{jcomments off}John Forrest flaunts 16 years of experience within the transactions, project management and facilities management disciplines among others. He now heads JLL’s Corporate Solutions arm with the largest market share in the region.

Forrest is a large man, stocky in stature and paramount in position. He exudes confidence that comes from managing and nurturing widespread relationships with some of the world’s most famous, lucrative and powerful companies in the world. And since he’s in regular contact with global behemoths, he can’t help but name-drop throughout the interview. He is currently CEO of Jones Lang LaSalles’s (JLL) Corporate Solutions in Asia Pacific. His knowledge of the corporate real estate realm is expansive and he peppers his descriptions with key shop-talk rhetoric. Forrest’s hometown is Sydney, and after working in New York he moved to Singapore in 1996 to set and cultivate business roots in 1998 and 1999 for the corporate solutions arm of JLL. In 2002 he usurped the role of MD which then morphed into CEO.

Corporate Solutions 101
“The life-cycle of space for an occupier is everything from business strategy to property strategy, transaction, lease administration, project management and facilities management” states Forrest. So his organisation has constructed an assembly line of end-to-end services, that is “then organised regionally around clients, versus the more traditional real estate services in the industry which is geography-centric,” he adds. While having branch offices in the region’s major hubs, JLL also operates regionally to frameworks. “We have 110 outsourced client relationships”, which he boasts is “double the market share of anyone else in this space” and spans 13 countries.

Like many consultancies JLL bundles services into one master agreement for single or multiple services across multiple geographies.” He mentions that he’s just met with Brian Duffy, Regional Head of Real Estate at JP Morgan Chase, “they’ve just appointed us to run all their facilities across Asia-Pacific”. A contract that previously belonged to competitor, Cushman & Wakefield. The official appointment took place in December and operations kick-started in February. “So 250 people from Cushman & Wakefield are transitioning around the region to JLL.”

But if the client, JP Morgan Chase, sought a different service provider because of unsatisfactory coverage, why would the new corporate solutions purveyor hire old blood? After answering and winning the RFP (Request for Proposals), JLL opened its doors to Cushman & Wakefield’s (C&W) employees working on that contract. Forrest explains: “the issue of service delivery is best described as a triangle – People, Processes and Systems. If you just have the ‘People’ piece, it doesn’t work because they need to have the technology that makes them efficient, that drives consistency, enables them to communicate and collaborate, and use best practices”. These roll off his tongue like a seasoned sales person rhyming off a catalogue of goods. “And you must have common processes which are adopted. Processes and systems are infrastructure which cost money. So you have to invest significantly to build the capability to run facilities consistently across the region. It just doesn’t happen by hiring a whole bunch of people and putting them on a contract and hoping they all do it the same way, and to a minimum standard in line with the contract.” In other words, it could be implied, C&W was missing
the infrastructure and the processes across the region.

The Outsourcing Wave
But how did the outsourcing ball first get rolling? How and why did the need develop? “Outsourcing is typically a cost-reduction strategy,” explains Forrest, “Basically they’ll say: ‘I want more services performed more effectively to create more value for my organisation’.” The theory behind it is, by hiring an agency to handle all its property needs, the client’s staff can focus on the core operations of the business. Bringing in a machine like JLL which either provides for services with its in-house team and approaches external vendors for specialised experience, in the case of sustainable and environmental issues, means more time to focus on business goals and growth. And this offering has proven to be a hot commodity. “We have 5,000 people across the region who work on the corporate solutions side, business is growing at 25 to 30 percent a year and it’s JLL’s fastest growing business globally.” The bulk of clients are American MNCs but Forrest registers more European corporates coming on scene in the last two to three years.

