Kingston's MBS visits a Primary School to inform students about
Councils, Local Government and Building Profession
(SNNI) sports n News - Melbourne

Kingston 's Municipal Building Surveyor and Co- ordinator of Building Services and Enforcement Asanka Kodikara visited the Templeton Primary School in Wantirna on May 21, 2007 following an invitation by Rashmika Pandithage , a year 6 student of the school. Mr. Kodikara was requested to visit the school as a guest speaker to inform the class about the functions of City Councils, Local Government system, Building profession in general and Municipal Building Surveyors duties.

The presentation commenced by informing the students about the 3 levels of government that exist in Australia namely Federal, State and Local and discussed about the broad and extensive functions that Councils generally carry out in their respective municipalities in developing community needs and infrastructure such as pre-schools, aged care facilities, libraries, roads, parks and gardens for the residents and ratepayers. The students were also informed about some of the main functions and statutory responsibilities that Councils are legally obliged to administer and enforce under numerous state legislation and acts of parliament such as Local Government, Health, Domestic (Feral & Nuisance) Animals, Emergency Management, Road Safety, Planning and Building etc to name a few.

Asanka also explained how the building permit system operates in Victoria including the Private Building Surveyor functions in issuing of building and occupancy permits. He also emphasized the added responsibilities of a Municipal Building Surveyor such as responding to emergencies situations like fires in buildings, building collapses etc and inspecting of illegal structures, swimming pool and spa barrier safety requirements, conducting of fire safety audits of medium to high risk public buildings such as aged care homes, night clubs, shopping centres and large factory buildings. Students were also informed of the enforcement procedures in relation to Building Regulations how to achieve compliance in non-complying buildings with Building Orders and prosecution. They were also reminded of the importance of having functioning smoke alarms and the maintenance of swimming pool and spa safety barriers at homes to prevent possible deaths or injury.

The presentation was concluded by many interesting questions raised by enthusiastic students. The class teacher Mr. Mack and student Rashmika thanked the Municipal Building Surveyor from Kingston for delivering an informative and a valuable presentation. Asanka Kodikara was the recipient of the 2006 State Award November last year for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) which is awarded to Registered Building Practitioners (RBP) in Victoria for professional excellence by the Building Commission and the Building Practitioners Board.