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A technical webinar on “Smart Technologies Driving Sustainable Smart Cities” was organised by the Continuing Professional Development Committee (CPDC) on 3 March 2022 with over 700 participants online. Dr Winnie Tang JP, Founder and Chairman of Esri China (Hong Kong) and Founder and Honorary President of Smart City Consortium, was invited to share her ideas and insights on the journey of Hong Kong towards a smart city.
In order to provide continuous learning opportunities to the members under COVID-19 pandemic, CPDC continues to organise technical webinar via online meeting software. The webinar started with an introduction by the CPDC Deputy Chairman, Ir Victor Lo, followed by Dr Tang’s informative presentation including the development of the Geographic Information System (GIS) software and solutions for making Hong Kong to be a more livable and sustainable smart city. Participants understood the Common Spatial Data Infrastructure (CSDI) in applications provided by HKSAR Government and construction digitalisation roadmap for upcoming projects in the industry, including BIM data repository, integrated digital twins and many more. She also provided various GIS application examples in Hong Kong and other countries for reference to create a sustainable future with geospatial infrastructure. A demonstration of using advanced 3D city design software combining with open-source data to create 3D cities and do further analysis during planning was shown.
Question-and-answer session was then held by the former CPDC Deputy Chairman, Ir Henry Cheung. Numerous questions were collected from the audience on the learning and application of GIS and related issues. Dr Tang addressed them one by one, and fruitful discussions were held. The webinar finished by a conclusion and the word of appreciation delivered by Ir Victor Lo. The webinar obtained great success with contentment and appreciation from the participants. Dr Tang and the Committee also hoped to meet all again later for further sharing.
The first thematic webinar “Building information modelling (BIM) and its engineering applications” organised by the Continuing Professional Development Committee (CPDC) on 12 March 2022 attracted over 750 members from various disciplines.
In recent years, the use of BIM is a mandated application in all large-scale public capital work projects. First up was Sr Sunny Choi, Manager of Industry Development at the Construction Industry Council (CIC), who introduced the CIC’s BIM certification and accreditation schemes. Engineers play an important role at different times of a project cycle. An engineer could also be a BIM manager in leading and supporting the BIM process. Sr Choi also presented a holistic review on the statistic of assessment and advised helpful tips in preparing for the certification of a BIM manager.
There is no doubt on the benefits of using BIM in project management at the design and construction stages. Mr Kevin Wong, Chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of BIM, continued by deliberating current BIM requirements in engineering analysis and digital fabrication to more sophisticated BIM uses. Mr Wong showcased the adoption of BIM models into Computer Numerical Control machines for fabrication and manufacturing. He also introduced the innovative use of different BIM applications in engineering designs and the use of BIM in mixed reality. In the future, the construction industry would be merged with the metaverse.
Then, Mr Terence Lui, CEO of Varadise Limited, presented his advanced applications in the digital twin, which emphasised BIM, artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) to collect and consolidate various kinds of real-time site data in a centralised platform. This platform assisted the site staff to monitor site works in a real-time “digital twin” by using 4D progress, AI site monitoring, IoT for movement monitoring, environmental performance monitoring, etc. These applications could help enhance daily site management, quality management, and safety performance monitoring.
The webinar was concluded with an interactive panel discussion moderated by Ir Gloria Tang, Chief Resident Engineer of AECOM, where the participants and panellists had a fruitful question-and-answer session on the various use of BIM applications and the future roadmap. Last but not least, Ir Victor Lo, Deputy Chairman of CPDC, thanked all distinguished speakers and announced the second webinar of the thematic BIM series would be delivered in the next quarter.