Measurement of the performance of ready mixed concreting resources as data for system simulation

Concrete is a very important construction industry material, and this is especially true in Hong Kong. The efficient organization of the supply of concrete from ready mixed concrete plants is beneficial to both concrete companies and contractors. It is also essential for an efficient construction industry, since a very high propor1 tion of the in situ concrete in Hong Kong is supplied ready mixed from an off-site plant. Whether concrete companies in Hong Kong are using their resources well and are able to satisfactorily match the timing of their deliveries to construction site needs are questions discussed in this paper, based on data collected by the authors. The data are planned for use in validating a simulation model of ready mixed concrete plant operations in Hong Kong. The third author spent 20 weeks in 1999–2000 at concrete batching plants in Hong Kong, studying their operations. Data on a sample of 15 typical operational days at four plants, which included 295 pours on sites and 1677 truckmixer trips, are presented. Truckmixer journey times for delivering concrete and journey times for returning to plants and their distributions have been found. Queuing statistics for truckmixers on site waiting to be unloaded, placing times when unloading concrete, washing out and waiting times on sites after unloading, and delays in the continuous delivery of concrete are also described. Service has been studied in terms of the matching achieved between site delivery timing require1 ments and the need to use truckmixers efficiently. For the 295 pours, the relationship is shown between gaps in the supply of concrete to site and the extent to which truckmixers are bunched in a queue on site. Matching was found to be good for only 17% of the 295 pours, the variability in service received by different sites is considerable, and the importance of studying the truckmixer scheduling problem is highlighted, so that this variability might be reduced and extreme cases eliminated.     

Partnering for construction excellence—A reality or myth?

Project partnering has gained popularity in the Hong Kong construction industry since its adoption on the North District Hospital project in 1994. An increasing trend in the use of project partnering in building and construction has been observed over the past decade, with a proven track record of success. In order to critically investigate and examine the effectiveness and performance of project partnering as applied in the local building and construction industry, the Construction Industry Institute, Hong Kong (CII–HK) initiated an industry-driven research study in March 2003 to compare the implementation and outcomes of project partnering practices amongst the public, private and infrastructure sectors as well as between building and infrastructure works. This paper summarizes the key findings derived from the CII–HK funded research study completed in late 2004. Based on the case study of six selected projects, a ‘best practice’ partnering framework is developed. While it has been demonstrated that project partnering can provide extensive benefits to the industry across different sectors, it should be noted that partnering is not a panacea to solve all kinds of problems. What it does is to provide an avenue for people to communicate better thus eliminating unnecessary misunderstanding. It is recommended that partnering be adopted across a wider spectrum of the construction industry during the 21st Century to reap sustainable benefits for construction excellence.     

Construction site safety in Hong Kong

The structural characteristics of the Hong Kong construction industry, most notably its elaborate system of subcontracting and the casual basis on which labour is employed, pose serious problems for safety managers. By international standards, Hong Kong's construction industry performs very badly in the area of safety. Recent work in the UK and Finland highlights the effectiveness of behavioural techniques to improve safety performance on construction sites. Work is currently under way to test these techniques in the Hong Kong construction setting. The structural properties of the Hong Kong construction industry have been taken into consideration and labour commitments to the group and to the organization have been identified for additional consideration in research. It is expected that these variables will intervene in the application of behavioural techniques to determine their effectiveness. This paper investigates the theoretical background to commitment at the group and organizational level and presents a site level research model which is illustrative of the possible effects that group and organization level commitment may be found to have on the use of behavioural techniques.     

香港与内地建筑业合作效果的影响因素研究

粤港澳大湾区的建设需要两地建筑行业深度合作,但香港与内地建筑业在法律体系、建设流程、资质要求等方面存在很多差异。为提高香港与内地建筑业的合作效果,在对业内人士多番访谈和问卷调查的基础上,得到影响香港与内地建筑业合作效果的13个因素,构建粤港澳大湾区建设背景下香港与内地建筑业合作效果影响因素的结构方程模型并作相关假设,运用SEM结构方程模型验证基础能力、合作态度和合作环境对合作效果的影响。研究发现,专业人士的基础能力、合作态度和合作环境对两地建筑业合作效果都会产生显著影响。其中,香港人员优势、港方在内地的适应性、主要合作障碍、互惠意愿、竞争压力依次为最重要的影响因素;另外,三类影响因素也存在相互影响。     

