Housing Department wins four awards at Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme 2022 (with photos)
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Secretary for Housing, Ms Winnie Ho, and the Permanent Secretary for Housing/Director of Housing, Miss Agnes Wong, and the winning teams attended the presentation ceremony today (December 12). Members of the winning teams are very grateful for the commendations, adding that HD colleagues would continue to strive to provide quality services.
Excellence in Team Collaboration - Management of Crisis: Gold Prize
The HD won the Gold Prize in the category of Excellence in Team Collaboration - Management of Crisis. The winning entry was "Conversion of Chun Yeung Estate into a Quarantine Centre and the Subsequent Reinstatement". Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the HD team had to convert Chun Yeung Estate into a quarantine centre within 12 days and later reinstate the estate for tenants' intake. The whole process took 10 months.
"Under the stringent deadline, the team had to convert more than 2 000 flats into quarantine units. Moreover, the team was also responsible for setting up blood collection and medical centres as well as command posts. This 'impossible mission' was eventually completed on time. It was attributed to our compressed work flows, accelerated work process by using innovative thinking and technologies, the collective effort of more than 200 workers from different trades of work, and the unfailing support of frontline staff and volunteers of the HD," Chief Architect Mr Dominic Wong, a member of the Chun Yeung Estate team, said.
"To cater for the needs of the people under quarantine, the team continued to provide 24-hour emergency maintenance support after the first phase of conversion. In parallel, the team kept carrying out refitting works for more than 1 000 quarantine units in the estate to cope with the development of the pandemic.
"When it was no longer necessary to keep Chun Yeung Estate as a quarantine centre, the team worked around the clock, seven days a week, and completed the repair and inspection works within six weeks so that tenants could settle in their new home quickly," Mr Wong said.
Excellence in Team Collaboration - General Service: Bronze Prize
The HD Cash Allowance Trial Scheme (CATS) won the Bronze Prize in the category of Excellence in Team Collaboration - General Service. The Government launched the three-year CATS in June 2021. The scheme provides a cash allowance to eligible general applicant households who are not living in public housing, not receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and have been waiting for public rental housing (PRH) for more than three years but have not yet been provided a first offer for PRH in order to relieve the pressure on their livelihood.
"Thanks to the CATS Team's devotion and dedication, the project has been implemented smoothly. With limited manpower and resources, colleagues assumed multiple roles and seized every minute to accomplish the mission so that the scheme could be implemented five months earlier. Up to October this year, more than 81 300 eligible households have received a cash allowance," Senior Housing Manager Mrs Annie Chim, a member of the CATS Team, said.
"The team swiftly developed a new system to flexibly respond to operational requirements. The system can handle over 160 000 cases and record the progress every day and vet over 20 000 new cases every month. The team established various channels to communicate with the public, including a hotline, counter service, a drop-in box, e-mail and enquiry slips. We also carried out wide publicity through posters, leaflets and social media. To ensure the best use of resources, an approval mechanism, a random check mechanism and a review mechanism have been put in place," Mrs Chim said.
Team Collaboration - Management of Crisis: Meritorious Award
The situation of the fifth wave of the epidemic was critical in 2022. The HD rapidly converted three PRH blocks in Queens Hill Estate and Lai King Estate, including 3 000 PRH units and their communal space, into community isolation facilities (CIF). The entry "Conversion of 3 000 public housing units in Queens Hill Estate and Lai King Estate into community isolation facilities at top speed" won the Meritorious Award of the Team Collaboration - Management of Crisis.
"With the support from the contractor and workers, the team seized every minute to convert three newly completed PRH blocks into community isolation facilities in about 10 days. The team also worked closely with other government departments to handle the logistics of tens of thousands of items for supporting the CIF units and operational needs at command posts. The team continued to provide 24-hour emergency maintenance support after the completion of the isolation facilities. When the mission of the CIF was completed, the team spared no effort in expediting the works to reinstate the blocks into PRH units for intake in stages within a month," a member of the winning team, Chief Architect Ms Hamidah Haroon, said.
Team Collaboration - Specialised Service: Meritorious Award
To enhance the resilience and sustainability of public housing developments, the HA has developed the Zero Irrigation System (ZIS), in which rainwater can be stored at water retention boxes and absorbed by plants locally, conserving freshwater for irrigation. The entry "Zero Irrigation System - Rain Water Harvesting for Eco-friendly Planting" won the Meritorious Award in the category of Team Collaboration - Specialised Service.
"ZIS not only reduces water consumption, but also lessens impacts on the urban drainage system by capturing surface runoff. In recent years, the HD has widely adopted ZIS in new public housing developments to improve the sustainability of their green spaces and living environments," Chief Architect Mr Sherman Yip, a member of the ZIS team. said.
Ends/Monday, December 12, 2022
Issued at HKT 19:27
Issued at HKT 19:27
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