Hong Kong: The Contractors' Experience

Chapter One - A Backward Glance

Chapter One A Backward Glance Any account of the experiences of contractors in Hong Kong today would be unsatisfactory without the perspective of history. Independent construction contractors in Hong Kong originated when the British arrived in 1841. Before then the only buildings were the walled villages mainly located in what is now the New Territories. In 1841 there were just over 5,000 people living on shore and about 7,000 living on boats. In those days the villagers were their own builders and only when the British began constructing government buildings, wharves, warehouses and houses were people hired to undertake the construction and so gave birth to contractors in Hong Kong. In those early days the 'contractors' would be either individuals or small groups of people offering their services and working under the direction of an architect or engineer in the employment of the client or, in the case of Government , the Surveyor-General who superintended Government work. There were therefore in the beginning no general or main contractors of the kind responsible for construction today. Rather, from these roots grew the subcontracting system which is still predominant in Hong Kong today from which subcontractors are hired and organized by main contractors who bid for and obtain projects, parts of which they then sub-let. From such humble beginnings emerged today's spectacular city-state of Hong Kong with its impressive skyline and staggering infrastructure. There have been many phases of building and rebuilding and expansion of roads, railways, ports and other infrastructure. Many, many contractors have contributed to Hong Kong over the years and the differences in construction techniques, materials, engineering and management skills over the last 150 years have been phenomenal. But what is interesting is that whilst much has changed there is also much which remains the same. Many of the problems encountered in the old days are still encountered today, maybe in a different guise and on a different scale, but nevertheless essentially the same. Similarly a number of ideas which are considered new today are in fact not so. An account of some of the events of the past seems therefore to be an appropriate point to start a book about the experience of contractors in Hong Kong. The rapid rate of development of modem Hong Kong gives rise to frequent comment 2 Hong Kong - The Contractors' Experience but this has been typical from the very beginning. A Captain Arthur Cunyngheme wrote on arriving in the colony in June 1842 that: Perhaps no place in the history of ages can boast of such a rapid rise as the town of Hongkong. In August 1841, not one single house was yet built, not a portion of the brush-wood had been cleared away from this desolate spot. By June 1842, the town was considerably more than two miles long, containing store-houses and shops, here called godowns in which almost every article either Eastern or European could be procured and most of them at not very unreasonable prices. Just over a year later, in September 1843, Sir Harry Parkes wrote: From what I could see from the deck, the town had increased near double the size it was when I saw it last year. Most of the houses are very large and constructed very well, affording a fine sight to persons just entering the harbour. and so it has continued! One of the earliest projects to be organized by the Surveyor-General of the Government (the old title for the Director of Public Works or now Secretary for Works) using a series of subcontractors was St. John's Cathedral. The cathedral was built between 1847 and 1849 and later extended between 1869 and 1872. The contract for siteworks was between the Surveyor-General and 'Awei, a contractor' and Awei provided two sureties - John Que and Acheong in the penal sum of one thousand four hundred pounds. A rather high sum to risk in those days! Substructure work carried a high risk even then, as it does now, for something seems to have gone wrong with the contract with Awei, but we do not know how ills sureties fared, as a contract was then placed with Asking and Achee, contractors, for completion of Awei's contract. The church was to be paid for by a combination of Government funds and public subscription; in common with most such projects, both then and now, there were many discussions about who should pay what amount and what the total...