CO129-595-6 Building Reconstruction Advisory Committee Report 9-4-1946 - 10-6-1947 — Page 19

HK 'HOUSING

REHABILITATION DIRECTOR

APPOINTED

PROMOTION OF SCHEMES FOR QUICK REPAIRS

WING-COMDR FABER

It was officially announced yesterday that the Governor has appointed Wing-Commander S. E. Faber, AFC (MICE), to be Director of Building Rehabilita- tion.

Wing-Cdr. Faber's duty will be to promote and co-ordinate schemes throughout the Colony to enable damaged buildings to be repaired as quickly as possible and to recommend to the Government such action as is necessary to achieve this. The Director will also be responsible for carrying into effect such recommen- dations of the recent Building Re- construction Advisory Committee as may be accepted by the Government. He will maintain a continuous survey of the whole situation in regard to the repair of houses and will give particular attention to the co-ordination of the supply and demand of building materials. The intention is that all orders for build- ing materials to be imported into the Colony shall be co-ordinated through one central agency, and the General Chamber of Commerce have con- sented to provide the necessary faci- lities to enable this to be done.

It will be recalled that earlier in the year the Administration sent special purchasing missions to Aus- tralia and New Guinea in an attempt to relieve the acute shortage of building supplies. Representatives of commercial firms were given facilities to accompany these missions. In spite of the acute shortages, these missions succeeded in procuring a certain amount of urgently required material which has since been used with good effect to restart repairs to essential housing on a minimum basis. The position is still far from satisfactory and the main bottleneck of shortage of materials continues. The areas from which Hongkong would normally draw its building supplies have in each case extensive building programmes of their own, including the enormous backlog of the war years, and very little of their stocks is consequently available. The authorities will, however, con- tinue to do everything possible to assist in obtaining the materials which are so urgently required in Hongkong.

Wing-Comdr Faber's Career Fifty-four years of age, Wing- Commander Faber first came to the Far East in 1921 as Construction Engineer with the Shanghai Muni- cipal Council. He held this appoint- ment until 1927, when he joined the Shanghai office of Anderson Meyer & Co. for a year.

In 1928 he became a Consulting Civil Engineer in Shanghai on his own and came to Hongkong in the same capacity in 1936. He remained in the Colony until 1941.

Born in London of Danish parents, Wing-Commander Faber was educat- ed at St Dunstan's College and the City and Guilds College, London University. His degrees and diplomas are A.C.G.I. (1912), BSc (Hons) Eng. (1913), D.I.C. (1912), A.M. Inst. C.E. (1919), M. Inst. C.E. (1934), M. Am. Soc. C.E. (1930) and M. Inst. Struc. (1923).

Wing-Commander Faber served in World War I, holding the rank of Captain in the Special Reserve, Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force. During World II, he served with the Airfield Construction Ser- vices of the R.A.F. with the rank of Wing Commander.

Wing-Commander Faber has one son aged 19 and a daughter aged 16.