AGS (HK)

I am honoured to be acting as Chairman of the AGS(HK) in 2006. We have made great strides over the last 2 or 3 years and progressed many of the new initiatives that we had programmed into our 18-month plan. For this I thank the enormous effort and enthusiasm of all the committee members. I can see a new 18-month plan developing. I hope that during my time as chairman we will expand those early initiatives and develop these into new areas. I encourage our audience to include more of those organizations to whom geotechnics and the geoenvironment really matters.

Over the last couple of years I have sometimes been asked: What does the AGS do? To this I respond that we aim to provide a balanced professional view to the industry. This enables those who need to be heard, but are sometimes drowned out by the noise, to have a voice. Our Articles state that our purpose is to promote and enhance the quality of professional practice and we are able to do this visibly through our GIG's, seminars and Forums as well as our Newsletter. Many of our committee also serve on other geotechnical committees and the informal communication this provides allows us to keep our focus on those professional issues of concern.

We have recently upgraded our website and this year aim to expand access to the technical information from our GIGs and talks. We have made some in-roads into the geo-environmental field and we will continue to provide GIG's and seminars in this fledgling area. We don't underestimate the importance of the geo-environment to a sustainable Hong Kong and see it as an area of significant importance in the future. It's great to be here at the start.

The strength of the AGS(HK) depends on the support from our members. Of course the membership has changed a bit over the last few years but the buzz in the air seems to be a confident one and with much work in Macau and expanding horizons in China, the outlook seems bright. We aim to be in the race.

We will continue to organize forums and seminars and judging by the support we have had, this has been welcomed by the engineering community. We have continued to support some of the other geotechnical groups in Hong Kong and are likely to continue this whilst still maintaining our position of a balanced view. AGS(HK) will also continue to support the Universities by offering annual donations. I was pleased to be able to attend the HKPolyU Donor's Reception in May 2006 as it confirmed that there remains some excellent talent and enthusiasm amongst the fledglings in our profession.

The strength of the AGS(HK) is very much dependent on the support provided from it's members. I would like to take this opportunity to invite any members of the geotechnical or geoenvironmental community who would be interested in being involved with the organisation to get in touch. I believe that collectively we can make a difference.