Sham Mong Road Footbridge, Kowloon, Hong Kong

The Hong Kong government is using NEC to deliver a complex four-span footbridge system at a busy road junction in Sham Shui Po. The contractor was highly commended for the 2018 NEC Contractor of the Year Award.

The government’s Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) let the HK$222 million (£22 million) footbridge project to Wang Kee Construction Co. Ltd. in September 2016 under an NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) Option B (priced contract with bill of quantities). The project is due for completion on programme and within budget in the third quarter of 2019.

The work involves constructing a four-span covered footbridge system at the junction of Sham Mong Road and Tonkin Street West, with spans ranging from 46m to 67m (235m long in total) and internal widths of 4m to 4.7m. It includes six lifts, four covered escalators, two covered staircases plus connections to future adjacent developments.

Also included are associated road works and ancillary works including footpaths, drainage, electrical and mechanical works, landscaping and environmental mitigation measures. The project is designed to enhance connectivity of developments in the vicinity of the junction, provide a barrier-free and grade-separated link for pedestrians, enhance road safety and improve junction capacity.

Integrated working

According to the NEC awards judges, the contractor is demonstrating, ‘A strong focus on using NEC clause 10.1 mutual trust and cooperation philosophies to promote integrated working and joint risk mitigation and to keep the project on track for successful delivery in 2019.’

Raymond Lee, S1 division chief engineer of the CEDD South Development Office says, ‘The nature of this project is distinguished by mutual trust and collaboration. Implementing the key principles of NEC, all team members of the project are working proactively, transparently and superlatively to ensure a successful project will be delivered.’

He says the use of shared office also helps to develop effective communication among all team members of the project and build an amicable working environment. These are important for fostering a trustworthy working relationship of the team.

Risk mitigation

Vincent Lam, Wang Kee’s deputy general manager, says, ‘Because the construction site is located at a congested road junction, the risk inherent with the project – such as potential obstruction to local traffic – was identified in the early stages of the contract.

‘With the focus on NEC3 clause 10.1, the risk was highlighted and tracked closely. By successfully implementing a multi-stage temporary traffic arrangement in an extremely restricted site, we were able to commence the bored piling works on time.’

He says another clear indication of team work and cooperation was early completion of one of the lift towers. ‘By agreeing to use an embedded anchorage system for the structural steel components rather than the specified holding-down bolts, we were able to minimise the number of welded joints on site.’

Benefits of using NEC

• NEC principles encourage all team members to work proactively, transparently and superlatively to ensure the project is a success.
• NEC3 clause 10.1 integrates the team to work in a ‘spirit of mutual trust and co-operation’, with joint risk mitigation to keep this complex project on track for successful delivery.
• NEC focus on risk mitigation resulted in timely and effective solutions to inherent risks such as traffic management and site welding.