form of effective management involved the Division in a large amount of additional work, and some 80% of all Drainage Notices were carried out in default and the costs recovered from the owners.
Page 5.27
WORKS DIVISION
Chief Building Surveyor:
G.F. HOGG, F.R.I.C.S., C.Eng., M.I.Struct.E.
The principal role of the Works Division is the execution of building works where the owners of a building have failed to carry out works required by a statutory order served under the Buildings Ordinance. This work is carried out by a private firm of building contractors under the Buildings Ordinance Office Works Contract which is tendered for annually and comprises mainly repair work to hillside slopes threatening private buildings, demolition of, or repair to, dangerous buildings and reinstatement of defective drains.
5.28 Works in connection with the clearance of Crown land continued to be carried out by a Senior Building Surveyor on secondment to the Crown Lands and Survey Office. This officer also continued to be responsible for the maintenance of buildings under the control of the Property Management Division of the Crown Lands and Survey Office, using the Buildings Ordinance Office Works Contract.
5.29 Contracts for the demolition of 43 buildings in all were met during the year, most of which were in connection with the 'pilot scheme area' in the 'urban renewal district' in Hong Kong. Works to private buildings were also carried out on behalf of other Offices, such as the removal of verandahs to 24 buildings in Nathan Road, Kowloon, in connection with the Mass Transit Railway system, which involved considerable detailed preplanning since these works were required to be carried out while the buildings remained occupied.
5.30
STAFF AND TRAINING
Although there was some increase in staff during the year the Office as a whole operated below strength, there being at the end of the year 34 vacancies in the Building Surveyor/Assistant Building Surveyor grade, 18 vacancies in the Structural Engineer/Assistant Structural Engineer grade and 2 vacancies in the Engineer/Assistant Engineer grade.
5.31 The Professional Training Board, comprising a Chairman, 2 local officers qualified as Chartered Surveyors and a Student Building Surveyor, continued to assist Student Building Surveyors in their preparations for the examinations of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The Board also supervised a training programme required by the Test of Professional Competence to ensure a balanced and broad experience within a profession. To further this latter requirement some students were seconded to the Housing Department (Construction Branch) and the Architectural Office (Minor Works Division and Building Services Branch).
5.32 At the beginning of the year there were two Assistant Building Surveyors and ten Student Building Surveyors under training and during the year a further eight Student Building Surveyors were appointed.
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