Corporates based in the Asia-pacific region are also jumping on board. “We’ve just signed a global mast partnership with ANZ Bank. We’ve had a long-standing relationship with them in Australia but because they have a new CEO who’s very focused on growing in Asia, Mike Smith, and they’ve acquired a lot of the Royal Bank of Scotland assets in Asia, he now has a much bigger Asian footprint.” He also goes onto talk about a large contract in Japan with Sanyo and another with DBS Bank in Singapore. More companies are expected to demand outsourced services in India, China and Japan in the next few years. In China’s case, the more they venture beyond their own territory, the more need will arise for external parties to orchestrate and manage their real estate interests since it’s a less familiar market. “Lenovo is a classic example. We have a partnering agreement with Lenovo, which is for all markets except China, where they’re headquartered.”

Behind the Scenes
Initial research on the need for outsourcing services began in 1999, which involved interviewing potential clients and delivering an in-house paper to invest heavily in growing this business. “As we built the capability, we won more and more clients. When we first went out and started to do this in 2001-2002 our major competitors at the time, who will remain nameless but you can guess who they are, were quite strong in their conviction that we had misread the market or that we were ahead of our time.” But now it appears JLL’s approach could be viewed as pioneering.

He asserts such an investment is a major feat, both in terms of time and cost. “We started building up our facilities management capabilities across the region ten years ago. We’re now up to 125 mil sqf”. In comparison, he estimates C&W has developed its service programme over the past five to six years. “JLL is a much larger company, a lot more scale in its business,” he adds, “it’s expensive! Transactional business is relatively easy to build”. With much less need for systems and technology, this type of operations generally requires market data of all the buildings in a portfolio: “what’s vacant, space… and a database of the occupiers? That’s not simple, but it’s relatively simple compared to the kind of systems you need to run a portfolio… with critical environments, retail branches, office space, financial reporting, payment of rent”. He underlines, “That’s a huge, complex thing to do. So you really need deep pockets to build the capability”. Obviously in touch with his customers, Forrest explains the impact of inadequate service. “When you’re a corporate guy, sitting on the client side, it drives you nuts if you’ve outsourced – with less control than you used to have and limited resources internally – and you have a service provider who doesn’t deliver consistently. Because then you’re constantly having to dip down to try and fix it”.

Rapid Repair
Most days are thankfully business as usual, but no system or structure is completely glitch-free. “We manage a lot of critical environments for our clients. If one of their critical facilities goes down, like a datacentre or a trading floor and it directly effects the business, that’s by far the most difficult situation. Systems do fail – they’re not perfect. The bigger issue is not that it’s going to happen at some point but how it’s handled, how it’s recovered.” When given a hypothetical scenario of a datacentre system failure, he says it usually takes seconds or minutes to repair. While he admits that these times can be very stressful, he divulges that such instances only occur every two or three years.

Major Challenges
He asserts the foremost challenge today is finding “enough of the right people with the right skills at the right time… so talent. There’s plenty of business right now in the market place. Our number one constraint to growth is enough of the right talent at the right place.” He goes on to explain that this encompasses attracting people at the graduate level, developing them fast enough and retaining them when they acquire experience. Managing different generations of professionals is one aspect. Generation Y is very demanding, he adds, “they want to grow very quickly whereas Generation X and baby boomers might be happy doing the same job function for two or three or four years before promotion. Generation Y’s are more likely to do a job for 12 months and then move on to the next thing”.

Reasons to Party
No doubt celebrated with spiked eggnog and a very merry office party, JLL landed its biggest outsourcing deal right before Christmas – Telstra – the Australian national telecommunications company. This translates into the management of 27mil sqf, “the largest thing that’s ever happened in the region by a long way,” enthuses Forrest. With unrelenting demand for corporate solutions in the region, Forrest will continue jetting from city to city, securing contracts and managing mega facilities with the semblance of ease.

Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware examine the future of work

There is a new wave of fundamental change that is sweeping over the old industrial order of our world. We believe that what is occurring—what has everyone’s thoughts and fears all twisted up—is more than a routine swing in the “business cycle.”

No less an expert than Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, said it best: “Someone hit the re-set button.” As a result a ”re-structuring” of many industries is coming. And plans to be specific about how that will happen. First, however, we need to examine the basic characteristics of organizational transformation. How do you know it when you see it?

