Managing projects across borders in East Asia Hong Kong branch by Stuart Gethin, Associate Director, Programme and Project Management at Arup Tuesday 19th May 2015

1. Date: May 2015
Location: Hong Kong
Managing projects across borders in East Asia

2. Contents
• Introduction
• Arup and a Selection of Projects
• Country Characteristics and Challenges in
East Asia
• Cross- Border Teamwork for Delivery
• Conclusion

3. Introduction &
Caveats

4. Introduction
• My Background
• This Talk –
• Part 1 - Project Experience in Japan, Mainland China,
South East Asia (& Hong Kong SAR)
• Part 2 - Lessons learnt in managing cross-border
teams/international projects.

5. Scope of Talk
Clients Government/
Statutory
Design Procure Construct
Japan x x x x
Mainland
China
x x x x x
SE Asia x x x
HK SAR x x x x

6. Caveats
• Projects discussed are predominantly private sector projects
and in building/industrial field. Not Government work.
• It’s not a judgment on nationalities and race, more of a
description on procedures and market characteristics of the
countries mentioned.
• Design management of external companies, seldom Arup
(unless internal design role)
• From a western perspective and as a PM
• Some generic observations only, from some cases, do not
wish to stereotype

7. Arup & A Selection
of Projects

8. Discipline
Number
of Staff
Civil, Structural, Geo. 5,169
E&M 2,228
Acoustics 123
Architecture & Urban Design 281
ICT 102
Computing 274
Environmental 321
Façade 203
Fire 223
PPM 468
QS/Cost Consulting 42
Transport Planning 393
Other disciplines 1,108
Total technical 10,935
Non-technical 1,721
Total = 12,656

9. Beijing Aquatics Centre
Full Design
International Commerce
Centre
Structural Engineering
Allianz Arena
Structural Engineering
California Academy of
Sciences
Total Engineering &
Sustainability
Heathrow Airport T5
Project Management and
Engineering
Stonecutters Bridge
Full Engineering Detailed
Design & Construction
Supervision

10. UK-MEA 120
Continental Europe 172
Americas 42
Australasia 56
East Asia 78
Sub Total PPM 468
The Wider PPM Network
America’s 42
staff with Lead
in New York
Continental
Europe - 172
staff with Lead
in Dublin
UKMEA - 120
staff with Lead
in London
Australasia – 56
staff with Lead
in Brisbane

11. Clark’s Logistics Centre
USA
Francis Crick Institute
UK
National Grid Power
Tunnels PMO
UK
Rolls Royce Programme
Management
USA
Saxion University
Enschede
Netherlands
Perth Airport Terminal 2
ORAT
Australia

12. East Asia
Japan 7
South Korea 1*
Mainland China 17
Hong Kong & Macau 27
India 3
Vietnam
Thailand
Philippines
3
1*
19
Sub Total
* Country rep.
78

13. Transport
- Airports
- Rail
- Highways
Industry
- Data Centres
- Factories
- Specialist Services
Move Management/OR
- Airports
- Hospitals
- Offices
Service Industries
- Leisure
- Financial
Automotive
- Workshops and
Showrooms
Educational
- Schools
- Higher Education

14. Country
Characteristics &
Project Challenges

15. Theory on Culture
EAST WEST
COLLECTIVE
• Family, group, team
• Others shape identity
• Uniformity (nail that sticks out…)
• Belonging to group
• Collaboration
INDIVIDUALISM
• Self
• personality/interests shape identity
• uniqueness
• own person
• own contribution
DUTY & OBLIGATION
• to collective community/ others
• group achievement
• loyalty
• compliant
RIGHT & PRIVILEGE
• personal development
• for time-being
HIERARCHY
• age, position, education
EQUALITY
• personality & skills
April 10, 2014
Paul Tokonaga

16. Theory on Culture
EAST WEST
DEFERENCE
• Modesty & self-effacing
• Share complete thoughts
• Ascribed authority
SELF-ASSERTION
• Leadership
• External processing
• Earned authority
RESTRAINT
• Don’t make a scene or show emotions
• Formality
• Tolerate crisis/ fatalism
EXPRESSIVENESS
• Self-expression
• Casualness
• Promote flexibility & change
EVENT/ PEOPLE-ORIENTED
• People/ relationships/ events are priority
• Rude to leave event/ person or to say no
TIME-ORIENTED
• Punctuality is priority
• Rude to be late
WHOLISTIC
•Big picture
•Circular
PARTICULAR
•details
•linear
April 10, 2014
Paul Tokonaga

