Resident Liaison Ambassadors share experience in building management (with photos)

To further enhance the management of old buildings, the Home Affairs Department (HAD) today (March 20) held a "Resident Liaison Ambassador" workshop to provide a platform for residents of old buildings to share their experience in building management.

The workshop featured a briefing session on fire safety given by an officer from the Fire Services Department, and a few owners who had completed special building management training courses also shared their experience in fire prevention and building management. Moreover, around 90 "Resident Liaison Ambassadors" took the chance to meet one another and share experience, building up a network to help them handle building management matters more effectively in the future.

Speaking at the workshop, the Director of Home Affairs, Mrs Pamela Tan, said the HAD launched the Resident Liaison Ambassador Scheme to recruit owners and tenants living in old buildings without any form of management as "Resident Liaison Ambassadors". They have two major roles to play: contributing instantly on routine building management by contacting fellow residents and engaging them to discuss building management matters, and in the longer run assisting the Government in motivating residents to form owners' corporations (OCs) as a step forward for the good management of their buildings.

She said, "Old buildings would encounter many issues when forming OCs, among them the difficulty of finding enough owners to take up the membership of an OC as there are often more tenants than owners living in these buildings.

"In this regard, our ambassadors can build up a liaison network among the residents and lay a good foundation for future formation of OCs. In fact, we have already established three OCs in Central and Western District, Wan Chai and Kowloon City under the 'Resident Liaison Ambassador' network."

The HAD launched the "Resident Liaison Ambassador" Scheme in November last year. The scheme aims to recruit owners and tenants living in buildings 30 years old or older and without any form of management as "Resident Liaison Ambassadors". Their functions are:

- To establish a resident liaison network to promote the message of effective building management;

- To assist in contacting residents for meetings to discuss routine building management matters such as cleaning, security and fire safety, and to encourage residents to share their experience and knowledge in building management;

- To assist the Government's joint operations in building safety and fire safety; and

- To advise respective District Offices (DOs) on building management matters.

The community has responded very actively to the scheme. As at the end of February this year, around 550 "Resident Liaison Ambassadors" had been successfully recruited and four briefing sessions had been organised by DOs. Apart from regularly updating a database for the scheme, DOs will continue to provide basic training courses on building management to the ambassadors as well as invite them to join the training activities relating to building safety or fire prevention organised by government departments.

Any owners or tenants aged 18 or above living in buildings 30 years old or older and without any form of management are welcome to join the "Resident Liaison Ambassador" Scheme. Interested persons can complete the registration form and send it to the District Building Management Liaison Team of the respective DOs. Relevant forms are available at the Public Enquiry Service Centres of DOs, or can be downloaded from the HAD's webpage on building management (www.buildingmgt.gov.hk ).

Ends/Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Issued at HKT 19:17