President Dominic Lam (2011-2012)
Dear Members,
Towards the year-end, I take much pleasure to share with you the recent move of the Institute as follow:
- HKIA 55th Anniversary Conference (5 November 2011)
With the theme entitled “Megalopolis and Architecture”, the conference took place on Saturday, 5 November 2011, from 9am – 5pm at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. It aimed to explore the development of megalopolis and its components – the architecture with particular reference to Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta region and other similar developments in the world.
We were very glad to have the presence of Honourable Donald TSANG, the Chief Executive of HKSAR Government as the Guest of Honour to officiate the opening ceremony. We invited keynote speakers from HKSAR Government and different parts of the world, as well as prominent leaders in the profession, building industry and society to join our panel discussion.
We had a record high audience over 570 attendants. For details, please click http://55th.hkiaconference.net/
- HKIA 55th Anniversary Ball – Remember When in the 50s (5 November 2011)
The HKIA 55th Anniversary Ball was held on the same evening of the Conference, with The Honourable Stephen Lam, the Chief Secretary for Administration of the HKSAR Government as the Guest of Honour. The Ball was the highlight of the HKIA 55th Anniversary celebration which provides a platform for networking and most importantly, for our guests, supporters, collaborators and members to remember how well our architects have done to make Hong Kong a different city since the inception of HKIA in 1956.
- HKIA Architecture Week 2011 - Students Visit
We organized visits to 13 Registered Practices, Hong Kong Housing Authority, Architectural Services Department and Department/School of Architecture of The University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong respectively from 3 October - 4 November 2011. Over 470 students and teachers from 25 secondary schools participated in the programme and positive feedback was generated.
- HKIA 55th Anniversary Photographic Competition
We were in receipt of more than 80 submissions in the captioned competition. In the Student Category, we received 23 entries in total from 12 applicants while in the Open Category we got 58 entries from 17 applicants. Results and prize presentation ceremony were made at the HKIA 55th Anniversary Conference scheduled for 5 November 2011.
- HKIA Council Brainstorming Session
In order to set priorities to job-tasks amongst all the Boards and Committees, the Council is going to hold a brainstorming session to hear opinions and needs from our Members and Registered Practices. The brainstorming session shall be held on 10 December 2011.
- New initiatives of HKIA-ARB Professional Assessment
With the aim to make the Professional Assessment (PA) more effective and user-friendly and without compromising the standard of HKIA Members for local registration as well as future possible mutual recognition of professional qualification with other architectural institutes, the Institute has had a review of the current PA system and approved a series of new initiatives to take effect from PA2012. Major changes include introduction of open-book assessment for Papers 1 – 5, increasing the number of assessments of Papers 3, 4 and 5 each year and reduction of number of hours of Paper 7. To let the prospective PA candidates, Office supervisors and Advisers to have a better understanding on the new changes, two briefing sessions were organized on 20 September and 27 September and were attended by over 200 candidates with a small number of Advisers and Office Supervisors.
- CEPA
CEPA legal examination 2011 organized by the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Guangdong province was held on 24 September 2011 in Guangzhou. 169 HKIA members who have had attained PRC Class I Architect Qualification took the exam and all of them got a straight pass. The 100 % passing rate will surely leave a mark at the history of HKIA. We will continue to work with the Government and Mainland counterparts to realize our aspiration in registration for practice on the Mainland.
Dominic K K Lam,
FHKIA
President
9 August 2011
