Hong Kong: The Contractors' Experience

Preface

Preface Having written 'The Building of Hong Kong' for the Hong Kong Construction Association on the occasion of the Association's 70th Anniversary, I gained even more satisfaction from being asked to write a further book to commemorate the Association's 75th Anniversary. However, the task given to me by the Association this time was perhaps even more challenging than before. The Association wanted a book which expressed the nature and significance of the construction industry and one which showed the high level of abilities needed to construct major projects in Hong Kong. To construct these technologically demanding projects requires contractors of high calibre in terms of their corporate strength, managerial abilities and technical skills. Therefore it was decided that the book should feature profiles of eight of Hong Kong's foremost construction companies and their view of their company's competitive edge in what is a most competitive market. I therefore wish to take this opportunity to thank the executives of the construction companies featured in this book for the time and care they took in briefing me on their companies. The book concludes with a review of current issues facing the industry. The basis for this chapter was a round table discussion with senior members of the Hong Kong Construction Association and a distillation ofthe views expressed in any interviews with the executives of the major construction companies. I would like to thank all those who freely gave their time, experience and expertise to this endeavour. Whilst all this was challenging, the greatest challenge came through the diverse objectives which the Association had for the book. The major objective was to provide a 75th Anniversary book which the Construction Association could distribute to those both outside and inside the industry in celebration of the industry's contribution to Hong Kong's growth and prosperity. A further purpose was to provide an account of the Hong Kong construction industry which could be presented to the Ministry of Construction of the People's Republic of China as a record of the nature of the construction industry, its processes, its companies and its context so that the Ministry could further understand the industry in Hong Kong and both learn from it and contribute to it. I have tried to steer the difficult line which satisfies all these objectives. As well as my thanks to those I interviewed and discussed the industry, there are many others to whom lowe my gratitude for their assistance. In particular, Preface xv Dr. John Ramagne and Streeter Communications who gave permission to reproduce the piece on quality assurance in Chapter Three. My thanks are also due to Dr. K.W. Chau and Dr. Lawrence Lai of the Department of Surveying, the University of Hong Kong for their work on the statistics and future scenarios in Chapter Two. Once again my thanks are due to Flora Hui who never seems to tire of typing my untidy drafts and John Leung for assisting with the tables and figures. Particular thanks are due to Peter Lam and Patrick W. T. Chan of the Hong Kong Construction Association for initiating the project and for their collaboration and support. Once more my thanks are due to my wife, Pam, for proofreading and for her encouragement and support. Anthony Walker Hong Kong September 1995 ...