HKSAR students in awe of nation's construction prowess

Talks given by top mainland architectural engineers to Hong Kong university students over the past four days have boosted their appreciation of the country's construction prowess as well as the nation's backing for the city in times of need.

Since Monday, members of the delegation of experts have met with students at four universities in the special administrative region, with each talk featuring a different theme, such as advanced technologies used in major architectural projects.

On Tuesday, Zhang Yi, an expert on hospital construction, told students at Hong Kong Polytechnic University of the innovative practices used in the construction of two medical facilities by the Chinese mainland to help the city ride out the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the projects was built as a temporary facility and now serves as a permanent hospital. The North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre was completed in four months, despite the city being hit by the outbreak.

Zang Xingyu, a 25-year-old doctorate student in building environment and energy engineering, marveled at the feat of building a major medical facility with 816 isolation beds and a lab to handle 1,500 virus tests per day.

The use of new technologies in the construction of the infection control center and the COVID-19 community treatment facility at the AsiaWorld-Expo building, demonstrated the efficiency and high quality of China's construction projects, Zang said.

He said for an aspiring engineer these projects and the nation's prowess in construction engineering had increased his confidence in his career development.

The control center was built by China State Construction International Holdings with the assistance of the Shenzhen and Hong Kong governments.

It is the world's first hospital with negative pressure isolation wards built using prefabricated modules, which were transported to the construction site for installation.

Inspired by the talk, Zang said he would pay attention to new construction technologies as the industry undergoes an industrial transformation.

A talk given by Zhang Kun, chief expert of China State Construction Engineering Corp and chief engineer of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Corp, at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on Wednesday also inspired students.

Wu Hao, a 24-year-old doctoral student in artificial intelligence, said he was in awe of the "Chinese speed" in the construction of quality medical facilities.