In the technical meeting held on 9 August 2005, Ir Chow Kwok-leung, Chief Assistant Secretary (Works) of the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau, shared the values and concerns about Construction, Design and Management (CDM), the features and the development of CDM system in the United Kingdom and the one to be adopted in Hong Kong public works projects.

According to Ir Chow, CDM is a process which aims at improving the overall management and coordination of health, safety and welfare at all stages of a construction project, from planning and design stages to completion, maintenance and demolition of the works, with a view to reduce the number of accidents and cases of ill health of the construction industry.

After analysing the problems in the implementation of CDM in the United Kingdom, Ir Chow said that Hong Kong should emphasise safety, environmental protection, buildability and maintainability. The key practical features of Hong Kong's proposed system would be focusing on specific hazards and risks of a project to avoid bureaucracy and specifying the requirements in pre-contract health and safety plan.

Ir Chow then illustrated the applications of CDM by quoting three pilot projects: a mainlaying project in village water supply scheme, a footbridge project by Highways Department and a staff quarters project for a hospital.

From the trials on CDM, there were perceivable benefits for the implementation of CDM that would bring better project management and coordination, lower cost in management of risks, improved buildability, maintainability and site environmental and conditions during construction.

In order to avoid the difficulties encountered in the United Kingdom, Ir Chow said that the lead project architect/designer would be assigned to take up the role and duties of planning supervisor. In addition, there would be two more parties, namely, contract supervisor and maintenance supervisor to be appointed by the client's representatives on site to supervise the contractor.

The talk attracted full house attendance with frequent exchange of views and comments. Some members were concerned about the possible duplication of effort in the project management such as Risk Management, etc and also worried about the extra paper works involved. After some half-an-hour discussion, the talk ended with the proposed vote of thanks and a presentation of souvenir by Ir Prof K W Chau to the speaker.