung and Mei Tin Shopping Centres in celebration of maternal love. Yau Lai and Lei Muk Shue Shopping Centres were dressed up  with flowers and hearts made from strings of buttons to express gratitude to mothers. “Speaking tubes” in the photo shooting area allow visitors to whisper words of love to their mothers. Greeting cards are provided for customers to write messages of thanks or blessing, and hang them on a Thanksgiving Tree.

To express heartfelt thanks to hardworking mothers and to commemorate the 60^th Anniversary of public housing development, a series of programmes will be organised at Kwai Chung Shopping Centre. The activities include a stage variety show; a singing performance by well-known singers; a children's talent show; and a comic musical band show. A flower fairy ambassador will distribute carnations and delicious cookies to mothers at the six shopping centres, making Mother's Day warmer and sweeter than ever!

What’s more, customers who make purchases over a specified amount at the shopping centres can redeem a handbag hook imprinted with the 60^th Anniversary logo for public housing development.

The Housing Authority (HA) has put in place an Extra Mile Card Plan, designed to acknowledge staff who deliver outstanding performances and to encourage all staff members to make an extra effort when providing customer services. One of the teams was commended in the 2012/13 programme for the concerted efforts and innovative use of resources they displayed, qualities which led to ISO 14001 : 2004 Environmental Management System (EMS) Certification being issued to a first batch of HA Estates by the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA). Housing Dimensions interviewed some members of the winning team, including Assistant Housing Managers Ivy Chan Yuk-kuen, Helen Yung Yuen-har, Emma Wong Siu-ngan, Pearl Mok Yun-lan, Housing Officer Jaffe Ho Yiu-chung, along with Senior Housing Manager Julie Ma Leung Lai-fun, who was responsible for directing the progress of implementing ISO 14001 in the estates. They shared the details of how they walked that extra mile with Housing Dimensions.

Julie first explained what ISO 14001 involves, and described the result after it was first implemented in public rental housing (PRH). "ISO 14001 EMS Certification is an internationally accredited standard that sets guidelines and requirements for environmental management so as to protect the environment and increase economic efficiency," she said. "With the goals of enhancing the quality of estate management and creating a pleasant, healthy living environment for PRH tenants, the Housing Department has implemented the ISO 14001 EMS Certification programme phase by phase at some of its estates since early 2010. Certification scope covers cleansing, security, horticulture and office administration. Following concerted efforts by various disciplines over a year or so, we passed the HKQAA's certification audit in May 2012. The ISO 14001 Certificate was awarded in recognition of our effective controls over water and air pollution, as well as reduction in noise and waste."

Being responsible for auditing in the programme, Ivy added, "ISO 14001 makes it easier to organise daily work in the estates systematically, which makes for effective monitoring and recording. Moreover, HD attaches great importance to environmental management and we put our best efforts into this. We are also encouraging our partners to work on cleansing, security, and horticulture in a cooperative way. Our aim is to take the lead in the community by encouraging tenants to get involved so as to make positive contributions both to our living environment and the society."

Three estates (Oi Man Estate, Sun Tin Wai Estate and Lai On Estate) were selected as pilot estates and labelled as large, medium and small respectively. This size differentiation did provide a good model for other estates later on. What difficulties did front-line staff face in implementing the programme? Jaffe Ho worked in the small estate, Lai On. "We have to learn a lot about dealing with chemical storage and leaks," he said. "For instance, we need to reclassify and relabel all our chemicals, clearly specifying their characteristics and uses. In that way we have built up a set of ‘material safety data sheet’ document, and we then explain it to all the cleansing workers about their methods of storage, use and disposal. We also keep track of all the work done by our staff, according to the operation guidelines and rules prepared by the Quality Assurance (QA) Unit in headquarters, and that helps us build up a comprehensive record of what we have achieved."

Working in the large Oi Man Estate, Helen shared her experience. "As early as July 2010, we have already held preparatory meetings regarding this programme," she said. "We have introduced the background, targets, scope of service and working schedule relating to the ISO 14001 EMS Certification programme to all our front-line staff in various meetings. We also encourage them to walk the extra mile, thoroughly implement the department's environmental policies, and be well-prepared for the programme. The guidelines provided by the headquarters are good references. However, the facilities, services and general environment all vary among different estates, so we have to identify these, then classify them and lay down appropriate operation guidelines accordingly. For example, there are two liquefied petroleum gas stations in Oi Man Estate. We liaise with the gas contractor to arrange sites visit for our front-line staff on learning how the gas is delivered to the station by gas vehicles and how the gas is stored. They are also shown how to conduct regular checks to the gas tanks and pipes. Apart from gaining a full understanding of how these gas stations operate, the front-line staff have also been introduced emergency measures, such as informing the contractor and police if gas leaks are suspected. Training for our front-line staff is essential for enhancing both their awareness and their ability to handle challenges; the relevant information on operation guidelines and emergency drills is especially valuable and set a good reference for other estates."

Pearl, who was also responsible for auditing, said, "One of our key tasks is to set targets, encourage and assist the estate colleagues to achieve their set targets according to their different situation, all in a wholehearted manner." Ivy, responsible for auditing, added, "We don't want to give colleagues the impression that we are giving them an extra workload. Rather, we hope to foster a sense of environmental protection among them, and develop their spirit of cooperation and their readiness to walk the extra mile. For example, Lai On Estate takes the initiative of informing the QA Unit in headquarters that an Environmental Protection Department contractor has been supplying organic fertilizer; and later this piece of information has been disseminated to estates and posted onto the intranet. Making reference to the information in the intranet, estates colleagues can direct liaise with the contractor and create a win-win situation."

Following the success of the three pilot estates in obtaining ISO 14001 EMS Certification, the HA has decided to extend the certification programme to all PRH estates in different phases. Yau Oi Estate, where Emma works, is one of the first batch estates to prepare for ISO 14001 certification. When asked about the environmental protection events held in the estate, she said, "We have organised quite a few events to get the environmental protection message across, and got great support from tenants, which help the programme run smoothly. We also encourage tenants to take part in the source separation of waste programme. We set up booths and arrange for the recycling van to visit the estate more frequently to collect recyclables."

Jaffe noted, "The Lai On Estate has implemented a community garden plan to promote organic planting; what is more, since Lai On Estate locates in Shamshuipo district with many computer stores, we keep on encouraging tenants to donate their old computers to the recycling van." Helen added, "Apart from the community garden in Oi Man Estate, we also have a green corner. The aim is to give tenants up-to-date information about environmental protection."

Julie summed up the situation. "The three pilot estates have got ISO14001 EMS certification. In May 2012, the first batch of 40 PRH estates also passed the certification audit, and in last December, a further 50 estates in the second batch passed the certification audit too. We expect the ISO 14001 EMS Certification for estate management to cover all PRH estates by May this year. With the aid of intranet, QA unit not only simply disseminates information about environmental protection, but also provides a platform for our staff to effectively learn and exchange the information of environmental protection and encourages each other to walk the extra mile, hand in hand, in order to establish a green and sustainable living environment for our tenants."