Sri Lankan Building Practitioner Asanka Kodikara was awarded the Continuous Professional Development Award for the year 2006, presented to building professionals in Victoria recognising professional excellence in the industry. The Building Commission and the Building Practitioners Board hosted the event on Friday, 10 th November 2006, at the RACV building in Melbourne.

This award also recognises community contributions made in the past as well as mentoring and guiding upcoming building graduates in the profession. It also encourages all building professionals to further enhance their knowledge and skills in the industry and contribute to personal and staff development.

There were six finalists nominated for this category including two Engineers, a principal of a Melbourne based large private Building Surveying firm, an Architectural/Building designer and a Building Surveyor from another municipal council in Victoria.

The Building Commissioner, Mr.Tony Arnel, presented the award to Asanka and in his speech he said "the Awards recognise and celebrate some of the outstanding achievements of practitioners in their pursuit of further knowledge and the application of new and improved skills ".

He also informed the audience that " Asanka is employed by the City of Kingston as the Municipal Building Surveyor which is a very important and valuable Council in the metropolitan region of Victoria ".

Asanka was educated at Ananda College in Colombo and was employed with the leading architectural firm Surath Wickramasinghe Associates prior to migrating to Australia.

Subsequently, he graduated from Swinburne University of Technology with a Bachelor's degree in Building Surveying. Asanka is the Council Delegate at the City of Kingston for all building matters and the only Sri Lankan Building Surveyor to hold the statutory position of Municipal Building Surveyor in the Local Government of Victoria. He is also a member of the Victorian Municipal Building Surveyor's Group, Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS) and Australian Institute of Building (AIB).

Source - Story & Pic - Johann Jayasinha (Snni) Melbourne