HKCEC honoured as Quality Building

(Hong Kong, 17 June 2010)  The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) was the proud recipient of the Grand Award in the non-residential category of Quality Building Award (QBA) 2010 for its second expansion.  The award presentation ceremony was held on 11 June 2010.  A biennial award, QBA is co-organized by nine leading professional organisations in Hong Kong (see note below) to acknowledge buildings with outstanding quality.  Part of the judging criteria was on customer satisfaction, serviceability and performance outcome.  In this regard, the HKCEC management team has demonstrated professionalism and outstanding effort in operating the Centre during and after the construction, enabling all events to be successfully conducted.

Completed in April 2009, the second expansion has added almost 20,000 sqm of additional exhibition space to the Centre, increasing the total rentable area to 91,500 sqm.   All of this additional space was created by a new, top down structure that linked phase 1 (completed in 1988) and phase 2 (completed in 1997), over the 87 m wide water channel.

Part of the management challenge was to ensure operational continuity and smoothness despite impacts of noise, accessibility and other logistics matter.  HKCEC has certainly lived up to the expectation of customers and industry leaders alike.  It remained in full operation, serving over 4,000 events during the 36 month construction period. “They listened to our needs by not cancelling or postponing a single show during the construction.  It is truly a tremendous feat of engineering and one of expert management control to have such an extension built whilst some of the world’s busiest exhibitions took place,” commented Mr Michael Duck, Senior Vice President of UBM Asia, which organised 18 major exhibitions during the construction period.  Mr Jochen Witt, former president of UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition industry said, “It was remarkable how well construction and operation went along in parallel, I did not notice any impact on the events.”

“We are very pleased to be named Quality Building, and I extend the credit to our entire team of dedicated staff who made it possible.  At the same time, I would like to congratulate the owner Hong Kong Trade Development Council, main contractor Hip Hing Construction, project architect Wong & Ouyang (HK) Limited and all others who have contributed to the establishment’s renowned quality.  We had a great facility to start with, but it is truly a greater venue today because of the expansion,” said Mr Cliff Wallace, Managing Director of HKCEC.

The second expansion has made it possible for HKCEC to accommodate growing recurrent exhibitions, and to welcome new ones.  Since its completion 14 months ago, already 12 tenancies have used all available purpose-built exhibition space and eight new exhibitions are scheduled in 2010. 

Note:

The Quality Building Award (www.qba.com.hk) is a biennial award giving public recognition to buildings of outstanding quality that have demonstrated excellent teamwork. The provision of quality building is an essential ingredient of a prosperous and modern society, and thus the Quality Building Award aims to promote a collective commitment by the building industry to maintain the highest standards of professionalism and competitiveness.

Quality Building Award 2010 is jointly organized by nine professional organizations in Hong Kong (in alphabetical order):

The Hong Kong Construction Association (HKCA)
The Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA)
The Hong Kong Institute of Construction Managers (HKICM)
The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE)
- Building Division (HKIE – BD)
- Building Services Division (HKIE – BSD)
- Structural Division (HKIE – SD)
The Hong Kong Institute of Housing (HKIH)
The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS)
The Hong Kong Chapter of International Facility Management Association (IFMA – HK Chapter)
The Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA)
The Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong (REDA)

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The HKCEC is managed and operated by Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Management) Limited (HML), a private professional management company. 
The HML is a member of NWS Holdings Limited. NWS Holdings Limited (“NWS Holdings”, Hong Kong stock code: 659), the infrastructure and service flagship of New World Development Company Limited (Hong Kong stock code: 17), embraces a diversified range of businesses in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Macau. Its Infrastructure portfolio includes Roads, Energy, Water and Ports & Logistics projects. Its Services division comprises Facilities Management (the management of Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and Free Duty), Contracting & Transport (Hip Hing Construction, NWS Engineering, and bus and ferry services) and Financial Services (New World Insurance).

Issued by Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Management) Ltd.

For media enquiries, please contact:
Ms Mabel Hung, Communications Manager
Tel:   +852 2582 7837  
Mobile:  +852 6295 6570
E-mail:  mabelhung@hkcec.com

HKCEC received Quality Building Award at QBA 2010 presentation ceremony	A before-construction shot of HKCEC showing the 87m wide water channel
HKCEC exterior during construction	HKCEC exterior after construction
Spacious harbour-view concourse, part of new space addition after expansion