Construction body urges legal role for site supervisors
HK01 · 2 SOURCESabout 4 hours ago5 MIN
Summary
The Hong Kong Institute of Construction Managers said recent quality scandals show room to improve local construction standards, though it does not believe deliberate use of substandard work is common because the financial incentive is limited. Institute president Tong Yuk-kei (湯毓祺) said quality control starts with project owners providing enough resources from the outset, including safer design choices and realistic construction timetables. The institute is also renewing its long-running call for registered construction managers to be brought into Hong Kong’s statutory professional system and stationed on sites above a certain scale. It argues that this would place legal responsibility for day-to-day supervision on personnel who are actually present on site, rather than mainly on authorised signatories who often oversee multiple projects
Key Points
- Tong said Hong Kong has only more than 1,400 authorised signatories for contractors, far too few against about 10,000 active sites each day
- He said seven to eight in ten small and medium-sized contractors have only one authorised signatory, while large contractors rarely have more than 10
- Institute vice-president Meng Ka-wing (孟家榮) said each authorised signatory handles about eight to 10 projects on average, limiting effective site monitoring
- The institute said the Development Bureau recently recognised its members in government building contracts on a par with architects and engineers.
- Tong said owners should not simply choose the cheapest maintenance contractor, and should learn enough building maintenance knowledge to make informed decisions
Why It Matters
The debate goes beyond professional recognition because it concerns who should carry legal accountability for construction quality and safety on Hong Kong worksites. If the government strengthens penalties on authorised signatories without changing the supervision model, the institute argues responsibility may remain concentrated on people who cannot stay on site full time