| Limestone Swimming Pool Project |
| Construction award for John |
| Multi-disciplinary Employment Opportunity in Hong Kong Construction Industry |
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Limestone Swimming Pool Project |
| This project was to provide a swimming pool, gymnasium, games room, main entrance and changing rooms to a mansion house in Hampshire. |
| It was started just before Christmas 2001 and it had to be completed by June 2002 for a birthday celebration. The project commenced with underpinning the existing carriage and stable block where the deep end of the pool was going to be. |
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The foundations and the 
pool were excavated and concreted and work commenced on the brick and flint work to the gymnasium, games room and sitting area. It was proposed that the limestone covered concrete arch would be precast in three pieces and erected on site instead of cast insitu to save time. |
| Once the brick and block work was complete, the conservatories enclosing the gymnasium, games room and pool were erected in that order. During the works I visited the stonemasons yard in Pisa, Italy, with the architect, and the construction and fixing details were all agreed, as well as the delivery dates and costs. We also met the two stonemasons who would be fixing the stone on site. |
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At the agreed date, the stonemasons Georgio and Claudio, arrived from Italy and commenced fixing the stone, first covering the floors and pool surround and then fixing the two arches, architraves and skirtings.
| This was followed by stone tumbled tiles and mosaic work to the steam room, showers and changing rooms. This was all successfully carried out enabling us to complete the mechanical and decoration work and complete on time ready for the celebrations. |
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Extra works included approximately £80,000 worth of landscaping and garden works which was carried out alongside the main works. All the buildings and materials had to comply with English Heritage as the stables and walled garden areas are listed. The end result was a very pleasing extension to an existing listed building as can be seen in the final photograph.
John Maddox - South West Region |
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| Construction award for John |
| Burton College student John Fury ahs been awarded the Institute of Construction Management Cup for the Midlands. John (36) was recommended for the award by the Construction Professional Studies team at the college in light of his commitment and work performance over the last four years.
A contracts supervisor for housing modernisation at Derby City Council John has successfully completed the National Certificate in Building Studies and is currently on target to achieve the Higher National Certificate.
John said: "After making the decision to have a career change and move away from hands-on-joinery into management, i decided i needed to go back to college to get the necessary qualifications. |
Studying has really helped me with my career and i have successfully moved from being a joiner at the council to a contracts supervisor.
Pictured below at the presentation of the award are Bob Freemen secretary of the Institute of Construction Management Midlands Region, treasurer Ted Harvey, John Fury and course tutor Terry Shenton. (ref: 10072)
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Multi-disciplinary Employment Opportunity in Hong Kong Construction Industry
The economy worldwide has experienced a recession for the past year and the events in the World Trade Centre by terrorists has further led the US economy to another low. The US economy influences global wide many countries economies and Hong Kong unavoidably follows the queue. Facing such an unfavourable economical setback the construction industry is struggling for its revival and construction practitioners can seek new opportunities in the adverse circumstances of the construction industry asking for a multi disciplinary role of employment.
 
In the last half-decade the construction industry in Hong Kong has experienced its apex when infrastructure projects of the airports in Tung Chung became the focus of many large companies bases, which had supported a large number of jobs for site works. The project management structure has set up positions; each bears its responsibility clearly defined by project planning strategies. Nowadays this extent has been very much reduced or in other words not so clearly identified. Opportunities are open to potential candidates who can take up a job involving two or more levels of responsibility. These mutations have arisen due to the decreasing number of construction contracts awarded in the recent two years and diminishing budgets due to high competition existing in tender bidding strategies.
every company cannot afford a full range of project management positions. For an experienced site manager staff if he is willing to take up the assignment which asks for an overall exercise of project role including management and field attendance there are opportunities.
The reward is not proportional to the responsibility: the jobs ask for much under the competitive atmosphere, the applicant has to put up with the offer he receives and this is not necessary being unfair to him as it brings the applicant to enter another stage of practice. After then, if he survives his challenge, he has established himself as apt for taking up a senior position where he can work an overall project in charge. This change in job role exists widely among small and medium capacity building contractor firms and is gradually being accepted as a standard similar to re-engineering process with its initiative from the recovering cycle of construction. The construction industry in Hong Kong is becoming prosperous again due to the joining of China to the World Trade membership and consequently it has increased the opportunity of getting a job in construction. This is balanced by the increasing number of engineering graduates from the seven local universities in Hong Kong. So it means, if an engineer wants a high paid job, he still has to get over the hurdle of bidding a good job by competing with more than ten candidates. Under these circumstances, if he possesses the capacity of taking up a greater level of responsibility then he can secure the position. The numbers of different kinds of position in construction industry in Hong Kong for the last quarter (Sept/Dec 01) is shown by the diagrams.
Kwok Liang Wei, FIConst.M
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