24 Feb 04 - Press Release
International Collaboration between BEC, CIRIA & HKPU that Benefits Construction Industry in Hong Kong
In order to visualize the mission of harnessing the building and infrastructure industries’ efforts towards sustainability and performance improvement, Business Environment Council (BEC) is proud to announce today (24 Feb 04) the development of the tri-partite collaboration between BEC, the UK’s Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA), and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Faculty of Construction & Land Use/Department of Building & Real Estate (HKPU).
The key areas of collaboration between the three parties will include the sales and promotion of CIRIA publications and training packages; joint development and execution of research projects, workshop, training events, conferences and discussion groups; provision of proactive advice to relevant government and industry initiatives; promotion of best practice amongst respective member organizations in the fields of construction productivity and innovation, construction economics, construction IT, environmental management and sustainability.
CIRIA regularly publishes books with themes such as Environmental Management, Risk and Value Management, Waste Management and Sustainability. According to CIRIA, more than 38,000 copies of CIRIA publications were purchased in 2002, of which 20% were sold overseas. In the partnership, BEC will be responsible for the sales and promotion of CIRIA publications.
Dr Andrew Thomson, Chief Executive Officer of BEC, said, “BEC targets to provide a central and open-to-all resource for Hong Kong’s building community, providing new and identifying existing sources of information for Hong Kong construction professionals and the broader community public. Through the partnership, we again strengthen the delivery of mission to the Hong Kong community achieve sustainable development.”
Besides, BEC will be responsible for the recruitment of CIRIA members in Hong Kong, including Construction Industry Environmental Forum (CIEF) Members, Construction Productivity Network (CPN) Members and New Books Club (NBC) Members.
In the UK, CPN and CIEF are both over 10 years old and each have around 200 corporate members. They are events-based, and between them provide around 70 workshops and seminars per year held in different parts of the country.
Professor Tim Broyd, Chief Executive of CIRIA said, “CIRIA was established over 40 years ago to provide a means for leading organizations in industry, government and academics to work together to improve the performance of the broad construction industry. Since then it has delivered more than 600 separate reports and training packs covering wide ranges of topics in technology, management and environmental issues. These reports are increasingly being bought by organizations in Hong Kong. I am delighted to sign these agreements today, and look forward to working with our new partners to cement and increase our presence in Hong Kong.”
Professor Andrew Baldwin, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Land Use, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University said, “Sustainability, Environmental Engineering, Water and Waste Management, Building Facilities and Construction Management practices are all high on the Faculty’s Research Agenda. This collaborative initiative will help ensure that we continue to work with industry and leading research organizations not only locally but internationally to the benefit of the Hong Kong Community.”
For more information, please contact 2784 3900 or email us.