Study of attitude changes in people after the implementation of a new safety management system: the supervision plan

The construction industry of Hong Kong has a very poor site safety record. The overall accident rate has gone down a little during the last few years, but the number of fatalities has risen dramatically. In the past, the Hong Kong Government adopted a laissez-faire approach in managing construction safety, hoping that market forces would regulate the safety performance. However, the approach has proved to be ineffective. Since 1986, the Government has taken a proactive approach in combating construction site safety, and has introduced a series of safety programmes, which consist of encouraged and mandatory schemes aiming at nourishing a proper safety culture in the construction industry. Recently, the Government decided to criminalize site accident cases by introducing a so-called ‘Supervision Plan’, aiming at changing the safety attitude and culture of construction practitioners. This paper applies an attitude-changing model, ‘reinforcement theory’, to predict the changing attitude of people in the construction industry. The results show that the attitude of construction practitioners in Hong Kong will change to be more positive when they receive more messages to confirm that people really are put into jail for negligence under the Supervision Plan.     

The capital budgeting evaluation practices (2014) of contractors in the Hong Kong construction industry

Capital budget evaluation plays a crucial role in financial management. This places a firm in a competitive position. Recent development points to the need for implementing capital budgeting in construction organizations due to the capital-intensive nature of construction business. The aim here is to investigate the trends in the practice of capital budget evaluation among construction contractors operating in Hong Kong over a 20-year period. A longitudinal survey approach is used; four cross-sectional surveys were conducted between 1994 and 2014. The findings indicate that ‘formal financial evaluation’ is the most common technique used for capital budget evaluation. In addition, the practice of capital budget evaluation is more pronounced in the large-sized firms. A comparative analysis of the results of the four surveys reveals that there are variations in the degree and frequency of use of capital budget evaluation techniques over the study period. Further research is needed to understand the challenges associated with the use of sophisticated capital budget evaluation techniques in the construction industry of Hong Kong.     

香港的旧城改造及其启示

香港的旧城改造是其经济发展和城市建设的重要内容。本世纪 5 0年代以来 ,香港的城市面貌不断更新 ,但也面临诸如土地征集等难题。在回顾香港旧城改造历程的基础上 ,重点透过土地发展公司来剖析其所遇到的困难 ,并评介香港特别行政区政府的政策动向和对国内城市的启示     

城市跨界发展与融合——港深案例研究

探讨港深两地跨界城市发展与城市融合的进程。香港和深圳已建立了紧密的经济融合,制度层面上的融合也有一定的进展,但社会层面上的融合显著滞后。香港和深圳居民对边界另一边的对方缺乏充分认识。超过57%的香港和深圳居民不太熟悉或非常不熟悉另一个城市。超过四成的香港和深圳受访者认为价值观的差异是构建港深大都会的最主要的障碍。港深大都会的跨界社区尚未融合。香港和深圳在许多方面存在差异,造成两地之间难以实现完全的融合。港深两地有必要在"一国两制"的原则下,以提升两地城市竞争力与方便居民跨界居住与工作为出发点,推动城市跨界发展与融合。     

Environmental performance assessment in China and Hong Kong

Environmental Management System (EMS) has recently been advocated for almost all economic sectors. However, the implementation of EMS is problematic for the construction industry. The greatest obstacle is the lack of objective performance evaluation criteria. To overcome this, Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) has been introduced, to provide assessments in terms of management and operational systems. This paper compares the status of EPA implementation in China and Hong Kong. By means of a questionnaire survey, the difficulties in implementing EPA are highlighted, the major ones being ‘Lack of technological support, such as training, staff and expertise’ and ‘Lack of commitment from senior staff’ in Hong Kong and Mainland China, respectively. Furthermore, ‘Lack of legal enforcement’ is found more profound in Mainland China than in Hong Kong, indicated by a low correlation coefficient between the rankings of these factors in Hong Kong and China. Meanwhile, ‘Promoting EPA as a legal requirements’ and ‘Inclusion of EPA in the tendering requirements’ are found to be the best tools for encouraging implementation of EPA. Although the difficulties in implementing EPA are different in the two regions, the motivations for EPA are similar, with a high correlation coefficient.     