Fundamental transformation of anything has four basic dimensions: it is irreversible, it is substantive, it changes your identity, and it shifts the purpose of the organization (in this case). Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Transformations are irreversible. We’re now changing in ways that go beyond mere shifts in opinion. The interaction of technological, personal, and organisational forces is giving us an education that forces us to view the world in a completely different way. At the end of this transformation, we won’t be able to give up the new knowledge and revert to our old ways of knowing. Butterflies can’t go back and become caterpillars. There is no “wayback” machine.

Transformations are substantive. Transformations create new realities that are greater than the sum of their parts. For example, you don’t transform by moving into positions of more power and authority; you move into positions of substantively different, often richer, kinds of power and authority. Kings evolve into presidents, CEO’s into talent managers.

Transformations change who you are in the world. If everything around you is changing in substantive and irreversible ways, then who you are in the world must be changing too. Quite simply, you are called something different. New systems emerge from combinations of technologies, people, and organizations that have never been connected before, meaning that you’re now part of something completely new.

Identity is a most powerful force in our lives; all transformations involve a change in identity. Key to this new way of being in the world is who you are in the world in relation to others. In the world we’re transforming into people that are no longer defined by their “job” or their company affiliation; they are defined—and they define themselves—by the social network(s) in which they are enmeshed.

Transformation shifts your purpose. Right now we see an emerging awareness that there is an interconnected web of existence. The important question then becomes: What is your purpose within that web? From an economic point of view purpose today must include more than “commercial profitability.” Now it also includes environmental and moral considerations.

In a community context perspective transformation means not trying to re-live the past. General Motors did get stuck in its past; its executives tried for far too long to maintain a business model that was right for a long-bygone era. And ghost towns are examples of entire communities that didn’t grasp the “irreversibility” principle that characterises fundamental transformations.

The substantive part of transformation means that everything is connected to everything else. You can’t just “re-engineer” one part of the organisation, or make improvements in one part of the community infrastructure. When the market shifts, so must your development processes, your distribution systems, your “back room” support processes, and your customer-facing activities. How many companies today still send out paper invoices? Is your company or community the one that puts the no in innovation?

Let’s review these ideas one more time.

Who you are. That’s brand, pure and simple. Brands change, names change, logos change. What’s the new identity? Maybe if GM had changed its brand (and its core identity and its skill sets and processes) into a “personal transportation product/service company” instead an automobile manufacturer it might have survived the transformation of its industry. Caterpillars are bugs, so what are butterflies?

Purpose. Purpose must now include more than profit for companies, and, for communities, be more than simply a place to consume goods and services. And it has to be about stewardship of the environment and investment in structures and processes that build social capital.

The fundamental economic and social changes we are experiencing right now clearly have the basic, knowable characteristics of irreversibility, substance, shifting our identities, and expanding our purpose. Organisations and institutions (and even individuals) who aren’t embracing these changes and using them as an opportunity to prepare for the future are destined to fail.

Who is next in line for the bankruptcy parade? Is your town the last stop on the stage line to oblivion? Next we’ll take a closer look at what this transformation will look like in commerce, government, and education, as well as the arts, the media, and local communities.

Drivers of Change
Johann Gutenberg’s printing press was by far the most significant change of its time. It shifted the world at large from an oral means of communication to printed, reproducible documents.

Today we are shifting again—from one-to-one analog communication to digital mediums that allow two-way communication with almost anyone who is online in a variety of formats (e.g. YouTube).We are also moving into an era where interations and experiences and even senses can exist solely online with no real world equivelant (e.g. SecondLife).

In addition, our mental energy has moved from being largely automatic (simply reacting to external stimuli) to becoming formally conscious of our place in a larger social context. We believe we are now at the threshold of
shifting from ego-based behavior to purpose-directed behavior. That means that with the Internet we’re now learning who we each are (e.g. Facebook), all for the purpose of discovering why we are (e.g. communities of interest supported by tools like Ning, Facebook, LinkedIn, and all the other social networking sites). Communication technologies have transformed human society several times in the past, and they are doing it once again.

