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President's View
TWO AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE GO TO THE HONG KONG CHAPTER
I am extremely honored to announce that the Hong Kong Chapter of IFMA has achieved not 1, but 2 Awards of Excellence for both the entries we submitted: Newsletter Publishing and Professional Development.
I have been involved in the Chapter's affairs since around 2000 and I have always emphasized what a great team of volunteers the Chapter has. These are individuals who have been consistently focused on delivering value to the FM community and improving the status of our chosen profession.
This significant achievement is therefore something for us to shout out aloud about.
The Awards for Excellence program was designed to celebrate exceptional achievements in 15 categories and honor facility professionals, associate members, educators, chapters and councils who show extra-ordinary vision and accomplishments.
The Chapter Award of Excellence in Newsletter Publishing is presented to the chapter that produces a regular publication that communicates chapter activities, related events and opportunities to its readers. Meeting the needs of the reader, appearance, quality, resources and continual improvement were reviewed.
The Chapter Award of Excellence in Professional Development is presented to the chapter which demonstrating exceptional support of professional development in their facility management community. The chapter receiving this award consistently presents outstanding programs designed to meet the needs of professional members, provides career support services to its membership, supplements monthly programs with seminars or classes taught through local colleges or universities and champions CFM certification.
At the start of the 2005/2006 year, the new Board set out a strategic plan for the year ahead and with the aim of providing world class services to our members; it was with the Awards of Excellence in mind, that the plan was formulated.
These Awards are therefore no small measure of success and reflect the time and dedication of a number of individuals within the Chapter who dedicate a lot of time and energy to serve the members of the chapter and the FM community in Hong Kong. They have delivered against their commitments to you as members.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend World Workplace however I am very pleased that our Director of Communications, Tony Garland, and Immediate Past President, Jon Seller, will be in San Diego in October to accept the awards at the gala dinner which wraps up the whole event.
We will cover the whole event in the November or December issue.
Also on the near horizon is our October conference at which we have once again lined up some world class speakers. This year the conference is again being co-organized with our friends at HKIFM. The Hong Kong conference is part of a 2 day event with the 2nd day of the conference being held in Chongqing, China. Whilst staging this event may not have required the collaboration of the World Cup 2002 in Japan and Korea, it is an excellent example of how we have strived to work with HKIFM to bring all of our members greater value and better professional development opportunities.
Further details of the October conference are contained in this newsletter and as usual, I urge you to apply for the Early Bird rates: not only to secure the best price, but to secure your seat.
Congratulations to the Hong Kong Chapter 14th Anniversary!
Charter Date: September 14, 1992
Yes, this month will be the 14th year of the Hong Kong Chapter of IFMA. We are already anticipating next year, the 15th anniversary, when we are planning a major conference to coincide. You will already have seen the call for papers for this conference, which retains the "Integrate" theme from this year. Applications to submit papers must be received by the 30th September 2006 so if you have the urge to say something of interest, let us know.
This month sees the start of the conference season, as we have promotions for no less than 6 facilities related conferences, located across the region. Although coming at the end of the list chronologically the most important is the Hong Kong Chapter of IFMA conference. The theme is to integrate a range of topics covering the harder issues such as sustainability and benchmarking with the softer people issues such as empowerment and corporate culture. Of particular interest will be the talk by Steve Gladwin which will cover the way Australia has taken up the issue of facilities management at government level, significantly raising its profile, and the collaboration between IFMA, FMA and BIFM, leading to a Global FM organisation. Early bird registration closes on 25th of September so book now.
On another note, you may have noticed that we did not issue a newsletter in August. In common with many other organizations and publications, the Board has decided to publish only 11 times each year, rolling the August and September publications in to a single issue. There are many reasons for doing this, not least the holiday season which means that many people are out of town. We also need to give the new Board some time to settle in after elections in July. We trust you will understand and accept this change.
2nd International Symposium on Scientific Feng Shui and Built Environment 2006
Last year we brought you news of the first scientific feng shui and the built environment symposium, held in Hong Kong in September 2005.
Due to the success of the 1st symposium where more than 80 delegates attended, many from overseas, a 2nd symposium is being organised for this year. This will be extended to include a half day field study trip around Hong Kong Island. The field study will be conducted by the organising committee members and other experts, and will explain Feng Shui associated with various landmarks both academically and professionally.
The symposium is co-organised by the Asian Institute of Intelligent Buildings (AIIB) and Building Services Operation and Maintenance Executives Society (BSOMES., and the Hong Kong Chapter of IFMA has been invited to be a supporting organization.