17. Theory on Culture
EAST WEST
INDIRECT
• subtlety
• direct asks can shame someone
• not confrontational
DIRECT
• obvious
• indirect asks are frustrating & confusing
• Confrontational
HARMONY
• conflict-avoidance
• cooperative; compromising
CLARITY
• prefer knowing what someone wants/ thinks
• assert opinion
April 10, 2014
Paul Tokonaga

18. Japan = Detail
General Traits:
• Deadlines are met & Pride in delivery
• Attention to detail
• Super clean sites
• Keiretsu
• Chotto Muzikashi
• Technical Characteristics:
• Advanced Design
• A selection of off the shelf specifications
• Allowable stress design
• Steel (and wood) is big
• Seismicity and height limitations
Institutional Issues:
• Design often sits with contractors (zenicon)
• No Japan IstrucE
• Archs and Struc. Eng. the same at University
• System allows innovation
• Ateliers and then some big Architect house
• Not always competitive bidding

19. Japan Statutory Requirements
1. Hold initial consultation with local authority 24 days
2. Obtain consent of neighborhood 30 days
3. Obtain building permit from Japan Building Center 70 days
Agency: Japan Building Center
Issue - after the falsification of structural calculation byArchitect Aneha
4. Request workmen’s compensation insurance proof from Labor Control Office 60 days
5. Purchase and post statutory construction notice sign board 1 day
6. Submit construction method plan to local authority and obtain approval 7 days
7. Submit project safety and health and resources recycling plan for approval 7 days
8. Receive intermediate inspection by Japan Building Center and obtain permit 24 days
Agency: Japan Building Center
9. Request and receive connection to water and sewage services 21 days
10. Request and receive final inspection from Japan Building Center 7 days
11. Obtain completion certificate 18 days
12. Register the building with the Land and Building Registry 12 days

20. Japan Case Examples
• Dubai – Taking Advantage of Don’t Say No
• JST – Attention to Detail, Not knowing contract
• Dubai – Finding a Contractor
• SkyPlaza

21. China = Relationships
General Traits:
• Protected through certification (e.g. LDI’s, Jianli)
• Always developing
• Keen to adopt new design
• Increasing costs
• Greybeards still recognized
• Guangxi
• Technical Characteristics:
• Good design standards not always followed
• Quality poor but now not always so
• Predominance for concrete
• Off the shelf specifications
Institutional Issues:
• Design co-ordination between disciplines is poor
• Government approval process different in each
region, city
• LDI’s now free to roam and more upskilled
• Expert Reviews formalized but take time
• 3rd Party checker always required

22. China Statutory Requirements

23. China Statutory Requirements
S/N Item Government Department
1 Approval of Master Plan and Fang'An (方案)
District Planning Bureau, District Construction
Bureau
2 Receival of Permit for Land Planning (PART 1) District Planning Bureau
3 Issuance of Permit for Construction Planning (PART 2) District Planning Bureau
4 Approval of GI contract from Tender Board Tender Board
5 Application for Temporary Construction permit (Foundation) District Construction Bureau
6 Approval of foundation drawings
7 Approval of construction drawings
8 Civil Defence (人防) Approval City Civil Defence Department
9 Application for Construction permit (Main works) District Construction Bureau
10 Approval of Building Lightning design City Meteorological Bureau
11 Make payment for city infrastrature package fee
12 Fire Approval Fire Department
13 Pre-construction Checks District Construction Bureau
14 Construction quantity declaration District Quantity Monitoring Station
15 Construction safety declaration Construction Safety Monitoring Station
16 Submit Construction record District Construction Bureau
17 Report new wall materials funding District New Materials Office
18 Report bulk cement funding District Bulk Office
19 Submit project fixed cost determination fee District Construction Bureau
20 Construction unit signed contract with Termite prevention company Construction Unit
21 Aplication for the permit to start of construction work District Construction Bureau
22 Post-construction Checks District various
23 Apply Real Estate License City Real Estate Management District Office

24. China Case Examples
• Putian – Land Issues – Farmers, Neighbours and Contractors
• Heshan – Dealing with Strange Requests & Client Importance
• Tianjin – High Profile Projects and City Mayor
• Putian – Government Approvals
• Mingzhu – Clear Scope definition between parties especially hand-off
to LDI

