It has been an immensely positive and successful year for the Institute, with the major highlight undoubtedly being the Institute's 15th Anniversary Housing Conference in June 2004. Our membership has continued to grow steadily with a 10% increase over the last 12 months bringing the total number of our members to over 2,600. We are delighted to report that 29 practitioners in the Mainland have joined the Institute as Affiliates. However, 65 members who were in default of annual subscription fees for 3 years have been removed from our Membership Register. I am also very pleased to announce that our financial position remains good as we continue to further develop our services to members and raise the housing management standards and expertise of the industry. With so many accomplishments in the past year, I am proud to say that some were especially memorable and deserve special mention.

With CEPA and the Pan Pearl River Delta arrangements already well in place, many more business and employment opportunities are opening up, thereby encouraging the mutual recognition of professional qualifications and promoting the exchange of professional talents between Hong Kong and the Mainland. It is our Institute's objective to grasp this golden opportunity to sharpen our competitive edge as we gear ourselves to meet the rising expectations for quality housing, both within and outside Hong Kong.

As a member organisation of The Hong Kong Professional Property Services Alliance Preparatory Committee on Seat for Functional Constituency, we were also actively involved in the Preparatory Committee's submission in response to the Fourth Report of the Constitutional Development Task Force: Views and Proposals of Members of the Community on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive in 2007 and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2008 in support of the industry's wish to lobby for a functional constituency in the 2008 LegCo Elections.

Being a member-based organisation, our focus will continue to be on providing useful services which enable our members to develop their own skills and to support them in their work. In particular, last year saw the completion of Phase One of our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme, the formation of the Institute's Volunteers Team, the revamp of our website and the continuing efforts to enhance electronic communication with our members.

The Institute has also worked actively to improve better understanding of the many facets of housing and to enhance public awareness of the importance of building management. The Education Committee continues to offer invaluable and unfailing support to housing education programmes at HKU SPACE and the City University of Hong Kong whose revalidations took place in May 2004. The Education Committee also took part in the validations for the Higher Diploma in Real Estate Management course at IVE in May 2004 and it was resolved that graduates from said course would be eligible to apply for the Institute's Affiliate membership. A course validation for the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's full time BSc (Hons) in Property Management course would also take place in April 2005.

The Professional Practice Committee and Officers of the General Council continues to serve as a consulting body of the government on issues relating to housing policies. Notably, representatives of the Institute have served as judges for the Best Managed Buildings Competition organised by various District Councils. They also actively participated on behalf of The HKIH as guest speakers or facilitators at various talks, seminars and activities organised by the Building Management Resources Centres and other Professional Institutes.

Regionally, the External Affairs Committee and the Social Activities Committee have joined forces with CIH-APB to conduct visits abroad to Macau & Zhuhai, Naning & Guilin. Similar visits to Hainan were also made with The Hong Kong Professional Property Services Alliance. Locally, almost 20 visits, seminars and luncheons were held by the Institute in our efforts to foster inter-organisation communication and rapport over the last year.

This year's Annual Year Book has been the biggest issue in the Institute's history to date, boasting a total of over 150 pages and messages from all of the Institute's Past Presidents from years 1989 through 2004. The publication of Housing Dynamics enhances dissemination of information to members. The Publication Committee has dedicated its untiring efforts over the year in collecting useful materials for knowledge exchange for fellow members and students.

Held on 19 June 2004 at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, the conference saw more than 300 enthusiastic participants in attendance. By providing and facilitating an abundance of opportunities for information sharing, and an exceptionally valuable mix of perspectives on a host of issues through numerous presentations by academics and professionals alike, the conference was certainly a rousing success. A special edition 15th Anniversary Housing Conference CD Rom has been produced to mark the occasion.

Introduced in September 2003, our CPD Programme aims to enhance the status of the housing management profession and to provide a platform for the Institute's Corporate Members to maintain and develop standards of technical and professional competence inherent in the designation of F.H.K.I.H and M.H.K.I.H. This voluntary scheme has received great responses from our members and with the completion of Phase One of the CPD cycle at the close of 2004, members have been encouraged to record their CPD activity for this period retrospectively using our online CPD reporting system. Members who have met the requirements will be awarded a certificate issued by the Institute. The General Council intends to make the CPD Programme mandatory in 2006 and an EGM may be held in due course for this change.

The HKIH website was re-launched in January 2005 with improvements on navigation and increased range of services to members and other website visitors. Key features of the new website include:

• E-Library - this allows members to search for library materials held at the Institute by author or by title and facilitates the borrowing and renewal of items.
• Legal World - this provides access to housing related legal cases as provided by the Institute's Honorary Legal Adviser, Mr CHUNG Pui Lam and other lawyers. Members may also contact Mr CHUNG direct by email with a click of the mouse.
• Discussion Forum - this is a moderated message board where registered members can swap ideas and interact with each other
• Job Opportunities - this will provide useful information to housing management practitioners on vacancies offered by housing enterprises.

2004-2005 has been an encouraging and successful year for our Institute. Recognition and sincere thanks must be given to the contribution of all Council Members and full support from sub-committee members. I am confident that the Institute would go from strength to strength and continue with its exemplary performance in the ensuing years to meet the challenges ahead.