QSAA felicitates Quantity Surveyor H. D. Chandrasena

by Chandana Jayalath

The Annual General Meeting of the Quantity Surveyors Alumni Association (QSAA) of the Department of Building Economics, University of Moratuwa was held at the Golden Rose Banquet Hall, Boralesgamuwa, recently.

A Continuing Professional Development panel discussion with experienced quantity surveyors titled 'MoratuwaQS - The Brand Name and Demand Assurance' also took place.

Parallel to the AGM, the QSAA felicitated chartered quantity surveyor, adjudicator and arbitrator, H. D. Chandrasena in appreciation of his dedication in the initiation and development of the four-year internal full-time honours degree in the Science of Quantity Surveying at the University of Moratuwa.

Hettiarachchige Don Chandrasena, was the first Vice President and the third President of the Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Sri Lanka (IQSSL). He is among five contemporaries to take part in the landmark inaugural meeting of the IQSSL in July 1983.

He spent a large part of his career in the State sector such as the Buildings Department and the State Engineering Corporation. He was the Chief Quantity Surveyor at the State Engineering Corporation and retired as the Deputy General Manager (Consultancy Services) after 18 years of service.

Chandrasena was the force behind many landmark achievements of the IQSSL. These include incorporation of the institute under the Companies Act No. 17 of 1982, subsequent enactment by Parliamentary Act No 20 of 2007 and obtaining affiliations to many professional and industry related entities.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors and the Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Sri Lanka and a member of the Board of Governors of the Sri Lanka National Arbitration Centre and an arbitrator at the Institute for Commercial Law and Practice. He is also a member of the Architecture Faculty Board in the University of Moratuwa.

He was a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Moratuwa for 25 years. He is a resource person at the Open University of Sri Lanka and Centre for Housing, Building and Planning (CHPB) where he organized several short-term courses in Quantity Surveying.

He was the adviser to the Civil Engineering Committee of the Standards Institution of Sri Lanka (formerly known as the Bureau of Standards, Sri Lanka) in formulating the Standard Method of Measurement of Building Work in Sri Lanka (SLS 573), appositely named Sri Lankan SMM, to offer uniformity of measuring proposed and completed works.

SMM reduces idiosyncrasy of individual measurements, to a great extent, which can also be considered as a breakthrough in Sri Lanka's construction industry standardization.

Chandrasena is a country representative of the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Executive Committee Member and Finance Committee Member of Chamber of Construction Industry, Sri Lanka, and Member, Construction Cluster of the National Council for Economic Development.

Chandrasena was presented the Eminent Personality Award by ICTAD for his lifetime contribution for the improvement of the domestic construction industry and the profession of Quantity Surveying. He is a member of the steering committee of the ICTAD, now known as the Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA), which is the apex multi-disciplinary body to ensure that the standards reflect good engineering practices.

H. D. Chandrasena is an old boy of St. Benedict's College, Kotahena.

QSAA was set up to support the University, especially the Department of Building Economics to deliver its Quantity Surveying Degree Program in terms of quality, recognition and achievement.

QSAA also works towards enhancement of the welfare and well-being of its practising membership all over the world. Acting in form of a magnetic field, QSAA bridges the university and the industry, having a constant dialogue with those who pass out, for industrial feedback.