15 Years of Building Hong Kong: The CIC Leads the Industry towards a New Digital Era

Established in 2007, the Construction Industry Council (CIC) has been nurturing numerous talents and leading the industry to overcome challenges over the years. To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the CIC, the “Celebration for the 15th Anniversary of the Construction Industry Council and the Hong Kong Construction Exhibition Grand Opening Ceremony” was held in M+ of West Kowloon Cultural District on 31st October. The Guests of Honour, the Honourable John LEE, Chief Executive of HKSAR Government, Ms. Bernadette LINN, Secretary for Development, Ms. Winnie HO, Secretary for Housing and Ir Ricky LAU, Permanent Secretary for Development (Works), together with Ir Thomas HO, Chairman of the CIC and Ir Albert CHENG, Executive Director of the CIC officiated at the opening ceremony.

Hong Kong Construction Exhibition to Showcase the Development of the Industry

“In the past 15 years, the CIC worked hand-in-hand with the industry to construct and develop Hong Kong. With the theme of “The Past and the Future”, the “Hong Kong Construction Exhibition” showcases the development of the industry and provides a glimpse of state-of-the-art technological applications. Guests were greeted with the “Building ∞ Future” Digital LED Runway once passed by the welcome backdrop. The L-Shaped Digital LED Runway was 14m in length and was divided into 4 zones. Videos were played on the LED wall to showcase advanced construction technologies of different building stages, namely “Pre-Construction”, “Off-Site Construction”, “On-site Construction” and “Smart Facility Management and Liveable City”. Guests could thus have a better understanding of how technologies could benefit the whole building lifecycle. For instance, footage of modules prefabrication are shown in the “Off-site Construction" zone while “Smart Facility Management and Liveable City” Zone has demonstrated how the application of 5G, BIM and IoT could contribute to extending buildings’ lifes.

Interactive Safety Hologram

Stepping out from the Digital LED Runway, the guests would enter another exhibition zone where the exhibits of the MiC Model and Self-Compacting Backfill Material, as well as the “Hong Kong Past and Present”: Transparent LED Walls were placed. The Double LED walls has taken visitors on a journey to review the past and the present of over 60 Hong Kong’s landmarks and iconic infrastructures, such as the Peak Tower, the High Island Reservoir, the Double-arch steel bridge for Cross Bay Link and the Habour Area Treatment Scheme.

Life first and foremost, an Interactive Safety Hologram was set up to promote the safety information of the industry where guests could interact with our 3D Safety Ambassador to learn about different safety practices and related innovations of the industry. The Hologram has caught the attention of the Chief Executive, as he actively interchanged ideas with our Ambassador to understand how technologies could be put in real practices and help improve safety standards of the construction sites.

A Promising Future Ahead

The promising development of the construction industry is the results of the government support and the combined efforts from our practitioners. As Mr. John LEE, Chief Executive of HKSAR Government addressed, Hong Kong is destined to rise further as a city of boundless opportunities and Hong Kong’s annual construction volume is expected to grow to $300 billion in future. He said that the Government will press on with formulating measures to uplift the productivity of the construction industry, drive the development of high productivity construction methods, such as Modular Integrated Construction (MiC), across the industry.

Talents are the root of development and the industry must work whole-heartedly to nurture the next generation in order to boost productivity. Ir Thomas HO, Chairman of the CIC mentioned in his opening remarks that, in the year 2021, more than 60,000 practitioners were trained and helped alleviate labour shortage. The CIC will fully support the Policy Address, continue to train new talents and introduce more construction advanced technologies. The CIC will make every effort to boost the productivity of the industry and support the development of infrastructure in Hong Kong. He also announced that the CIC would co-organise the “Design for Future, Build for Life” publicity campaign with the Development Bureau to uplift the image of the industry and attract new blood.

Energetic Musical Performance

As the grand opening ceremony was unleashed by the 3D videos, the atmosphere was further livened up as the guests, including industry leaders from all sectors, were treated to the musical performance by the young and energetic dancers, which featured the development of Hong Kong construction industry in the past decades.