Overview

• Hong Kong is the region's leader in the surveying profession in terms of experience and technical expertise. The buoyant construction market over the last two decades has provided invaluable exposure for the local surveying profession to a wide range of projects.
  
  
• In the past, many Hong Kong surveying firms partnered with international firms, mainly from the UK, to bid for large international projects. In recent years, key Hong Kong players are capable of providing services with international standards on their own. Many of them have set their sight on overseas markets, such as the Middle East.
  
  
• The number of surveyors practising in Hong Kong has been growing as a result of increasing opportunities in the domestic and surrounding markets.
  
  
• Three divisions of Hong Kong surveying industry have gained mutual recognition of professional qualification with the Chinese mainland, namely general practice, quantity surveying and building surveying. As at February 2008, 498 surveyors from these divisions obtained mutual recognition from the mainland.
  

Industry Data

• valuation: valuations for purchase, sale, letting and mortgage for all types of properties; statutory valuations relating to resumption, rent control, rating, stamp duty, estate duty, etc.; valuations of company portfolios etc.
• development consultancy: market studies and evaluation of development; negotiation with government on modification, surrender and regrant of land leases; preparation of financial assessments, cash flow studies and expenditure control systems
• negotiating on behalf of clients for purchase, sale or lease of all types of lands and buildings
• property management: undertaking on behalf of owners, the management of all forms of property; advises on situations of refurbishment/renovation and redevelopment
  

Quantity surveyors are construction cost consultants. They possess expert knowledge of costs, values, labour and materials process, finance, contractual arrangements and legal matters in the construction field. Major employers of quantity surveyors are private developers, governments and related bodies, contractors, mining and petrochemical companies, and insurance companies. Principal services rendered were:

• preliminary cost advice
• cost planning
• advise on fair contract prices for tenders
• advise on the best kind of contract for the project
• valuation of construction and recommendation for certified payment
• preparing cash flow forecasts and exercising cost control
• project management

Building surveyors advise clients on:

• construction and economic of buildings: condition surveyors of buildings; analysis of capital and running costs; monitoring the effect of construction works on existing buildings; feasibility studies, covering plot ratio and site coverage, preparation of sketch plans, assessment of development potential as well as financial and economic considerations
• law related to buildings: advice on building and town planning applications and on building legislation
• building maintenance: planning and implementation of maintenance programmes; investigation of construction defects and design and supervision
• project management: acting as project managers; control and supervision of building and fitting out works; coordination of specialist works such as building services; landscaping, security, etc.
  

Land surveyors are involved in the following activities:

• cadastral surveying: concerns with the physical determination of boundaries and areas of land properties
• engineering surveying: preparation of initial site survey plans; computation of construction alignment for civil engineering works; setting out pre-determined positions for construction; measurement of earthwork quantities and monitoring slopes
• geodetic surveying: establishment and maintenance of horizontal and vertical reference point
• topographic surveying and digital mapping: production of survey plans and maps at various scales
• land information management
• photogrammetric surveying: production of survey plans and maps from photographs
• hydrographic surveying: determination of depth and topography of the sea bed
  

However, revenues generated from other related businesses such as real estate leasing, development, maintenance management, development consultancy and brokerage and agency can be substantially higher.


Services Providers

The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS) is a professional body incorporated in 1990. As at Jan 2008, the HKIS had a total membership of 5,170.


Exports

In recent years, the construction boom in the region has generated surging demand for surveyors. The opening up of the construction market in the region has created a growing export market for Hong Kong developers as well as the surveying profession. Nearly all the leading surveying companies have undertaken projects throughout East Asia. The Chinese mainland is by far the largest export market, accounting for the bulk of total export income from this profession. The Chinese mainland aside, Hong Kong-based surveying companies have also set their sight further afield, e.g. tapping the booming market in the Middle East. Thanks to reliable and professional services, as well as proficiency in English, Hong Kong quantity surveyors are in increasing demand for construction work in Asia (e.g. India) and other overseas markets (e.g. the Middle East).