The Deep Dive
Today we are creating a dynamic, “virtual” environment in which we “live” every day—including many of our social networks. Not only do we have access to many things outside our direct experience, but because of that we must also learn to question the authenticity of almost all of what we see, hear, and sense. We’re now moving into an age in which the media actually lets us construct the environments that we want to be in and experience.

Fueled by the power of the printed word, governments moved from feudal communities to empires to nation states. Now those nations are struggling once again to take the next step in their evolution, both as independent cultures and as members of a global community. What does it mean to be a “global citizen?” The Internet is at the heart of this evolution.

The last Presidential election in the United States was a prime example. US voters could not avoid taking into account how the candidates and the issues “played out” in other countries, and many non-US citizens played active roles in the online conversations about both the issues and the candidates. And recently the United States Supreme Court ruled that corporations—including those with non-US owners—are free to spend as much money as they want to influence US election campaigns.

In the 15th century economies shifted from agrarian to mercantile models that were designed to speed up the pace
of transactions in the rapidly expanding marketplace. This mercantilism matured into a capitalist structure supported by democratic forms of government. Now the old economic rules of mercantilism, based on scarcity, ownership of private property, and economies of scale are running out of gas. (Don’t worry; we’ll come back to this assertion at a later date.) Something new is emerging as global financial markets converge and electronic commerce brings everyone into what may soon be a unified planetary marketplace.

Education has undergone, and is once again undergoing, equally dramatic change. The informal, almost pre-literate, form of education in the Middle Ages gave way to a centralized structure built upon the printed word and books. The 15th-century model of education (what we now call the University) was geographically centralised; students traveled physically to specific places—centers of learning—to get their education.

Today learning is becoming accessible to “students” wherever they may live or work (and the whole concept of “student” has broadened to include just about everyone, of all ages, all the time). Earlier, basic education was the private responsibility first of families and then of local communities. Now, however, we believe that all sorts of learning venues, funding models, and methods will soon replace, or at least augment, existing public school systems. Education—beyond the very basic level needed just to survive—will be delivered by the extended communities and the work organizations to which we belong.

Lastly, our whole idea of community has changed and is changing once again. “Community“ used to reflect the largely homogeneous views of a few relatively authoritarian religious institutions. The printed word began to pull apart those societal structures, and its impact was immediately seen in the way communities began splintering and differentiating. Many new communities arose, often espousing distinctive belief systems. During the Renaissance, many people gained the freedom to move physically into the communities that they wanted to belong to.

Now we have thousands of on-line, virtual “communities” that thrive completely independently of any one geographic location. We can reach out beyond our local neighborhoods to discover other people anywhere on the planet who share our interests, beliefs, fears, and desires. We can then use digital technologies of all kinds to establish communications directly with them and ultimately band together, first electronically and eventually even physically, as a market or political force, if we want to do so.

Why It Matters
Simply put, if somebody could have told people in the Middle Ages what was about to happen to their lives, they probably wouldn’t have believed any of it. The changes that were about to occur were quite simply beyond their capability to imagine. And we are convinced the same thing is true today.

We are at the very front end of an incredibly broad and fundamental transformation. And we all have the opportunity—and the responsibility—to look for emerging patterns and make important choices about how we shape the future, both individually and collectively. So, what are you going to do Monday morning?

For over a decade technology science parks have bespeckled the Asian landscape offering campus style advantages to start ups and multinationals alike. But as the industry comes of age, each location is finding that it takes more than a plot of land and a bright idea to make these locations work.