The 2nd International Symposium on Scientific Feng Shui and Built Environment will be held on 4th and 5th October, 2006 (Thursday and Friday) at Wei Hing Theatre, City University of Hong Kong.
Pacific Crossings - the AIA Hong Kong / Shanghai 2006 Conference
As part of a week of educational, cultural and inspirational activities the Hong Kong Chapter of the America Institute of Architects will be hosting a conference in Hong Kong on Monday the 16th October 2006. The event will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Central.
This event is jointly organised by the Hong Kong Chapter of AIA and the AIA Committee on Design. The week starts in Hong Kong on the 15th October with seminars, discussions, exhibitions and a series of organised tours of iconic Hong Kong buildings.
The Hong Kong conference has secured renowned speakers including the 2006 national president of the AIA, Kate Schwennsen and Christine Loh, the co-founder of Civic Exchange, the Hong Kong public policy think tank.
Mid-week the conference moves to Shanghai and culminates in the AIA Committee on Design Fall Conference, held in Shanghai on 22nd October.
16th Congress of the World Federation of Building Service Contractors
This congress is to be held in Seoul on October starting on the 15th and closing on the 19th, with pre and post congress tours at either end.
For those FMers who may be a little confused by the term "Building Service", in this context it applies to cleaning and all things related. The congress is to hold a series of business meetings covering such topics as: -
"Direction of cleaning through the world";
"Green design and sustainability of building sanitation management";
"Check and improvement of our work results and system of work and execution";
"Profitable control of labour turnover of building service company";
Whilst most office workers will ignore cleaning as a background activity that does not affect them, until of course they have a reason to complain, FMers will want to understand how the industry is managing all the above questions. As someone with an overview of the cleaning for a large portfolio of buildings, the writer of this article has a particular interest in understanding these matters and but like most of you will be unable to get to this the event.
This congress has been brought to out attention by JohnsonDiversy and the Chapter will work with them to try to bring you more information in the future, in a usable format.
Guidelines on Sustainable Fitting out and User Operations/Behaviour for
Commercial Premises from the Business Environment Council
The Business Environment Council Ltd is a leading independent cross-sector business association in Hong Kong advocating environmental and sustainable development. Their aim is to balance economic, social and environmental interests whilst empowering competitiveness. They are a regional partner of the World Business Council of Sustainable Development. You can find out more from their web site.
As part of their work they are seeking to prepare a publication on fitting out guidelines for commercial buildings (including offices and shopping malls) in Hong Kong.
The publication will consist of around 30 pages of practice guidelines suitable for Hong Kong conditions and will be presented in a simple and user friendly manner. The key objective of their study is to provide a comprehensive set of guidance materials and best practices for fitting out, renovation and retrofitting works, and users' operations/behaviour.
The Hong Kong Chapter of IFMA has been requested to serve on a review committee, to comment on the proposals and draft deliverables. The time frame for completion identifies February / March as the date set for publication. We will keep you up-to-date on the progress of this important document.
Ian Dodds, General Manager - Operations of PCPD Facilities Management Ltd. since 2002 and past Director of the Hong Kong Chapter of IFMA, is leaving Hong Kong to return to his native Australia. Ian confirms that retirement is not yet planned as he will be spending sometime running his residential property construction company in Perth, but he is also looking to spend more time with his golf clubs, surf board and fishing rods.
Ian first came to Hong Kong in February 1997 to take up the position or Operations Director with SERCo, responsible for managing the then out-sourced property services section for Cable & Wireless HKT. He left the organisation in 1998 to return to Australia, still with SERCo for a time but left to join the City of Freemantle in Western Australia, essentially as a change manager.
In 2001, with the out-sourced contract for Cable & Wireless HKT now let to Citex-Vigers in 1999 and the contract up for renewal, Citex-Vigers invited Ian back to Hong Kong to act as the Operations Director for the new contract. Unfortunately his return coincided with a decision by PCCW to in-source the property services contract and Ian came back to preside over the transition process for transferring the operations back to PCCW.
At the end of this process Ian was offered his current position and has spent four and a half years in assisting to build up and integrate the organisation, bringing together the elements of PCCW (now Pacific Century Premium Developments Ltd) and Citex-Vigers into a fully functional organisation providing a clearly defined service to the client - now the PCCW Group.
Ian was elected a Director of IFMA from in July 2003 and served for the 2003 / 2004 year contributing to the professional development programme and the 2003 conference. In July 2004 he was elected as a Vice President of the Hong Kong Chapter of IFMA and carried out much the same function as the previous year. His contacts in Australia were helpful to bringing some great speakers to the conferences for two years.
