Use of innovative technologies pushed to boost productivity, efficiency and safety in construction industry

The Construction Industry Council has called for high-productivity construction and the adoption of innovative technologies to reinforce the sector’s competitive strength to cope with the golden decade ahead.

Albert Cheng, the council’s executive director, noted that Hong Kong ranks ninth in the construction cost index and said costs may rise further due to the increasing construction volume. He said reform is needed for the industry.

The CIC has engaged a consultancy firm to draw up a recommendation report by collecting industry feedback and making references to success stories overseas.

It then set out 13 strategies in four focus areas: High Productivity Construction; Streamline Approval Process; Drive Adoption of Innovative Technologies; and Enhance Project Management & Procurement.

“The volume of Hong Kong’s construction industry will reach HK$300 billion a year and the demand for housing will reach 430,000 units over the next 10 years,” Cheng said.

“Improvement in productivity and safety is the top priority of the industry.”

On high-productivity construction, the CIC has been advocating the industry to use the high-efficiency Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) approach.

MiC refers to construction in which free-standing modules are manufactured in a factory and then transported to the site for rapid installation.

The chairperson of the joint working group on MiC, Simon Wong, said the approach is the future direction for construction as traditional methods require a large number of workers.

“The Fire Services Department Pak Shing Kok Married Quarters was built using the MiC approach. During construction, the demand for manpower dropped by 40 percent while the construction time was reduced by nine months,” Wong said.

He said the council will organize more training and experience-sharing sessions on the MiC approach.

“The CIC will continue to support the industry to adopt Modular Integration Construction (MiC) and Multi-trade Integrated MEP (MiMEP) by organizing a MiC Master Class to enrich the knowledge of industry professionals and to raise the industry’s acceptance and adoption of MiC and MiMEP,” Wong said.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said in his first policy address in October that the government will build 30,000 light public housing units and 20,000 transitional housing units using the MiC approach, Cheng said.

He added that more than 50 percent of future public housing units in the second five-year will be built using the MiC approach.

The CIC also pushed for the implementation of the smart construction concept, in which motion sensors and CCTVs are installed to monitor the sites.

A member of the Committee on Building Information Modelling, Jack Cheng, said digitization and construction safety are closely tied.

“Visualization brought by new technologies allows construction sites to discover potential problems and dangers quickly,” he said.

“In this case, we can be aware of potential dangers and safety concerns immediately to avoid accidents from happening.”

The CIC also suggested the approval processes of construction should be streamlined so that construction time can be shortened, speed efficiency enhanced and production volume increased.