At the building site for Singapore's new Police Headquarters. (left to right) David Thomas CSP P&D; Barbara Willison, WSSP PHQ DEV; Marigold Lau, Project Director Arch SD; and Peter Yuen, Chief Architect Arch SD

WITH great emphasis now being placed on ensuring that land in Hong Kong is fully utilised and with the need to ensure that the Hong Kong Police Force delivers the best standard of service possible to the community, the Force is examining both the internal and external design of police buildings for the future. In announcing this Deputy Commissioner of Police (Management) Tsang Yam-pui said that the objective is to provide accommodation which facilitates the use of modern technology, improves efficiency, is more staff and community friendly, and above all reflects the Force values of dedication to service quality and continuous improvement.

"In other words our buildings should reflect the organisation ethos, give focus to things that are important and encourage a sense of corporate harmony and service to the community," he said. "A major step forward in our approach was to initiate plans for the comprehensive development of Arsenal Yard to replace Caine House, May House and Wanchai Police Station."

Planning for this project is being undertaken by the Police Headquarters Development Team under the command of WSSP Barbara Willison. It is planned that work will commence in June 1999 for completion by the end of 2002.

CSP P&D David Thomas added that "apart from PHQ, we also needed to focus our attention on other Police buildings in the Police Building Programme with special emphasis on those areas where there is a public interface."

To this end - and to develop their ideas - Planning and Development Branch key personnel have examined other public and private sector buildings in Hong Kong which they feel best reflects Force objectives and this culminated in the first ever joint Police/Architectural Services Department (Arch SD) visit to Singapore in November 1997. Those taking part were the Project Director and Chief Architect from Arch SD responsible for Police projects, Barbara Willison of the PHQ Development Team and CSP Thomas.

Said Mr Thomas: "The visit to Singapore has enforced my view that this was an appropriate venue as they also face many challenges concerning infrastructural development and population changes. Like us they have a comprehensive building programme aimed at developing community needs for the future. This resulted in a very useful exchange of ideas which together with others are now under consideration."

He notes that both Singapore and Hong Kong Police Forces share the view that the needs of staff and the public are paramount and that the facilities provided in the future are modern, and provide comfortable and environmentally friendly accommodation.

To illustrate his point, DCP (MAN) Tsang Yam-pui draws attention to North Point Division which is currently being used as a pilot for the Station Improvement Project: "One aspect of this is the refurbishment of report rooms to provide a facility which is modern, meets the professional image of the Force and facilitates community involvement. We are considering along with other options a major departure from the traditional style front bench which separates the public from the community, by utilising more modern concepts and designs which bring the public and police closer together."

Such initiatives are not however just confined to report rooms but to other areas as well, especially improvements to changing accommodation, canteen facilities and the use of work stations; in other words the type of support facilities which help ensure Force staff operate as effectively as possible and reflect the image of an organisation committed to professionalism and improvement.

It is important also that the designs and facilities of the future promote creativity and an improved work environment.

"Many of our existing buildings are old, outdated and operationally inefficient. They are costly to maintain and poorly utilise the sites on which they stand," CSP Thomas pointed out. "A major ingredient of our police Building Programme therefore is to combine various facilities where possible and surrender under-utilised sites in return for smaller sites and modern accommodation."

Currently the Police Property Steering Group, comprising representatives from various Departments including Arch SD and Government Property Agency is examining ways in which this process can be speeded up in order that new accommodation can be constructed as soon as possible, thus ensuring the early release of under-utilised sites. In the development of this process, briefings are being given to Regions to provide an overview of the way forward.

For those buildings which are unlikely to be replaced in the foreseeable future, Mr Thomas said it is important to ensure that they are well maintained: "During 1997, P&D Branch dealt with over 700 minor maintenance projects as well as a number of major refurbishment items. To assist in this process the Branch developed the 'Customer Contract' to facilitate understanding of customer needs and the standard of service rightfully expected.

"In addition the maintenance performance proforma was introduced to provide feedback on the standard of maintenance work provided by contractors. These improvements are aimed at bringing about an overall improvement in the standard of maintenance."

The P&D Branch team is staffed by officers with a wide range of operational experience and is working together with other departments as well as the formations concerned to bring about improvements to Force accommodation for the benefit of both staff and the community.