The community has expressed general support for the need to take timely action to tackle the long-standing problem of building neglect, the Secretary for Housing, Planning & Lands said today.

Addressing the Building Surveyors Conference 2003 of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors this morning, Michael Suen said some sectors of the community had proposed reviving the mandatory building-inspection.

"We need to consider if a mandatory building inspection scheme meets the test of long-term sustainability," he said.

Building neglect has given rise to problems including premature building deterioration, rampant erection of unauthorised building structures, poorly maintained drainage systems and unsatisfactory sanitary conditions.

Building owners must accept maintenance responsibility

Building owners had to accept responsibility for properly maintaining their buildings, Mr Suen noted.

"Given that most buildings in poor maintenance have no formal management structure at all, we have received suggestions that it should be made a compulsory requirement for all buildings in multiple ownership to have some form of building management, for example, through the mandatory formation of owners' corporations or appointment of a building manager," he said.

"Our preliminary view is that an owners' corporation in itself may not be a guarantee of good management and maintenance, especially if the members are inactive."

The community needed further discussion on the role of owners' corporations vis-a-vis professional managers in pursuing quality building care, he said.

Paradigm shift needed

Mr Suen suggested that there was a need for a paradigm shift in the approach to building management and maintenance.

It required at least three major elements: fostering a better building care culture among building owners, integrating building maintenance with management and promoting owner-industry partnership.

"Modern building management and maintenance requires cross-disciplinary effort. There are considerable opportunities for further development of the building management industry by pulling together the necessary legal, architectural, surveying, management and other related expertise," he said.

The idea of a multi-disciplinary building management industry was not entirely new, and some professional building management firms already have such a capacity. There is, he noted, scope for expansion.

"Some possibilities are, for example, offering 'bulk purchase' arrangements for a group of neighbouring buildings to achieve economies of scale and to optimise operating costs, and providing all-inclusive agreements covering both ongoing management and long-term maintenance."

The industry's ultimate aim is to be able to provide competitive long-term, one-stop services to building owners, he said.

Regular building maintenance integral to proper management

With the provision of quality and efficient one-stop services by the industry to owners, regular building maintenance would then become an integral part of proper management.

"Such private sector efforts would enable owners to better discharge their responsibility for the upkeep of their buildings, and would create a win-win situation for owners and the industry alike."

The Government has received various suggestions as to how to increase both the push and pull forces in promoting better building maintenance. They included a building classification scheme, temporary assistance for the genuinely needy and measures for increasing the public's awareness.

A consultation exercise to gauge the views of the public on issues relating to building management and maintenance will be launched soon.