Once upon a time a newly opening tech park was flavour of the month – government endorsed them and companies would flock to the doors. Nowadays the market is maturing. Occupants have a better sense of what they want to achieve from setting up in the park while developers can be more specific with their offerings. What is considered important varies from location to location but we have interviewed several of the top parks around the region and have found that requirements and concerns vary greatly. Basic services as described by Patrick Teh, Manager at the first of Malaysia’s high-tech industrial parks Kulim Hi-Tech Park include “High quality water, power, workers, telecommunications and road”. Other advantages of the location include “Mature industrial support services; peaceful and stable political environment and transparent business transactions”. But are these things still sufficient, and are companies now expecting more? Read more on The Main Incentive…

作为房地产业界的重量级人物，邝正炜先生无需过多介绍。他拥有的一长串头衔、地区性委员会中的20多个席位以及丰富的行业经验在令人眼花缭乱之余，使人不禁提出这样的疑问：他是否真正拥有哪怕是一丁点的空闲时间。邝正炜绝对是行业内最令人羡慕（也是争相寻求）的对象。他目前是新鸿基地产（中国）公司的助理执行董事（广东省），以及新鸿基建筑师及工程师协会总监，同时兼任康业股份有限公司的副主席及首席执行官。{jcomments off}

他似乎无所不在，其职责包括结构性工程设计、物业管理、大楼维护、安保服务及房地产咨询。他为康业服务有限公司（康业控股有限公司下属企业）管理着1400个街区或1.1亿平方英尺的豪宅、高层商业或工业大楼、购物中心及政府物业。当他从HVAC系统中脱身出来时，他担任起了香港工程师学会（KHIE）建筑分会的副主席一职。此前，他曾在香港特别行政区建筑署担任高级结构工程师长达16年之久，故而对香港公共事业的内部运作方式相当熟悉。

书籍与建筑
现在，让我们把时光追溯到几十年前。他的童年是在凝视高楼大厦和暗自下决心将来要成为建造这些“人造奇迹”中度过的。“在父亲的鼓励下，我决定选择结构工程师作为我的职业。”于是，他开始埋首书海，攀登自己的“钢架云梯”并获得了民用工程学位。“当我成为Ove Arup的结构工程师时，我的梦想实现了，”他表示，“我随后参与了上世纪80年代香港造价最贵的大楼——汇丰银行总部——的设计和建设。”该项目总成本为50亿港元。谈到初露头角的工程师、建筑师和物业经理时，他指出：“他们不应该将自己的精力集中在获得香港本地的科技知识上，更应该走出香港，专注于中国大陆的发展。”他鼓励学生寻求更广阔的知识领域，包括金融、测绘、租赁和环保管理等，涉猎面越广越好，以便为自身的职业发展、成为综合素质过硬的经理人打下坚实的基础。他为新手们推荐了ISO认证系统、建筑自动化系统（BAS）、危机管理和灾后重建等重要关键领域。他最后强调的一点是，“学生们应该始终牢记首席执行官的建议：站在全球的角度思考，从地方的角度实施。”

成长历程
这个行业已经与他刚入行时有了很大的改变。“过去20年中，新的建造方法、建筑材料、功率电子学（开关、整流器、转换器）、控制和电讯技术正在蓬勃发展，并取得了很大的成就。”他同时指出，更少的人工和更好的能源消耗是今日工程行业的重要标志。目睹着日新月异的变化，邝先生指出：“使用金属铸模的预铸混凝土已经赶超传统的木材铸模”，而滑料成型的建造工艺由于不要求搭建脚手架，已经越来越受到欢迎。香港近几年的发展包括越来越多地运用T5 荧光灯管、LED照明、光照控制（与探测器连接）、各种频率的泵电机或A/C压缩泵、变频变压（VVVF）和智能电梯控制系统。“我很高兴看到【香港特别行政区政府】在2009年12月4日的公报上发布的大楼能源法案强制实施大楼能源节约条例，并且现在该条例正在接受法律程序的审批。”他希望有关部门向英国、新加坡和其他一些国家学习，为大厦和楼宇设下零碳或碳中和的目标。