Environmental performance assessment in China and Hong Kong

Environmental Management System (EMS) has recently been advocated for almost all economic sectors. However, the implementation of EMS is problematic for the construction industry. The greatest obstacle is the lack of objective performance evaluation criteria. To overcome this, Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) has been introduced, to provide assessments in terms of management and operational systems. This paper compares the status of EPA implementation in China and Hong Kong. By means of a questionnaire survey, the difficulties in implementing EPA are highlighted, the major ones being 'Lack of technological support, such as training, staff and expertise' and 'Lack of commitment from senior staff' in Hong Kong and Mainland China, respectively. Furthermore, 'Lack of legal enforcement' is found more profound in Mainland China than in Hong Kong, indicated by a low correlation coefficient between the rankings of these factors in Hong Kong and China. Meanwhile, 'Promoting EPA as a legal requirements' and 'Inclusion of EPA in the tendering requirements' are found to be the best tools for encouraging implementation of EPA. Although the difficulties in implementing EPA are different in the two regions, the motivations for EPA are similar, with a high correlation coefficient.     

改革开放以来粤港澳经济关系的回顾与展望（英文）

Nearly 40 years of reform and opening up witnesses the remarkable achievements of economic cooperation among Guangdong,Hong Kong,and Macao.The economic relations among Guangdong,Hong Kong,and Macao have evolved from a unitary pattern of "front shop and back factory" orienting at regional labor division at an earlier stage to a combination of multiple patterns including the "factory and shop combined" pattern.The regional scope has been expanded and the connotation of cooperation has been enriched.After entering into the 21~(st) century,Hong Kong,who is experiencing its economic transformation,faces the challenges brought about by the thriving of service industry in Guangdong Province.The three areas have been fighting over the hinterland through infrastructures connection and optimization,in order to realize an expansion of economic development space that can break through the restriction of land resources.In addition,under the background of strategies of the "Belt Road Initiative" and "internationalization of the RMB," financial cooperation becomes the development emphasis at the third stage of economic cooperation among the three regions.When their economic relations change,the spatial pattern among Guangdong,Hong Kong,and Macao gradually shifts from "concentrating on a small scale and dispersing on a large scale" toward "dispersing on a small scale and concentrating on a large scale." Based on an analysis on the development direction of the economic relations among Guangdong,Hong Kong,and Macao in the future,the paper points out that the regional cooperation will transit from disperse development to border breaking,the region will develop from a livable bay area to a world-level bay area,and the spatial pattern will develop from center-hinterland to hub-network,which ultimately realizes a spatial response to the transition of economic relations.     

香港特区强制性建造业工人注册制度及借鉴

2.北京交通大学应用经济学博士后流动站,北京100044)[摘要]实施强制性建造业工人注册制度是香港特区建造业的一件大事,是建立新文化的一项重要措拖。分析了香港特区实施强制性建造业工人注册制度的目的和注册管理等基本内容,探讨了该制度对于内地建筑业的可借鉴之处。     

One country,two systems: How regional institutions shape governance modes in the greater Pearl River Delta,China

This paper, which is positioned in the interface of economic geography and institutional economics, studies the spatial aspect of institutions and its relevance for regional economic development in the Greater Pearl River Delta (GPRD). The GPRD consists of Hong Kong (HK) on the one hand, providing an advanced institutional system, and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in China on the other hand, with its evolving institutional setting. Despite or even because of the ‘one country, two systems’ situation, firms in the GPRD have become established suppliers in the electronics value chain. The paper takes up the challenge of operationalizing and empirically studying the relations of HK firms and PRD producers adapted to regionally specific institutional pattern and demand for flexibility in production using a quantitative approach based in a survey of HK electronic firms and a logit model explaining the relations between HK firms and PRD producers. The analysis reveals that in the course of time, HK firms have used different entry modes as a response to the maturity the institutional setting.     

香港新世纪桥梁建设的发展和前景

香港从一个小渔港，在百余年中，发展成一个世界之大都会，发展的过程和基础设施的建设有密切的关系，而道路及桥梁工程的作用更是十分明显和重要。本文简介香港一些重要的世界级桥梁工程发展项目及前景。并着重介绍其关键技术、创新点、质量管理、经济和社会效益。     

香港特区塔机市场及安全管理

自2008年金融海啸后,香港十大基建工程陆续上马,包括数个铁路项目、跨境基建、西九文化区和新发展区建设,以改善香港市民的居住环境和发展的持续性,特区政府逐年加大建筑工程投资额度,在抓紧落实十大基建工程项目的同时,积极推进中小基建项目。另外私人发展商推出的商品住宅和商用写字楼落成量也大幅度回升,香港的建筑业自2011年已进入了一个比较繁荣的高峰期。     