We continue our series of interviews with people within the FM industry by interviewing Connie Ho Shun Yiu CFM, Facilities Manager, HK / PRC, Global Real Estate and Facilities, ExxonMobil Hong Kong Ltd.
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.
What do you consider describes the job you do?
A.
At ExxonMobil, our mission is safety - that nobody gets hurt - so my job is to ensure that our facilities offer safe, healthy, secure environments for the smooth operation of the business. When Exxon and Mobil merged in 1999, it was a question of managing change so that everyone was aligned on the safety culture, processes and systems.
We lease offices, so my responsibilities include all the internal maintenance, cleaning, ergonomics, air conditioning, lighting, cleaning and janitorial arrangements generally. We have risk assessment programmes in place, plus preventative maintenance ones which include things like checking right down to the screws on chairs. Out of safety and health concerns, we have established stringent standards in various areas. For instance, on catering, we have pantry facilities, but our guidelines prohibit food consumption in meeting rooms except for lunchtime meetings, and are very particular about how rubbish is disposed of.
Apart from offices in Hong Kong, we have offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, with a total area of about 170,000 sq.ft. in six buildings for 900 people.
As I am based in Hong Kong, I manage the other sites by remote control most of the time, working with the twenty plus people located locally including out-house contractors. Generally, I visit each site quarterly, except Shanghai where I go more frequently. With out-tasking - like the Help Desk, Mail Room and, in some cases, Maintenance - we make stringent demands on the vendor about the service level and its management - including safety.
Q.
What is your background?
A.
When I left school I worked for University Health Service, and then moved to the Mass Transit Railway Corporation - most of the time in public affairs. I joined Exxon 28 years ago as a public affairs assistant. For the last 23 years I have taken up positions of Training Manager and Public Affairs Manager, but most of the years as Facilities Manager.
With little idea of what knowledge one might need, I was determined to equip myself, so I studied and got qualified in business management, personnel management, training management, public relations and communications with Frank Jefkins Public Relations School in London, and marketing with the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and facilities management as CFM from IFMA.
Q.
Why did you apply for your current job?
A.
I was appointed to the current position after taking up a number of managerial positions in the company.
Q.
What are your current key projects?
A.
With the fast growing Shanghai facilities, establishing safe and efficiently operated facilities with a strong safety culture, and strengthening the mindsets of the new FM team there are the major focus areas. Together with this, managing the expansion renovation there and putting in the operating systems and processes are also my priorities. Ethics is another major area, ensuring that everything is done properly, with segregation of duties and proper procedures in place.
In Shanghai , we have gone totally open plan, with only low screens. It involved consultation and time during the change, but the result turned out to be improved interaction and communication. Even the general manager has no office, which is essential if we would like to have people's acceptance of this practice. This is another change we have to manage. But it is amazing to find out that people working in this environment are sensitive to the openness and just make less noise.
Q.
What do you see as the future for FM?
A.
Facilities Management is starting to be recognized as a profession. The mindset of FM people is changing so that it is no longer a question of them accepting being shovelled all sorts of miscellaneous jobs and fire fighting, but of having systems in place for smooth operation.
There is a lot in a good professional facilities manager. They have to be flexible but firm keeping the boundaries of Facilities Management. Facilities Managers have to be there on Day One when preparing the site. They should have the mindset of how to efficiently manage the facilities, interact with clients by putting themselves in other peoples' shoes; how you - yourselves - would like to be treated and what kind of environment you would like to work in. Of course, having a technical background would help, but one can always learn and get the grasp of it. There are always learning opportunities like the good IFM training programs, and Technical For Non-Technical FM.
To have high safety awareness in their blood is also important. The reason why a safe and healthy environment is so important is that otherwise efficiency will be sacrificed; with it - people work happily. Safety awareness should be taken home to families too. We have safety days for the family and other activities, so that with safety awareness spreading to the home, people worry less about their families and this helps enhance work performance as well.
Q.
What do you do to relax?
A.
I paint, and also go to the gym - as since I broke my Achilles tendon (playing tennis) I can't play any more. I'm also a trained acupuncturist, and there's never a moment when I'm not learning - as an FM you need to know about everything.
Q.
If you didn't work with facilities what would you like to do?
A.
I would like to be a communicator, or a trainer in communication. Communicating with people is very important; how you convey your message, how you put it across and how people take it.
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