Civil Service Newsletter Editorial Board
After graduating from Hong Kong Technical College and qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor, Sr Wong leveraged his new-found knowledge to serve the public by joining the civil service. He explained, “In those days, qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor was quite hard to achieve, but it was an exciting time as technology was just beginning to make its mark on the profession. What is taken for granted today, was—back then—considered amazing advances in technology.” At the start, he joined the then Public Works Department, specialised in building maintenance, and later the Government gave him the opportunity to acquire practical training in the United Kingdom, Sr Wong then returned to continue to make his mark in Hong Kong. He said, “I am proud of the core principles I learned during my studies. Firstly, you must know how to communicate with people, in particular our tenants. You must use your heart to actively listen and always react with courtesy. Secondly, you must pro-actively communicate and take the initiative, rather than waiting for someone to make contact. Finally, you must pay others the courtesy of being punctual for all meetings.”
One year into his civil service career, the Housing Authority was established and started looking for new team members, which piqued Sr Wong’s interest as an excellent chance to utilise his experience and qualifications. He noted, “I saw that a great opportunity opening up, and so I eagerly made the move to the newly established Housing Department (HD). For the rest of more than thirty years in the civil service, I then remained engaged there, rising to the post of Assistant Director in 2001.”
During his tenure in HD as a specialist in building maintenance, Sr Wong undertook extensive survey work which helped identify substandard workmanship and concrete quality in newly constructed buildings. He said, “At that time, our team oversaw the demolition of those substandard blocks and had to carry out considerable remedial works to help ‘rescue’ other blocks which had not yet necessitated demolition.” Despite facing many challenges, Sr Wong stayed positive and paid a lot of efforts in cultivating a fundamental cultural change in the construction industry by according greater emphasis on construction quality. He gathered all maintenance contractors together and trained them up to work smarter and safer in building construction and maintenance. He explained, “We learned the lessons from these challenges, significantly improved construction quality and enhanced the supervision of works. We held annual seminars and conferences to better educate the maintenance contractors — each year focusing on different topics — which had contributed to great improvements in the quality and safety of construction in Hong Kong.”
Sr Wong served in the civil service for almost four decades as a Maintenance Surveyor, spending the first five years in the then Public Works Department and then HD. Sr Wong is confident that it is only by his continuous service for the society that he can realise his belief in life-long learning, and to share his knowledge and experience of sustainable development and building revitalisation with organisations across Hong Kong.
Sr Wong may have retired since his leave from the civil service, but driven by his high motivation, he sustains his endeavour to contribute to the society and acts like a powerhouse in inspiring and bringing about positive change. He said, “I would say I am a small battery, and I can be recharged and recycled many times over. So, I can still contribute a lot to the society — it is never too late to take action to realise your vision and plans.”
To sustain his ongoing self-development and realise his ambition to help nurture younger generations, Sr Wong subsequently took on the role of Adjunct Professor at the Department of Real Estate and Construction of the University of Hong Kong. In the realm of public service, Sr Wong was appointed as a Member of the Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB) from 2013-2018, providing sage advice to the Government on heritage conservation. In 2014, he was also appointed by the Construction Industry Council as a Director of the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC), where he became the Chairman in 2016 and 2017. Never one to sit still, he has also continued to serve the wider community through key roles on both the Advisory Committee on Water Supplies and AAB.
Sr Wong has invested significant time in helping nurture the future pillars of Hong Kong and promoting active listening has been one of his key priorities. Between 2010 and 2016, Sr Wong served as the Director of the MSc Programme in Interdisciplinary Design and Management at the Department of Real Estate and Construction of the University of Hong Kong. He subsequently became an Adjunct Professor teaching surveying, construction and maintenance. He noted, “I find this second career extremely satisfying, as it is important to nurture younger generations though education. The students are receptive to new ideas, and most have family ties to or other close connections with surveying. They tend to be quiet in general, and to help mix with them, I dress as they do. This makes it easier to communicate with them.”
And Sr Wong, certainly walks the talk in this regard, wearing a casual jacket for his Civil Service Newsletter interview, rather than a full suit. It is no surprise that dressing young, talking young and thinking young has helped him in getting closer to younger generations. He further explained, “You must listen carefully to what people are saying, then communicate back using the right language. These communication skills are even more important than mastering technology, and students must learn to develop personal ethics in all their interactions. So, I spend hours passing on my knowledge of professional ethics.” He added, “I encourage them to stay in jobs long enough to gain expertise and not to just job-hop for small material gains. This ethos helps them become much more valued members of the surveying profession.”
