ICE200 Distinguished Lecture - Hong Kong
Former railway chief James Blake OBE, GBS called for engineers in Hong Kong to continue to improve control and transparency within projects to maintain its global lead.
Hong Kong has the best infrastructure design, delivery and asset management of the past and present – and potentially in the future, too, according to a railway engineering expert.
James Blake, OBE, GBS, former director of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), gave this message to an audience of over 400 people at a ICE200 Distinguished Lecture in the city on 30 August 2018.
"Hong Kong’s infrastructure development has been consistently recognised for their project performance and construction efficiency. Infrastructure in Hong Kong is ranked the first by the World Economic Forum for eight consecutive years,” he said.
Mr Blake said that Hong Kong had achieved its reputation thanks to three factors: projects are fit for purpose, command and control, and trust and transparency.
He used his lecture to highlight how Hong Kong has successfully delivered sophisticated and modern infrastructure between the 1980s to the 2000s - and challenged engineers to build on past achievements.
Major civil engineering projects in Hong Kong include the Victoria Harbour area treatment, one of the 200 projects highlighted to celebrate the ICE's 200th anniversary.
Mr Blake also emphasised the importance of using emerging technology, in particular Building Information Modelling (BIM), to transform the delivery of projects.
Meanwhile, a panel discussion following Mr Blake’s lecture identified that there’s still work to be done.
The panel, comprising Mr Blake, CS Wai, managing director of Urban Renewal Authority, Thomas Ho, chief executive of Gammon Construction, and Ken Ho, ICE Hong Kong chairman, said there was a need to continue to improve command and control, as well as trust and transparency, within the industry. They also talked about how the industry can promote more innovation.
This article was originally published on 19 Sept 2018 by ICE. It was written by Eva Kong.
--The Institution of Civil Engineers
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
The future workforce: culture change and skill
Under the spotlight at UK Construction Week London.
A landmark moment for postmodern heritage.
A safe energy transition – ECA launches a new Charter
Practical policy actions to speed up low carbon adoption while maintaining installation safety and competency.
Frank Duffy: Researcher and Practitioner
Reflections on achievements and relevance to the wider research and practice communities.
The 2026 Compliance Landscape: Fire doors
Why 'Business as Usual' is a Liability.
Cutting construction carbon footprint by caring for soil
Is construction neglecting one of the planet’s most powerful carbon stores and one of our greatest natural climate allies.
ARCHITECTURE: How's it progressing?
Archiblogger posing questions of a historical and contextual nature.
The roofscape of Hampstead Garden Suburb
Residents, architects and roofers need to understand detailing.
Homes, landlords. tenants and the new housing standards
What will it all mean?
The Architectural Technology podcast: Where it's AT
Catch-up on the latest episodes.
Edmundson Apprentice of the Year award 2026
Entries now open for this Electrical Contractors' Association award.
Traditional blue-grey slate from one of the oldest and largest UK slate quarries down in Cornwall.
There are plenty of sources with the potential to be redeveloped.
Change of use legislation breaths new life into buildings
A run down on Class MA of the General Permitted Development Order.
Solar generation in the historic environment
Success requires understanding each site in detail.