China News Service, Hong Kong, January 1 (Reporter Han Xingtong) The Housing Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Hong Kong Intelligent Construction R&D Center signed a memorandum of cooperation on the 16th to establish a strategic partnership to apply innovative construction technology in public housing construction from three major directions, and promote the upgrading and transformation of the construction industry.
Witnessed by the Secretary for Housing, Mr Ho Wing-yin, the Acting Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of the HKSAR Government, Ms Man-ri Cheung, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Intelligent Construction R&D Centre, Mr Kim Shin-chul, the Permanent Secretary for Housing and the Director of Housing Susan Lo Suk-pui and the Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Intelligent Construction R&D Centre, Mr Leung Ho-bok, were jointly signed by the Permanent Secretary for Housing and the Director of Housing Ms Lo Suk-pui and the Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Intelligent Construction R&D Centre.
The Housing Department (HD) (the executive arm of the Hong Kong Housing Authority) has a large public housing production capacity with standardized design and high reproducibility, which is suitable as a scenario for the development and testing of innovative technologies to facilitate the testing and improvement of research results and bring them to market. The two parties hope to jointly promote the upgrading and transformation of the construction industry, and provide solutions to the challenges of huge housing production, labour shortage in the construction industry, and continuous improvement of site safety in the future.
There are three main directions of this cooperation, namely smart scales, smart construction sites, and smart housing estates. The Housing Department (HD) and the Hong Kong Research Institute for Intelligent Construction (HKR&C) will jointly develop a smart crane system that will enable workers to remotely control the crane on the ground or indoors. The Housing Department will also apply different types of construction robots developed by the Centre, such as rebar binding robots and floor grinding robots, to public housing construction. In addition, the Housing Department will also facilitate the daily management of housing estates by introducing various smart devices and innovative technologies, such as cleaning robots and handling robots.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr Ho said that with the rich experience of the Hong Kong R&D Centre for Smart Construction (HKR&D) in R&D and application, the Housing Bureau hopes that this collaboration can provide a test bed for public housing, inject more I&T into Hong Kong's construction industry, and turn the huge market demand and industry problems currently faced by the industry into opportunities for the development of construction technology.
Mr Ho said that the Housing Department (HD) has been committed to promoting the digitalisation of public housing development, in addition to the extensive adoption of modular integrated construction (MiC) and the introduction of innovative construction technologies such as different construction robots to continuously enhance the safety, efficiency, productivity and sustainability of public housing construction, and actively promoting smart estate management to enhance the management efficiency and service quality of nearly 200 public housing estates under its management. (ENDS)