TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– As part of a study that aimed at enhancing the future roles and functions of building services (BS) engineers in Hong Kong, a survey was carried out to obtain demographic information about BS practitioners as well as their views and opinions on a range of issues which affect professional practices of BS engineers and recognition of their contributions by others. The purpose of this paper is to give a portrait of BS engineers in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approach– A series of statistical analyses were conducted based on the responses given by the BS practitioners, which included their qualifications, experience, job field, annual income and the number of trades of BS systems that they are competent in and responsible for.Findings– The statistics show that: competence gap exists in that BS engineers are required to handle more trades of BS systems than those they are competent in; and the academic and professional qualifications, years of experience and job position are the key influential factors to the annual income of BS engineers but little differences exist in the average annual income of engineers in different job fields.Originality/value– The competence gap is a concern that needs to be addressed to ensure BS engineers are competent in handling the common trades of BS systems, which is increasingly important for them to perform effectively in integrated professional teams for turning out holistic solutions for sustainable building developments. VL - 20 IS - 1 SN - 0969-9988 DO - 10.1108/09699981311288682 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/09699981311288682 AU - Yik Francis W.H. AU - Lai Joseph H.K. AU - Chan K.T. AU - Chau C.K. AU - Lee W.L. PY - 2013 Y1 - 2013/01/01 TI - A portrait of building services engineers in Hong Kong T2 - Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 63 EP - 82 Y2 - 2024/05/01 ER -