以科技为先导的绿色环保
邝先生指出，为高楼大厦安装节能设备是必然的趋势。许多大楼业主已经通过引进再生能源驱动电梯、水冷空调系统、LED照明及高能泵等改善大楼的运营。他向业主及物业经理建议，不仅仅要对各种系统或设备进行升级，更要经常进行能源及碳排放核查、执行改善措施并鼓励租户养成节能习惯。“许多业主和租户已然意识到大楼环保性能的重要性。然而，他们往往受到‘短视’想法的局限，认为要达到节能目标，就得首先有一笔额外成本支出。所以在他们打破成见、投资大楼环保性能前，往往需要很长一段时间来展示成本节约的效率。” 邝先生表示，在过去几年中，工程行业内有关绿色环保和可持续的讨论不绝于耳。于是，“许多新开发项目都采用了环保型、低毒性、可回收及节能
高效的建筑设计、产品及材料。”大楼们正经历着智能转型，淘汰了反应较慢、不能提供个性化室内环境的可变风量（VAV）空调系统。“我们管理下的许多大楼已经采取了计算机控制的楼宇管理系统和高级直接数字控制系统（DDC）。管理人员可通过计算机网络调节温度。另外，租户也可在租赁单元内通过使用遥控开关进行个性化的温度调节。”该智能系统不仅便捷，“更可通过与变速空气处理单元（AHU）和可变驱动冷却模块的协作节约能源，乃至存储能源。”对于想要了解这个飞速发展行业最新进展的专业人士，邝先生建议他们参加2010年3月18日由香港工程师协会建筑分会举办的智能及绿色大楼设计、建造和管理论坛。

作为房地产业界的重量级人物，邝正炜先生无需过多介绍。他拥有的一长串头衔、地区性委员会中的20多个席位以及丰富的行业经验在令人眼花缭乱之余，使人不禁提出这样的疑问：他是否真正拥有哪怕是一丁点的空闲时间。邝正炜绝对是行业内最令人羡慕（也是争相寻求）的对象。他目前是新鸿基地产（中国）公司的助理执行董事（广东省），以及新鸿基建筑师及工程师协会总监，同时兼任康业股份有限公司的副主席及首席执行官。{jcomments off}

他似乎无所不在，其职责包括结构性工程设计、物业管理、大楼维护、安保服务及房地产咨询。他为康业服务有限公司（康业控股有限公司下属企业）管理着1400个街区或1.1亿平方英尺的豪宅、高层商业或工业大楼、购物中心及政府物业。当他从HVAC系统中脱身出来时，他担任起了香港工程师学会（KHIE）建筑分会的副主席一职。此前，他曾在香港特别行政区建筑署担任高级结构工程师长达16年之久，故而对香港公共事业的内部运作方式相当熟悉。

书籍与建筑
现在，让我们把时光追溯到几十年前。他的童年是在凝视高楼大厦和暗自下决心将来要成为建造这些“人造奇迹”中度过的。“在父亲的鼓励下，我决定选择结构工程师作为我的职业。”于是，他开始埋首书海，攀登自己的“钢架云梯”并获得了民用工程学位。“当我成为Ove Arup的结构工程师时，我的梦想实现了，”他表示，“我随后参与了上世纪80年代香港造价最贵的大楼——汇丰银行总部——的设计和建设。”该项目总成本为50亿港元。谈到初露头角的工程师、建筑师和物业经理时，他指出：“他们不应该将自己的精力集中在获得香港本地的科技知识上，更应该走出香港，专注于中国大陆的发展。”他鼓励学生寻求更广阔的知识领域，包括金融、测绘、租赁和环保管理等，涉猎面越广越好，以便为自身的职业发展、成为综合素质过硬的经理人打下坚实的基础。他为新手们推荐了ISO认证系统、建筑自动化系统（BAS）、危机管理和灾后重建等重要关键领域。他最后强调的一点是，“学生们应该始终牢记首席执行官的建议：站在全球的角度思考，从地方的角度实施。”