25. South East Asia – Malaysia, Vietnam
Institutional Environment
• Relationships more important than contracts
• Local Government backing very important
• Significant funding by richer Asian countries affects market (e.g. ODA, Korea,
ADB, now China)
• Ethnicity issues (Malaysia)
• Red tape
• History of western and Japanese colonization
• Rise of China becoming an issue

26. South East Asia
Project Issues to Be Dealt With
• Not so systematic in management and project development
• Slower pace than China, Japan
• Corruption is an issue
• Construction quality is generally not good
• Lack of clear planning and execution

27. Hong Kong – Upon Reflection
• Design planning is weak - Continual pushing and updating
• Corporate Architects
• AP’s and RSE’s
• Statutory approvals (not unusual to have >50 initial approval and amendment
submissions for projects) resulting in programme delays
• Withdraws and resubmissions now automatically built in to programmes
• Proper checking and reviews
• Standard designs with little innovation often wins
• Govt and market restrict innovation
• Naturally many Clients now prefer Cantonese as spoken medium with Manadarin
becoming increasingly important but written form still english

28. Cross-Border Teams
& Delivery

29. Client &
Project
Location
Arch, SMEP
& Facade
Design Team
Vertical
Transport-
ation Team
Geotech &
Foundation
Team
Fire Engineers
& Review
Team
Project
Manager
Project 1 – Dubai Tall Building

30. Project
Location
Arch &
SMEP Design
Team
Local
Design
Institute
Project Manager
& QS
Client’s
Regional
Management
Project 2 – Fujian Factory
Client’s HQ &
Engineering
Team

31. Design Issues
• Most countries require a locally approved design company to certify the
design and submit this to the local authority and utility companies.
• In any event you need them for local conditions.
• The quality of local consultants will dictate how much of the design
responsibility is allocated to them.
• There should be a careful prequalification and vetting exercise undertaken
of local consultants and contractors (go to their offices in the process)
• Scheme Design in one country and detailed design in another can be
fraught difficulties without regular, strong communication
• Time zones are a problem for co-ordination.

32. Design Issues
• There needs to be a contingency in the event the
local designer does not deliver.
• Understand the local design approval process
before procuring any local design company.
• Set up a clear responsibility schedule as
handover of the design will be an issue.
• Architect has to understand local environment
and if small, needs to allocate, proper resource.
• Undertake reviews at key stages in the design.

33. Commercial & Procurement Issues
• Tax is often an issue while setting up international agreements, especially
where local consultants are concerned.
• Different countries have different requirements for contracts e.g. in Mainland
China, Construction Contracts need to registered with the government
bureaus.
• Have a contract or at least first payment before you start work.
• Ensure market is ready for what you are proposing (e.g. capable for Design
and Build?)
• Client will need active involvement with a difficult contractor (e.g. Putian
foundations)
• For longer term private projects understand the local economy (e.g. tall
buildings).
• Risk assessments should be undertaken.

34. Construction Issues
• Project does become more local at this point.
• Can not rely on local consultants in less developed countries for quality
control.
• Needs to be a full-time competent attendance on site at least to know
when problems arise.
• Regular visits (at least monthly) and progress meetings by Project
Manager with Main Contractor.
• Design team needs to be pushed to resolve technical and statutory issues
and so their terms should include for such and adequate resource
provided. They won’t want to travel.
• Consultant contracts should state clearly frequency and level of
attendance on site.

35. People, Processes & Systems
• A web-based document management system needs to be established (MS
sharepoint does suffice)
• Project Execution Plan should be thorough but not many people will read it and
many will forget it.
• Try to keep same key staff throughout project.
• Regular meetings at fixed times and unmovable.
• Understand the client organization and how it works.
• Know how to deal with bad practices.
• Senior management support to staff in the field is essential.
• Always be professional.

36. Conclusions
• Don’t spread your team all over the world if
you can help it
• Scheme Design can be undertaken close to
Client but not essential
• Try to minimize parties involved in design
development
• Set up regular meetings and face-to-face
reviews/visits and stick to them
• Have clear contracts with clear scope
demarcation and clarify at RFP stage so
everybody agrees.
• Have full-time supervision presence you trust
on site.

37. Thank You
Questions?