Capital budget planning practices of building contractors in Hong Kong

This paper explores the current practice of capital budget planning and control in the Hong Kong (HK) construction industry, based on two surveys undertaken in 1994 and 1999. The aims of these surveys were to uncover the financial planning, monitoring and control procedures used by building engineering contractors in HK. The results of the current survey reveal that less than half of the respondents undertook any form of capital budget planning. The most common form of capital budget planning was a review of the minimum rate of return. Despite the low prevalence of planning, most respondents adopted some method of capital budget control, especially by way of monitoring project performance. The 1999 study was compared with a similar survey conducted in 1994. The results indicate that there was no significant improvement in capital budget planning practices over the five year period. In addition to these findings, this paper concludes with a classification of firms, according to their capital budget planning behaviour, using discriminant function analysis.     

Privatizing water supply in Hong Kong

With the exception of the water supply industry, all major utilities in Hong Kong are owned and operated by private enterprises. In terms of price, returns, and productivity, the water supply industry in Hong Kong compares unfavourably with privately-owned utilities. The financial performance of the Water Supplies Department has been deteriorating in recent years. In order to improve the performance of the water supply industry, the Hong Kong Government should consider inviting the private sector to run the industry. Hong Kong can learn from other countries with regard to reforms made in the water supply industry.     

Major bridge development in Hong Kong, China-past, present and future

The first “modern” type of vehicular bridge was built in Hong Kong China in the 1920s. The need for an efficient transportation system to cope with population growth and enable economic development has demanded the construction of more and more bridges since the middle of the 20th century. By 2007, Hong Kong had a total of about 1300 vehicular bridges. Four of these bridges, including the Tsing Ma Bridge, Kap Shui Mun Bridge, Ting Kau Bridge, and the cable-stayed bridge on the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor, are considered to be major bridges supported by cables. Currently, the Stonecutters Bridge on Route No. 8 is under construction and is expected to be completed in late 2009. At the same time, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will be in its detailed design stage soon. While efforts have been made by bridge builders to construct these giant structures, the upkeeping of these valuable assets at a high standard and ensuring their continuous functioning and performance during their intended lifespans will be another important task for bridge engineers. Wind and structural health monitoring system (WASHMS) will play a key role in this respect.     

Rethinking the mechanism of the social impact assessment with the ‘right to the city’ concept: a case study of the Blue House Revitalization Project in Hong Kong (2006–2012)

Over the past two decades, urban renewal has become a major means to increase the efficiency of land production in Hong Kong (HK). Although the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) have introduced the social impact assessment (SIA) mechanism to mitigate the social impact of renewal projects, social conflicts have intensified between affected residents and the URA/HKHA. To what extent can SIA effectively mitigate the social impacts of urban renewal in HK? To answer this question, the author draws on a mixture of empirical and secondary materials to analyse the development, assessment procedures, and report format of SIA in HK as a basis to evaluate the challenges of this mechanism. Then the author goes on to critically analyse how thinking on ‘right to the city’ and affected residents’ comments come together to inform reflections on SIA in HK. The author argues that the SIA mechanism in HK remains technocratic in nature because it does not function effectively in addressing the needs of affected residents and resolving the deep-rooted conflicts between residents’ right of living and pro-growth development.     

Major bridge development in Hong Kong,China—past,present and future

The first “modern” type of vehicular bridge was built in Hong Kong China in the 1920s. The need for an efficient transportation system to cope with population growth and enable economic development has demanded the construction of more and more bridges since the middle of the 20th century. By 2007, Hong Kong had a total of about 1300 vehicular bridges. Four of these bridges, including the Tsing Ma Bridge, Kap Shui Mun Bridge, Ting Kau Bridge, and the cable-stayed bridge on the Hong Kong- Shenzhen Western Corridor, are considered to be major bridges supported by cables. Currently, the Stonecutters Bridge on Route No. 8 is under construction and is expected to be completed in late 2009. At the same time, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will be in its detailed design stage soon. While efforts have been made by bridge builders to construct these giant structures, the upkeeping of these valuable assets at a high standard and ensuring their continuous functioning and performance during their intended lifespans will be another important task for bridge engineers. Wind and structural health monitoring system (WASHMS) will play a key role in this respect.