Sr Wong noted that it is easier now to qualify as a Chartered Surveyor because of the well-established culture of professionalism. It is a statutory requirement for surveyors, including those working in civil service, to be registered under the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS). In 1984, Sr Wong was one of the founding members of the Institute and has played an active role in its growth. In recognition of his efforts, Sr Wong was presented with the Distinguished Building Surveyor Award in 1998 and elected President of the HKIS for 2010-11. He was also the Chairman of the Surveyors Registration Board from 2009 to 2010, and within the HKIS, he is currently the Chairman of the Senior Members Committee, a member of the Project Management Working Group and a member of the Disciplinary Panel.
He noted, “We have always found the Government receptive to ideas and proposals from various professional bodies, including the HKIS. We have put forward new ideas, fruitful concepts and constructive suggestions to help further enhance the industry to various bureaux and departments, who also greatly welcome our inputs.” One measure suggested by the HKIS, which is now a statutory requirement, was the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS), under which property owners are required to engage appropriate professionals to inspect their buildings every few years. Sr Wong was a member of the Construction Industry Council (CIC) and has become a CIC Fellow in 2021. He was able to leverage CIC forums to help highlight challenges presented by older properties in Hong Kong, usually referred as “grey buildings”, which often suffered from a serious lack of maintenance. As a maintenance surveyor, Sr Wong was very motivated to find suitable solutions to address challenges ranging from spalling concrete and falling ceilings, as well as defective windows and leaking roofs. He said, “Building maintenance is within my key areas of expertise, so this spurred me on to find ways to influence key stakeholders around me and various government committees to help remedy the situation.”
For the same reasons, Sr Wong later joined the AAB, the then Advisory Committee on Water Resources and Quality of Water Supplies and HKGBC — which he once chaired. Sr Wong reflected on how the engagement in the HKGBC had helped develop himself as well as enhanced the industry, “I learned how to enhance building energy efficiency and, more importantly, I also learned the importance of aligning the mindset of various professionals to encourage them to create not just ‘green’ buildings, but ‘evergreen’ buildings.” He explained, “Even if you build a green building, you must also maintain it well. It usually only takes three to five years to design and construct a building, but you must operate, manage and maintain it for up to 100 years. It is a heavy task, and few people understand it thoroughly, so to this day I still actively promote it.” Sr Wong continued, “We are working on to build a platform at the HKGBC for practitioners in different professions, such as architects, building services engineers, maintenance professionals and surveyors, to meet and communicate effectively. Besides, it is also an effective means to persuade building owners and developers to upgrade their old buildings to greener ones. The aim is to convert all ‘grey buildings’ into ‘green’ ones and to turn existing ‘green’ buildings into ‘evergreen’ ones, through long term, preventive and timely maintenance.”
Sr Wong espoused, “Preventive maintenance which is to buildings what sunscreen is to humans, and we must teach the new generation of surveyors to take good care of their buildings. We have too much carbon dioxide in the environment eroding the concrete in old buildings, and building surveyors should be the doctors of buildings.”
Sr Wong recounted when he was an Assistant Director in the HD, spending from 9:30 am in “morning prayers”, following by various committee and project meetings straight through until around 5:30 pm. Despite being very tired, he would then have the second start to his working day in the office. He explained, “I would then take telephone calls from customers, tenants and complainants. I put into practice my active listening and communication skills. I would get home after 8:00 pm, really tired every day, but it was enlightening and enjoyable — especially when I managed to resolve some of their problems.”
Today, Sr Wong still lectures a few days each week and attends meetings of the Supervisory Board of Hong Kong Housing Society from time to time. He said, “My work now is much easier, what I need to do is to provide advice and offer solutions. Whenever I get good feedbacks after they have adopted my ideas and implemented my suggestions, I find it very enjoyable and enlightening.”
Sr Wong noted that the working environment of civil servants is totally different now, with numerous positive changes in culture, procedures, training and ways in which civil servants develop their interests for the benefit of society. He confirmed, “I have full confidence that good leaders in all departments will find ways to lift their staff to even higher levels of participation. Departments and individuals are now really participating in and actively contributing to the society and are well able to lead us.”
His parting advice to civil servants was, “Live in the present and treasure people around you. Our lives are short, so enjoy life and do all you can to contribute to society. Above all, remember, it is never too late to take actions to realise your visions and plans.”