成长历程
这个行业已经与他刚入行时有了很大的改变。“过去20年中，新的建造方法、建筑材料、功率电子学（开关、整流器、转换器）、控制和电讯技术正在蓬勃发展，并取得了很大的成就。”他同时指出，更少的人工和更好的能源消耗是今日工程行业的重要标志。目睹着日新月异的变化，邝先生指出：“使用金属铸模的预铸混凝土已经赶超传统的木材铸模”，而滑料成型的建造工艺由于不要求搭建脚手架，已经越来越受到欢迎。香港近几年的发展包括越来越多地运用T5 荧光灯管、LED照明、光照控制（与探测器连接）、各种频率的泵电机或A/C压缩泵、变频变压（VVVF）和智能电梯控制系统。“我很高兴看到【香港特别行政区政府】在2009年12月4日的公报上发布的大楼能源法案强制实施大楼能源节约条例，并且现在该条例正在接受法律程序的审批。”他希望有关部门向英国、新加坡和其他一些国家学习，为大厦和楼宇设下零碳或碳中和的目标。

以科技为先导的绿色环保
邝先生指出，为高楼大厦安装节能设备是必然的趋势。许多大楼业主已经通过引进再生能源驱动电梯、水冷空调系统、LED照明及高能泵等改善大楼的运营。他向业主及物业经理建议，不仅仅要对各种系统或设备进行升级，更要经常进行能源及碳排放核查、执行改善措施并鼓励租户养成节能习惯。“许多业主和租户已然意识到大楼环保性能的重要性。然而，他们往往受到‘短视’想法的局限，认为要达到节能目标，就得首先有一笔额外成本支出。所以在他们打破成见、投资大楼环保性能前，往往需要很长一段时间来展示成本节约的效率。” 邝先生表示，在过去几年中，工程行业内有关绿色环保和可持续的讨论不绝于耳。于是，“许多新开发项目都采用了环保型、低毒性、可回收及节能
高效的建筑设计、产品及材料。”大楼们正经历着智能转型，淘汰了反应较慢、不能提供个性化室内环境的可变风量（VAV）空调系统。“我们管理下的许多大楼已经采取了计算机控制的楼宇管理系统和高级直接数字控制系统（DDC）。管理人员可通过计算机网络调节温度。另外，租户也可在租赁单元内通过使用遥控开关进行个性化的温度调节。”该智能系统不仅便捷，“更可通过与变速空气处理单元（AHU）和可变驱动冷却模块的协作节约能源，乃至存储能源。”对于想要了解这个飞速发展行业最新进展的专业人士，邝先生建议他们参加2010年3月18日由香港工程师协会建筑分会举办的智能及绿色大楼设计、建造和管理论坛。

2010: All Eyes on Shanghai. Germany and Switzerland make their mark.

Germany
After soliciting design proposals from across the European Union, Koelnmesse International GmbH, the official organiser of Germany’s pavilion, arrived at a longlist of 25 submissions which was then reduced to a shortlist of six.

The gleaming space station lookalike is the product of Milla & Partner GmbH, Schidhuber + Kaindl and NUSSLI Deutschland GmbH, respectively responsible for its exhibition areas, architecture and construction. Allotted a 6,000 sqm, the three stakeholders created a structure that snakes across the rectangular lot, taking visitors on a physical journey that transitions from natural landscape to the populated and compact reality of German cities. For its planning, assembly, operation and dismantlement, the German Government has set aside 30 Mil Euros*, collected from taxes. Read more on Shanghai Expo 2010: Germany & Switzerland…

“Recent studies have shown that costs of poor indoor environment for the employer, building owner and society as a whole are often considerably higher than the cost of the energy used in the same building”
– BSI Standard EN15251:2007

Since making Hong Kong my home more than 25 years ago, I have cherished the fact that our city has vibrancy and beauty like no other – an exciting urban landscape co-existing with a unique harbour, green hills and gorgeous tropical scenery. I enjoy running and Hong Kong’s outdoors and because of mounting concerns about the deteriorating environment I have become involved in the environment sector. Read more on Airing Concerns…