Bandar Seri Begawan - The 16th Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors (PAQS) Congress 2012 hosted for the first time in Brunei by the Association of Surveyors, Engineers and Architects of Brunei Darussalam (PUJA Brunei) drew to a successful conclusion yesterday.

Hj Zulkipli H A Hamid, President of PUJA Brunei, talked about the need for more quantity surveyors and the need to promote interest among students to enter the field of quantity surveying studies. Hj Zulkipli hoped that Brunei's hosting of 2012 PAQS Congress would provide a platform for the younger community in the country to look at quantity surveying as a career.

He said it is not easy to get experienced quantity surveyors in Brunei and he hoped a good pool of quantity surveyors could be built in Brunei to meet current and future demands. He hoped that in the future, academic access to quantity surveying courses can be made available locally to increase interest in the discipline.

With the theme of the congress "Innovation and Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities", quantity surveyors from Asia and the Pacific shared ideas, insights and experiences as well as showcased the best of QS practices, whilst evaluating their profession.

The theme was selected to provide a platform for the PAQS practitioners and other stakeholders to present, discuss and share the latest trends in the profession.

It was also an opportune time to look at the QS profession as a whole in a critical manner and look into ways of overcoming challenges and increasing demands, including awareness of the need to expand capacities to take up the opportunities that will come with all these challenges. During the congress, architecture, its technology and its practices, was discussed in relation to quantity surveying discipline.

Professor Roger Flanagan, School of Construction, Management and Engineering at the University of Reading talked about the need to build or design a building that is flexible enough for future needs, especially on the eventuality to accommodate the future ageing populace of a country.

He said even roads nowadays are built to accommodate versatile and young roadusers. In 20 to 30 years time, roads must accommodate less agile roadusers such as the ageing population. Hj Zulkipli told the media that 2012 PAQS, hosted for the first time in Brunei, received a good number of registrations from foreign delegates as well as local delegates and young members. He thanked various parties, including speakers and participants, government ministries in particular the Ministry of Development as well as the media for providing the support.

Sr Quek Jin Keat from Malaysia talked about identifying areas of research relevant to QS for the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) where he higligthed the need to balance priority and impact level. There were a host of other speakers highlighting the current issues and trends within the quantity surveyor discipline today.