The evolving project environment of Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area

The project environment in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area is international, increasingly professionalised and undergoing rapid digitalisation. However, commercial pressures, traditional roles and uneven project professional standards remain defining factors of the landscape.

Josephine Wong, Associate Director of ARUP and member of the Greater Bay Area Regional Network, spoke to us about working in the region and the evolving project landscape. First arriving in 2008, Josephine was surprised to find that project management was seen as a proper business opportunity, which she said was less common in some Asian markets at the time. 

“Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area was a lot more internationalised than other Asian markets; we'd adopted a lot of British standards.”

Traditionally, architects acted as project managers, handling contract administration as part of their role. But Josephine says that has changed over the past 10-20 years as clients began recognising the value that dedicated project professionals can add. Architects, as she explained, would be more focused on the design, while dedicated project professionals could provide broader oversight and management. 

Today, there are a variety of project management roles across the region. One major example is the Hong Kong Northern Metropolis Programmes, a portfolio of interdependent megaprojects involving new towns, railways, highways, innovation districts and environmental conservation areas. Its scale and complexity make it one of the most significant opportunities for project professionals in the region. But to be able to deliver this programme successfully, experience alone is not enough. Josephine said: “You need proper foundations. Yes, experience helps, but the fundamentals are needed. In the last 10 years, as part of my work with the Regional Network, we've been trying to influence this.”

Compared to the rest of the world, Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area are still developing their own project management framework, drawing on international best practice and adapting it to local needs, whereas UK and Europe have more established and standardised project management frameworks and practices. Josephine explained: “In Hong Kong, we mainly follow UK systems and practices. But since 1997, the Greater Bay Area now incorporates Chinese aspects of project management. There’s not a solid system or a recognised project management association in mainland China. As a result, practitioners and Government bodies are still learning from well-established project management associations around the world, such as APM, and adjusting it to fit their culture and their legislation.”

These adjustments are resulting in challenges for the profession. While people are recognising the value of project management, commercial concerns are still influencing whether organisations invest in project management.

Josephine said: “Clients sometimes ask why they should spend extra money on a project professional when it cannot guarantee that every risk will be removed. There will always be risks in projects, but the project profession is about reducing those risks and making them more predictable. It is not about achieving zero risk, but about managing risks at an acceptable level, rather than reacting to problems after they arise.”

Operating in such a unique project environment has led to several exciting trends emerging, with AI-digitisation being the biggest. According to Josephine, the reason for this shift is that AI-digitisation is addressing several long-standing problems for the project profession in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, including improving transparency, standardising processes and reducing reliance on individual expertise.

Josephine said: “AI-digitisation is the trend the Government has started implementing. They're paying huge money for organisations to not just provide project management services, but to have visibility and control.”

As to why AI-digitisation matters so much for the region, she adds, “It's very personalised. AI-Digitalisation on large infrastructure projects means connecting design, cost, schedule, risk, construction and asset data into a single digital ecosystem so that project teams can make faster, better-informed decisions. Incorporating AI analytics can enable issue predictions, opportunities identification and support programme-level decision making.”

For Wong, AI-digitisation will continue to reshape the project profession in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area over the coming years. She believes that, while challenges remain, the region is well placed to innovate and drive the project profession forward.

If you are interested in learning more about Hong Kong and the Greater Bay area, consider visiting the Regional Network page here.