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President's View
END OF THE YEAR REFLECTIONS.PART TWO
With the passing of the lunar year, Members may be considering themselves lucky to be able to re-visit New Year's resolutions made at the end of the calendar year and tweak them as necessary at the start of the New Year of the Pig. The Board will be doing something similar this month with a review of the strategic plan that was set down at the beginning of the Board's year, back in July. Largely, as indicated in the December newsletter, we remain on track with that plan, especially in the professional development and communication sectors.
It would also seem timely to remind Members of the benefits available from IFMA. Members have access to a new form of learning with "Webinars" which cover a diverse range of topics of interest to FM-ers. Members were recently offered access to a free webinar on change management and the modules available offer excellent opportunities for professional training in a number of diverse areas. Full details can be found on the IFMA website, together with a range of excellent articles and references including a recent one on Strategic Decision making.
Both IFMA Members and local Chapter Members and friends will soon be receiving the conference brochure for Integrate 2007 - our celebrational conference - which will be held in June at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wanchai. Full details will also be available on our website. Significant discounts are available for early bird registration and as demand for places will be high, I would encourage you to take advantage of the discount offer.
To close, I wish all Members and friends, a happy, healthy and prosperous new year of the Pig: Kung Hei Fat Choy. And don't forget - the Chapter wants to hear from you with any business wins, job opportunities, market research and trends any FM news you may have.
The conference web site is now available for you to review the full details of the conference. Brochures will also be posted to all members shortly.
This year is a special year for the Hong Kong Chapter of IFMA as it is our 15 th anniversary. To celebrate, the conference this year runs for two days, 12 th and 13 th June 2007, and contains 20 educational sessions. It is also being held at the Hong Kong International Conference Center in Wan Chai, making it easy to get to for most people.
On Tuesday 12 th June in the evening is a networking reception to allow all the conference delegates to get together and discuss the day's sessions and other topics of interest.
The conference ends with the staging of the Hong Kong Chapter 15 th Anniversary Banquet on the evening of 13 th June 2007.
The 2008 Quality Building Awards
Every two year the Quality Building Award Group seeks to identify the best newly constructed buildings in Hong Kong and to present awards to those chosen by the Jury Sub-committee, following a rigorous selection procedure.
The intent is to raise the awareness of good building design in Hong Kong and to create an atmosphere of competition amongst building developers, architects and designers to generally improve the quality of building constructed in Hong Kong .
The next awards will be made in mid 2008 and the process is now starting to identify and select buildings to be considered for the awards. There are a number of categories, which will be covered in a later article, but for the first time the competition is being opened up to the Pearl River Delta (PRD) area, rather than being restricted to Hong Kong . This reflects the continuing integration of Hong Kong into the PRD and the recognition that quality development is happening in the immediate area outside Hong Kong .
The awards programme is developed by a committee drawn from a number of founding organisations, of which the Hong Kong Chapter of IFMA is one. This year IFMA's representative is Jenkin Lai, although there exists an opportunity for another IFMA representative to be appointed to assist if anyone has an interest.
The first item of business for the awards committee is to select a Final Jury Panel of 5 to 7 members to make the final selection from the short-list of buildings proposed. This newsletter missed the deadline of 28 th February for proposing members for this Final Jury Panel, but a separate e-mail was issued earlier requesting members suggestions for people to be considered.
The intent here is to get around 40 to 50 proposals for consideration by the organizing committee. Invitation letters will be issued in April
As a organizing committee member, the Hong Kong Chapter of IFMA has an obligation to put forward building projects to be considered for the awards, as only organisations which are part of the committee are able to make proposals. The period for proposals will run from June to November 2007. We will return to this subject in a later article, when the criteria for selection are known. However one criteria already established is that the building project must be completed between 1 Jan 2005 and 31 Jun 2007 to be eligible for entry.
