Welcome Remarks at Technial Seminar on Rising Construction Cost

Event: Technical Seminar on Rising Construction Cost
Date: 15 August 2017

Chairman Stephen Lai, ladies and gentlemen,

Good Morning! On behalf of CIC, I wish to welcome you all to this seminar on Rising Construction Cost.

Before we go into the serious business of today’s subject, I wish to share with you the history of this beautiful place.

May I know, who are the first time visitors to ZCB.

About 20 years ago, this place was granted to CITA by the government for construction skill training purposes, e.g. machinery training, steel bending, scaffolding etc.  About 8-10 years the surrounding areas were gradually built-up.  Both government and CIC felt that it was not appropriate to maintain the purpose.

Together with the Development Bureau, CIC decided to re-develop this place into a state-of-the-art architecture / eco-building to showcase the sustainable green building design, green construction and green living.  You can see that we have incorporated many green features into the design of this project, e.g. orientation, cross-ventilation, re-newable energy, waste-to-energy facilities etc.  On an annual basis, we produce more energy than we require.

We organise sustainable living exhibitions for schools and general public with guide tours in the exhibition hall.  The current exhibition is on “Climate Change” and “Smart City”, you are welcome to join.  Of course, the open-air garden is open to public, you can rent it for wedding parties or other functions.  The entire construction cost, maintenance cost and operation cost are funded by CIC, which of course is funded by the construction levy we collect from construction projects.

We reckon that it is a small present presented to the community of Hong Kong by the construction industry, which you are part of it.  I hope you feel proud of it.

Go back to the core subject of today – High Construction Cost.

Arcadis, Francis Au said that regarding construction cost, Hong Kong is the second most expensive in the world, following New York.  I do not know whether we are comparing apple with apple but it is fact that the construction cost in Hong Kong has been rising very fast.

The tender price index has risen much faster than the consumer price index.  High construction cost affects livelihood and the pace of development of the society.  One obvious effect is on property prices.

One of the major responsibilities of CIC is to ensure sustainable development of the construction industry.  It is our duty to identify areas for improvement.

Everybody agrees that innovation and technology will contribute to higher efficiency and bring cost down.

As mentioned in the Policy Address of the government, earlier this year, the CIC will set up a Construction Innovation and Technology Application Centre towards the end of the year to showcase the latest technologies in construction and drive for their adaptation in Hong Kong.

CIC is organising the Second Construction Innovation Award and I hope, you had already submitted your application because the deadline is today.

We believe that BIM will contribute to higher efficiency in construction.  CIC has invested in constructing the largest BIM Innovation and Development Centre in Hong Kong and will make special effort to work together with the industry to develop BIM application in Hong Kong.

I wish to thank the Committee on Construction Procurement in organising this seminar and I am grateful to the speakers for sparing their time and effort to allow us to share their insight on this important subject.  I am sure all of us will benefit from this seminar.

Thank you.