NEC working closely with Hong Kong government departments

NEC held a valuable series of high-level advisory meetings with Hong Kong government construction departments during March, helping to address NEC project challenges, promoting early contractor involvement and encouraging the transition from NEC3 to NEC4.

NEC global head Rekha Thawrani, NEC Users’ Group secretary Rob Gerrard and myself initially met the Development Bureau’s permanent secretary (works) Lam Sai-hung and his senior colleagues on 19 March to discuss how to make greater use of early contractor involvement on NEC contracts.

Follow-up meetings with the Development Bureau on 25 and 27 March also considered the advantages of NEC4 over NEC3, reviewed the government’s NEC3 practice note and discussed the possibility of introducing adjudication rules in Hong Kong in the near future.

Hong Kong departments

Further meetings and sharing sessions were held during that week with staff from the Hong Kong government’s Civil Engineering and Development Department, Highways Department and Architectural Services Department. Overall it was a fruitful and rewarding week seeing and listening to our valued clients and members, experiencing their passion for NEC contracts and enabling us to enhance the quality of our support services going forward.

On 24 April Hong Kong’s Construction Industry Council (CIC) organised an NEC sharing forum for government departments and selected contractors, consultants and practitioners to discuss how to build on NEC’s adoption over the past 10 years. The half-day event was opened by Stephen Lai, chair of CIC’s construction procurement committee.

Singapore opportunity

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Rekha Thawrani was also invited to attend a half-day event in Singapore in March organised by the British High Commission and the Singapore government’s Building and Construction Authority. It was a joint knowledge-sharing session on contracting for the future.

Facilitated by Hayman Choi, contract advisory leader at Mott MacDonald, the session also included presentations from Crossrail, Bam, Mace and Turner & Townsend on the use of NEC for collaborative contracting frameworks.

London delegation

Finally I am delighted to report that Lam Sai-hung, who is also the NEC Asia Pacific Users’ Group chairman, has agreed to speak at this month’s NEC Users’ Group Annual Seminar in London, UK on 17 June. He will be accompanied by a delegation of over 20 NEC users from Hong Kong.

During the following day, Lam and the Hong Kong delegates will also take part in an NEC knowledge-sharing session at the Institution of Civil Engineers headquarters in Westminster. We look forward to meeting NEC users in the UK.