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SCMP Reporter

ALTHOUGH the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors may be enjoying its 10th anniversary, the history of the institute can be traced back to 1843 when Alexander Thomas Gordon was appointed the first Surveyor General of the territory.

     During his first year in office, Mr Gordon published a notice that all leases of Marine and Town Lots would be ready for collection by January 1844.

  In true entrepreneurial spirit, he put two lots of land up for public auction at the end of January 1844.

  The surveying profession has ballooned with the development of Hong Kong since those early days.

   More surveyors came to the territory from overseas, mainly from Britain.

   Most were chartered surveyors - corporate members of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

  By the 1950s, a number of training schemes for surveyors were instigated by the Government, allowing students to carry out their studies by correspondence courses with London.

  In 1978, the Hong Kong branch of the RICS set up a working party to explore the possibilities of creating a local institute of surveyors. But it was not until five years later that things really started to move.

   A majority of 150 members of the Hong Kong RICS ruled that a local institute be established.

   The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors was founded in April 1984 with 85 members.

  There were problems. A group of individuals had already claimed the name of Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors.

   Some friendly persuasion had to be used to free the name.

  The institute was formed at the height of the Sino-British talks - with tricky issues, such as land leases.

  Even in this infant stage the institute reacted quickly and an ad hoc group of prominent surveyors was called to study the problem of land leases.

  The group created a two-point plan. It advised that the Hong Kong Government be allowed to grant leases and commit the Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government to terms well beyond 1997 and up to 2047.

  It also devised a scheme on how the profits from the land sale would be shared between the Government and the SAR Government.

  Within its first year the institute was recognised for the purposes of civil service appointments, something which usually took about five years.

   Building on its initial successes, the institute began to advise the Government and the public on various issues, including illegal structures, standard methods of measuring floor areas, Land Development Corporation, registration of property management companies, standard clauses of Deeds of Mutual Covenant and management of multi-storey buildings, the level of production by government of domestic units and the Sino British Land Commission.

  The institute also took an active role in drawing up the Basic Law with several members sitting on the Basic Law Consultative Committee.

  Degree courses were developed by the institute at the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic and City Polytechnic.

  Members were also appointed to government advisory bodies - notably the Land and Building Advisory Committee, Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee, Housing Authority and Town Planning Board.

  The institute made moves to reach out to China before the handover.

   The institute was involved in the formation of the Centre for Real Estate Studies in China and has been in close contact with the Chinese Government on a number of issues, including the early days of the State Land Administration.

  By July 18, 1991, the Surveyors Registration Ordinance was passed, marking another milestone in the professional acceptance of the institute.

  A reciprocity agreement was signed with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors enabling members of either institute to secure membership in the other.

  This agreement was seen as an important step in giving Hong Kong surveyors their own identity.

       Membership of the Institute has increased since its inception. It currently has 1,600 members.

  The institute is now seen as one of the premier professional bodies in the territory.



Society earns wide respect