The final area where IFMA members can be involved is in the proposal screening process. We will need a minimum of 4 IFMA members to get involved in this process, which will start in December 2007 and extend to May 2008. Whilst this will involve your commitment to spend time for the reviews and to complete the process, it affords you the opportunity to review some of the best buildings in Hong Kong first hand, fully understand what makes them tick and what features have been included to make them suitable for the quality awards. This is a unique opportunity to gain knowledge from your IFMA membership and to be part of the wider building and facilities field in Hong Kong and the PRD.
During this year we will continue to update members on the progress on this prestigious award and seek the involvement of members.
If you find yourself in Scotland , UK in mid June of this year you could do worse than to attend the CIB W70 Conference in Facilities Management. It is to be held at Heriot Watt University in Scotland from the 16th to the 18th June 2008
The theme of this years conference is Achieving Healthy and Creative Environments and will cover the following topics: -
1.
Enabling creative and innovative environments
2.
Achieving healthy environments through FM
3.
Leveraging building intelligence to support productive environments
4.
Maintaining culture and heritage in built
environments
CIB stands for the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction, and it is the world's foremost platform for international cooperation and information exchange in the area of building and construction research and innovation.
At the heart of the CIB organisation are the 60 or so CIB Commissions. These may take the form of either a Task Group where there is a limited programme that can be accomplished within a defined period, or a Working Commission.
Each Commission has a defined scope, objectives and a work programme and is chaired by a Coordinator or by two Joint Coordinators who facilitate the Commission's activities. The W70 Commission covers Facilities Management and Maintenance.
Dr Edward Finch
Chair, Scientific Committee
for the Conference Organisation e.f.finch@hw.ac.uk
The Interview
We continue our series of interviews with people within the FM industry by interviewing Raddy Yuen Chun Ming , General Manager of Ping An (Shenzhen) Property Investment Management Company.
The people covered by this section of the newsletter will vary, from senior and well-known members of the industry to graduates just starting in the industry. The intention is to provide information on a cross-section of the industry covering how they first became involved in the industry, what they do, how they relax etc. The interviews are conducted and reported by Santa Raymond for the Hong Kong Chapter of IFMA.
Q.
How do you describe the job you do?
A.
Ping An is one of the leading insurance company in mainland China, and one of the few that is publicly listed in Hong Kong . Earlier this year, the property management department was made into a separate company, and the intention is that - apart from running its own property - the company should eventually develop in to a professional facilities management company with the ability to compete in the World market.
Currently, I am responsible for the entire property portfolio which is located in different parts of PRC, and for all the back-up services of the Group. There are close to 156 properties in 20 provinces. Some are locally run, but we manage close to 1M square meters in 7 provinces. There are new offices being constructed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, and we're also investing in retail space.
At head office, there are 13 of us controlling the FM, and with the 700
staff in all the provinces, it's hectic but challenging. We're busy p utting all the different systems in place. Our IT systems are sophisticated, and are supported by the parent company's 5 00 strong IT team. We aim to be a paperless office, and though we're not there yet, there's much less than what we used to have in my previous jobs. .
Ping An employs 3 00,000 staff, and the Group specifically established Ping An University in Shenghen to train its own staff . Ping An University includes a ho s tel for students and we aim to expand what is taught even further . Mr Peter Ma, CEO of the Ping An Group, is very much up-to-date in modern management techniques, and the new headquarters and back-up centre in Zhangjiang, Pudong New Area, Shanghai is designed like a university campus in England . Likewise the retail and office complex (also in Pudong), which will be completed in 2008, doesn't look like a shopping mall, but rather like the American White House!
Q.
What is your background?
A.
I was born, brought up and studied social work and law in Hong Kong, and obtained qualifications from IFMA, BIFM, the International Institute of Management and the Institute of Management Consultancy.
Having worked for various law firms for over ten years, I joined Fairview Park Property Management as Administrative Manager for Fairview Park in Yuen Long . This is still - after so many years - the biggest low-rise residential development in Hong Kong , and consists of over 5,000 semi-detached houses, a residents' club, shops, offices, wet and dry markets, schools, 120 acres of landscaping including an artificial lake, and an intensive estate road with shuttle bus transportation. I was responsible for all financial, legal and practical aspects of the project, including liaising with Government and residents, co-ordinating the project team, and managing services for the 20,000 residents.
