Regulatory controls on building services works in Hong Kong

Abstract

Building services embraces a variety of electrical and mechanical installations in buildings. In Hong Kong, regulatory controls over building services works are embedded in a wide range of statutes. Besides the relevant government departments, implementation of such controls involves a mix of authorised individuals and organizations. The diverse ways in which such controls are imposed are often found confusing by the practitioners and whether the controls are adequate and appropriate is hard to tell. Drawn from a research study on the building services profession of Hong Kong, this paper reports the findings of a review of the relevant laws and two surveys through which the views of building services practitioners and the authorities concerned were obtained. The need for changes to certain aspects of the controls, as perceived by the survey respondents, as well as the commonality and discrepancy between the opinions of the practitioners and authorities, are discussed to inform law-makers in future legal reforms. The regulatory framework described in the paper also provides a basis for inter-regime comparison.