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Two major events highlighted the months of
February and March for IDA. The Association joined Designers' Saturday,
which was held on February 26th, as one of the participating venues, and
on March 12th the inaugural forum on "Registered Interior Designers
Association" kicked off.
Designers'
Saturday
Designers' Saturday, we all know, is an
event celebrating the Hong Kong design industry, and after a two-year
waiting we could not afford to miss it! With our headquarters at Hong Kong
Design Centre, 28 Kennedy Road, we were a little bit off the major route
which was Central/Soho/Sheung Wan, but it was also a very good exercise
for IDA to promote its mission and to recruit potential new members.
Student members from IVE Shatin and PolyU joined and helped out on the day
and, just by looking at the pictures, they must have had great fun there!
Our Chairman Barrie Ho also opened his studio to the general
public and from his studio which situates right in the centre of Wyndham
Street, one could see queues of people waiting to enter and visit one of
those participating design firms and studios. Barrie said it was very
encouraging indeed to see such positive response. Congratulations to the
organizers of Designers' Saturday and we certainly look forward to another
"doggy" Saturday next year!
RIDA Forum
On March 12th the long-awaited RIDA Forum
series kicked off. It was although a rainy day, more than thirty members
and some from the press made an effort to attend. The forum commenced at
2:30pm and the post-forum discussion continued for hours into the evening.
We were touched by such positive response as the topic, whether actualized
or not in the end, is of far-reaching ramification and impact.
Mr.
Patrick Lau, the Association's Hon. Patron and Legislative Council member
opened the forum and gave a short introduction on the topic. Barrie Ho,
the Association's Chairman then took the chance to reiterate the mission
and objective of IDA, which is "to develop and improve professional
standards of designers, contractors and suppliers to include codes of
conduct, standards of creativity, workmanship and technical innovation; to
unite and advance the professionalism of commercial interior design
through advocacy, education, networking and public relations" and hence
the importance of initiating this forum.
Professional opinions
were provided by Mr. Ambrose Cheong and Mr. Maurice Lee, respectively.
Cheong, Chief Assistant Secretary (Works) of the Environment, Transport
and Works Bureau, gave a very detailed, objective and informative
presentation on the legislative procedures that are required for
"Registration of Construction-related Professionals in Hong Kong." A
snapshot of the presentation materials given by Cheong showed more than
twenty-five steps required for such registration, from pre-legislative
procedures, bill drafting, seeking policy committee's support to reading
and debating in the Legco to the final publication of ordinance in the
Gazette, approved by the Chief Executive, the whole procedures Cheong
said, could take at least a year or two and quite often more than that.
And to refresh our memories, there are currently five Ordinances with
respect to construction-related professionals approved by the Government,
namely, Architects Registration Ordinance (Cap 408), Engineers
Registration Ordinance (Cap 409), Surveyors Registration Ordinance (Cap
417), Planners Registration Ordinance (Cap 418), and Landscape Architects
Registration Ordinance (Cap 516). Typical requirements for corporate
membership of professional institutes, according to Cheong are:
"recognized academic qualifications", "recognized training and
experience", and "passing of professional assessment".
While
Ambrose Cheong outlined the nuts and bolts of legislative procedures for
the attainment of legalized professional status of the industry Mr.
Maurice Lee, Partner of Robertsons Solicitors & Notaries, who is also
the Association's legal consultant, stressed the pros and cons of such
initiative. Lee's presentation, entitled "What are the Characteristics of
a 'Professional Body'?" underlined the sweet as well as the sour of
professional bodies in general. Rights and responsibilities always come
together. Lee knows, of course, coming from the legal industry which has
one of the city's strongest and longest-history professional bodies. The
attributes of professional bodies, according to Lee are: Expertise,
Monopoly, Autonomy (meaning self-promoting, self-regulating and sometimes
self-legislating), Transparency and Accountability, A Professional
Secretariat, Political Participation, and Heavy Workload. In other words,
once a Professional Body is established it actually becomes a
self-financed, non-profit-making company which will require a structure of
paid workers to run the organization. Some of the professional bodies in
Hong Kong, Lee said, employed at least a hundred staffers in order to
administer and carry out the functions of the bodies properly.
Notwithstanding the benefits professional bodies will attain such
as higher respect and status, monopoly of business, and becoming a
powerful profession within the community and outside Hong Kong, Lee also
reminded members of the heavy workload, huge expenses and a lot of public
commitments and obligations that will evolve as a result. Having said that
Lee closed his presentation on a positive note quoting that in China
mainland, most of the professional bodies he encountered, did stress the
importance of level grounds and the need to identifying professional
bodies of the same status in Hong Kong if ever they wanted to conduct any
cross-border collaboration.
Members who attended the forum were
enthusiastic in giving their views and raising questions while Patrick
Lau, who was also the past Chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of
Architects shared his invaluable experience on the legislative procedures
of the architectural industry in Hong Kong, which definitely shed some
lights on the current motion. All three of the guest speakers, Lau, Cheong
and Lee gave some very practical and realistic information and insights,
which the Association is very grateful for, and it is to the members and
the industry at large who will make the final decision on whether the
button be pushed. More rounds of such forum and discussion are in the
pipeline; make sure you watch out for the next date!
But one thing
beyond contention and agreed on is: public education and enhancing public
awareness on the interior design profession and industry's best practice
is first and foremost.
(If you are a member of the IDA and
would like to obtain a copy of Mr. Maurice Lee's presentation outline,
please contact the IDA administrator admin@hkida.com)
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