Urban Renewal Authority 2018-19 Annual Report

22 MANAGING DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT As for younger buildings, since most have already had their own OCs or owners’ organisations formed with statutory capacity to organise building maintenance works, effort should be focused on promoting the formulation of a regular maintenance plan and providing assistance to owners in handling building inspections and works assessment and the organisation of building rehabilitation works, so that the structural safety and liveability of the buildings can be maintained on a continuous basis. To address the issue of inadequate reserves for funding repair works, the study suggests that the government, URA and stakeholders in the financial sector should devise different financial tools to encourage mandatory contribution by owners to a special fund dedicated to the expenses incurred for oncoming building maintenance. As the BRP is established to equip building owners with comprehensive knowledge on building rehabilitation, it will keep refreshing its content and features to acquaint owners with up-to-date information. In addition to providing standard documents and contracts for owners’ reference and better understanding during the procurement process, the BRP will further roll out two new services of Cost Reference Centre and Service Providers Directory next year to offer comprehensive information on market rates so as to encourage fair and equitable cost, as well as to identify suitable works contractors during the selection process, thereby easing owners’ frustrations over deficiency of information on market practices and services. With this financial and technical assistance on building rehabilitation in place, I look forward to an increased awareness among owners towards establishing the practice of regular building maintenance, coupled with enhanced capabilities and confidence in organising relevant works so that eventually the perception of “building rehabilitation” will no longer be taken as “one-off repair for dilapidated buildings”, but a preventive strategy to be adopted when buildings are still young, thus enabling us to nip the urban decay issue in the bud. Embracing Data-Driven Decision-making in Business To keep pace with the government’s plan to build a Smart City, our future work of urban regeneration and its related decision-making mechanism shall be enhanced to progress with time. The URA is currently developing its “Urban Renewal Information System” (URIS) based on geographic data to strengthen its ability to process and analyse vast amounts of planning information, enabling more comprehensive reviews on the impacts to the environment, economy and population from multiple perspectives, thereby helping the URA to formulate urban renewal plans that can better address social needs. Meanwhile, our full application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has also enhanced the effectiveness in managing our projects, as it helps rationalise engineering procedures and resolve complications that may have occurred in project development. BIM will continue to be adopted, upon completion of construction works, to monitor and document the functionality of various facilities of the project, thereby enhancing the work of property management and maintenance in the long term. Utilising the BIM (Building Information Modelling) in project management to rationalise complicated procedures for better efficiency. Members of staff visiting the Construction Innovation and Technology Application Centre to keep abreast of latest construction technology.