On 30 March evening, Chartered Institute of Housing Asian Pacific Branch(CIHAPB) and the Department of Public and Social Administration, City University of Hong Kong jointly organized a seminar on Introduction of Building Energy Efficiency Ordinance (Cap 610), & Introduction of Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme and Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme.

The seminar aims to provide members and fellow housing management practitioners a better understanding on the following ordinance and schemes, namely:

a) Building Energy Efficiency Ordinance (Cap 610) which will come into full operation on 21 September 2012; and two subsidiary regulations under the Ordinance, namely Buildings Energy Efficiency (Fees) Regulation (Cap. 610A) and Buildings Energy Efficiency (Registered Energy Assessors) Regulation (Cap. 610B) which were enacted in March 2011. Under the Ordinance, new construction of specific types of buildings and major retrofitting works of relevant building services installations are required to comply with the Building Energy Code, and commercial buildings are required to carry out energy audit.

b) Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS) and Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme (MWIS) which will come into effect in the second quarter this year. The legislations empower the Building Authority (BA) to issue statutory notices to owners as necessary requiring them to carry out prescribed inspections and prescribed repairs of their buildings and windows every 10 years and 5 years respectively. The legislations also provide for matters relating to the appointment, control and duties of Registered Inspectors (RIs) and Qualified Persons (QPs) as well as the procedural requirements for such inspections and repairs of the buildings and windows respectively.

CIHAPB was delighted to have Ir S K Lau and Ir H M Leung , Sr Engineer and Engineer of Energy Efficiency, Electrical & Mechanical Services Department, and Ir H K Ho and Ir T C Kan, Chief and Sr Structural Engineering of Buildings Department of Hong Kong SAR Government to conduct the briefing. The seminar was well received by members of the CIHAPB. Over 100 members and housing professionals have attended the seminar.