As the primary function of quantity surveyors is associated with costing and cost control, quantity surveying is probably the easiest product to promote overseas. Over the last decade or so, Asian countries have increasingly adopted the use of quantity surveyors in construction and the demand for this service in Asia has grown rapidly. General practice surveying has a strong element of local market knowledge. The best services to export are feasibility studies and appraisals for development and investment projects.


Industry Development and Market Outlook

One-shop approach

"One-shop" approach to surveying services has become increasingly popular. Most of the newly established surveying firms aim to provide comprehensive consultancy services to their clients. These range from development consultancy, project management, property consultancy to interior design and fitting out work. As Hong Kong government has advocated more active involvement of the private sector in the provision of public facilities in recent years, surveying services providers will play an increasingly active role in advising the best terms of arrangement for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects.


Infrastructure projects in the region

Most of the Asian economies have urgent needs to continue upgrading their basic infrastructure, road network, port facilities, housing and city planning. Private participation is on the rise. Foreign firms are increasingly allowed to participate as investors in the ownership as well as the management of these projects. According to the Asian Development Bank, Asia would require US$300 billion each year in infrastructure investment over the next few years to ensure economic growth.

An increasing number of large-scale construction projects in the region (the Chinese mainland in particular) are led by Hong Kong investors. Therefore, Hong Kong's construction industry, especially the professionals, may have an advantage over overseas competitors in securing work on many major construction projects in Asia. Many Hong Kong contractors capture these opportunities by linking up with consultants to promote a package of design-and-build projects.


China's real estate development and construction market

China is keen on attracting foreign developers into the country's real estate development market. Currently, foreign involvement in real estate development in China has mostly focused on luxury office and apartment buildings, hotels and villas. With the commencement of the housing reform in July 1998, the demand for affordable housing for the mass population has been increasing, thus fueling the demand for services of valuation amid a developing mortgage market.

There should also be an increasing demand for quantity surveying services as property projects will increase and Chinese developers start to understand the advantages of coordinating tendering, contractual arrangements and budgeting by quantity surveyors. As land supply on the Chinese mainland is huge, land cost will not be the only element in valuation. Thus, valuations based on the building structure will become important.

According to the Regulations on the Management of Foreign-funded Urban Planning Service Enterprises, which came into effect in May 2003, foreign companies are allowed to invest in urban planning service enterprises and take part in urban planning in China. However, the regulations strictly prohibit the commissioning of general urban planning to foreign-invested enterprises.


The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between Hong Kong and the Mainland (CEPA)

Under the CEPA framework, reciprocity agreements have been sought with the China Institute of Real Estate Appraisers and Agents, the China Engineering Cost Association and the China Association of Engineering Consultants:

In November 2003, the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors signed a Reciprocity Agreement with the China Institute of Real Estate Appraisers (CIREA) on mutual recognition. Under the terms of the Agreement, corporate members of the General Practice Division (GPD) who satisfy the application requirements are eligible for the reciprocal recognition of the CIREA if they have satisfactorily undertaken a 3-day (16 hours) training and test session conducted by the latter. The first training and test arrangement was completed in March 2004. As at Jun 2008, 97 practitioners from the HKIS’s GPD had been given recognition of their obtained professional qualification by CIREA.

In May 2005, the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (Quantity Surveying Division) reached a reciprocity agreement with the China Engineering Cost Association (CECA) on professional qualification recognition. The first training and assessment for members in Quantity Surveying Division of HKIS and CECA members from mainland was held in December 2005. As at June 2008, 173 quantity surveyors of HKIS gained professional qualification on the mainland.

In June 2006, HKIS signed the mutual recognition agreement with the China Association of Engineering Consultants (CAEC). Under the agreement, members of the HKIS' Building Surveying Division (BSD) with 5 years of relevant post-qualification experience will be eligible for application to be recognised for registration as engineering consultants on the mainland. Successful applicants would be subject to the registration system as established under the prevailing regulations published by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD)(formerly, the Ministry of Construction). In July 2007, the first training and assessment for members in the HKIS’s BSD and CAEC members from the mainland was held in Shenzhen. As at June 2008, 228 members of HKIS’s BSD obtained professional qualification on the mainland.

As at February 2008, 498 surveyors (among all of 973 Hong Kong professionals) had successfully obtained professional qualifications on the mainland through mutual recognition of professional qualification.