From 1989, I was with Vigers as Regional Director of their FM arm, overseeing the entire property and facilities management operation in Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific Region. Major projects in Hong Kong included HK University, the Jockey Club, Chek Lap Kok Airport , the British Consulate, and the Standard Chartered Bank . In the Philippines , I was involved in The Enterprise Centre development and the Philippine Stock Exchange Building project.
In the late nineties, I joined DTZ Debenham Tie Property Management as Executive Director with an HK portfolio of 26M square meters. I then moved to Sun Chung Property Management as Director and General Manager with responsibilities all over China .
Q.
Why did you apply for your current job?
A.
Four year's ago, I started working in Sun Shung which is an associate company of Bank of China and found that I could survive the PRC company culture, and was keen to develop all the opportunities that I saw there. In February this year, I was head hunted to join Ping An. In my previous position, there was little support for becoming World players, but here the brief was to be an international company able to compete with other international firms. The challenge to develop World Class branding was just what I'd been looking for.
Q.
What are your current key projects?
A.
Establishing a world class FM system in our newly constructed Headquarters. In addition,
taking over the management of the University . I was given less than a month's notice to take over the University Shifting the entire team, we have to ensure a smooth transition for the 200 staff, making sure things are stable and that they are not affected by the change. We are introducing modern ways of management and putting in systems. Working hand-in-hand with the University, we are dealing with sensitive issues, including overcoming legal restrictions. We are developing new communication and accounts systems, and ensuring that the outsourced contracts - such as cleaning and catering - are properly dealt with.
A major change is that the Group has decided to transfer all back-up clerical functions to the company before January, so that all their resources will be concentrated in developing core business. The advantage for these staff is that they will then have the chance of promotion which doesn't exist for non-core business staff within the insurance company.
Q.
What are your current key projects?
A.
Establishing a world class FM system in our newly constructed Headquarters. In addition,
taking over the management of the University . I was given less than a month's notice to take over the University Shifting the entire team, we have to ensure a smooth transition for the 200 staff, making sure things are stable and that they are not affected by the change. We are introducing modern ways of management and putting in systems. Working hand-in-hand with the University, we are dealing with sensitive issues, including overcoming legal restrictions. We are developing new communication and accounts systems, and ensuring that the outsourced contracts - such as cleaning and catering - are properly dealt with.
A major change is that the Group has decided to transfer all back-up clerical functions to the company before January, so that all their resources will be concentrated in developing core business. The advantage for these staff is that they will then have the chance of promotion which doesn't exist for non-core business staff within the insurance company.
Q.
What do you see as the future for FM?
A.
Most people in HK, in Asia , see FM as cost cutting, but this has to change. FM gives businesses a chance to concentrate on core business. Here, at Ping An, I'm trying to change ideas about this, but we have the advantage in that we're not competing with outside contractors - so we can prove that real FM works.
In HK, we are well educated and have the chance to integrate with Western culture. In PRC, they don't have the same chance and are less well educated compared with the much higher international standard in Hong Kong , but - on the other side - they are keen to learn, and also more relaxed - as costs are not so high. In HK costs have to be controlled by using less people, making better use of HR and of space, but in PRC there's not the same demand to consolidate work. However, they do need to be motivated to make better use of people with more multi-tasking and financial incentives (like sharing saved salaries).
Q.
What do you do to relax?
A.
Not enough! Travelling from my home in the New Territories to Shenzhen most days doesn't leave much time. I used to fence, but haven't done any sport for over 20 years. So I guess my main pleasure is walking the dogs - a Pekinese and a Japanese Akita , and enjoying my black cat and my Chinchilla.
Q.
If you didn't work with facilities what would you like to do?
A.
Run a pet shop, or do voluntary work for organisations like the SPCA, work with abandoned animals and improve my communication with animals (in which I've been recently taking lessons with an expert).
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