A warm welcome to all Lighthouse Club members, and all others in our construction industry reading this magazine, wherever you may be. From the UK to the Middle East, from Asia to Australia, and beyond, our wonderful Lighthouse Clubs around the world exist, because of you. If you’re not yet a member, it’s simple to join via our website, www.lighthouseclubintl.com, or via your local Lighthouse Club.
Our work in Lighthouse Club International continues and we are in active discussion on the creation of new branches, recent additions coming in New Zealand and a new chapter up and running in Adelaide, Australia, providing members with more options for networking in the industry.
As we head into the festive season in December, our minds are turned to the charitable aspects of our Lighthouse Club activities. The UK Branch of the Lighthouse Club continues to raise and distribute significant sums to those in need and also provides assistance to those needing help with mental health issues. In many of our branches, fundraising activities are being undertaken via regular social, golfing and other related events such as Singapore’s recent annual dinner. Lighthouse Club International hosted an Executive Lunch for its Corporate Members, with guest speaker Carl Devlin, Capital Works Director of the MTR Corporation and the ‘pink hat’ was passed around for charitable donations, which were gratefully received. On 10 December, the Lighthouse Club HK branch will host its annual Lapdog Challenge which is usually the largest fundraiser of the year – please support this fundraising effort.
The Lighthouse Club continues to support multiple causes for construction industry employees and their families. This includes financial aid to victims of construction industry accidents and their families, educational assistance, and assistance with medical and hospitalisation costs for those without adequate medical insurance. Further assistance is also provided in the form of sponsored days out for the affected families. The work of the charities and the additional support in the form of events and sponsorships is only achievable through the generosity of our members. Please contact Lighthouse Club International or your local Lighthouse Club branch to find out more about how you can help.
In this issue, Leighton provides a report on safety from which we can all learn, Keith Buckley, Deputy Chairman of Lighthouse Club International and Chairman of LHC Macau provides an interesting take on his long and illustrious career, and we provide reports from our Lighthouse Club branches on their recent activities.
Construction industry fellowship and networking remains the focus of our Lighthouse Clubs, with charitable activities undertaken where permitted by local jurisdictions. Please enjoy reading this magazine, share it with your industry colleagues, and check out the events advertised on your local branch website and/or our official international website.
Thank you to all our supporters and contributors. Enjoy reading this magazine and I wish you all a happy and healthy 2023.
Robert Gordon Chairman, Lighthouse Club International
Official website : www.lighthouseclubintl.com
The Lighthouse is online at www.issuu.com/rofmedia
“The Lighthouse” is the magazine of Lighthouse Club International, originally established in 1998 as Lighthouse Club Asia Pacific Region and superseded in November 2017 by Lighthouse Club International. With its roots in England in 1956, the Hong Kong Branch was formed in 1986.
The aims of the Lighthouse Club are to promote good fellowship amongst its members who work in or are associated with the construction industry and to provide charitable assistance to those in need within the construction industry and to their dependents in qualifying cases.
In addition to the charitable works of the individual branches of the Lighthouse Club, Lighthouse Club International supports two related Hong Kong based charities which provide charitable assistance internationally. The James Battersby Lighthouse Club Educational Trust which provides assistance for education and training to qualifying young persons in the Asia Pacific Region; The Lighthouse Club International Benevolent Trust which provides assistance to relieving poverty and financial support to persons currently or previously employed in the building and civil engineering and allied trades.
Lighthouse Club International Suite 1901-2, Hopewell Centre 183 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong info@lighthouseclubintl.com
Administrator: Elaine Man E: info@lighthouseclubhk.com, T: +852 2736 9885
Editorial Committee: Elaine Man / Elizabeth Dooley (Consulting Editor) Janey Rogers / Keith Buckley / Mike Staley Steve Tennant
Publisher: Mike Staley E: publisher@rofmedia.com , T: +852 3150 8988
Advertising: Bryan Chan E: bryan@rofmedia.com, T: +852 3150 8912 Howard Tsang E: howard@rofmedia.com, T: +852 3150 8988
Graphic Designer: Michelle Morkel
Designed & Published by ROF Media
Lighthouse Club International
Chairman
Robert Gordon, robert.gordon@burohappold.com
Immediate Past Chairman Glenn Haley, glenn.haley@bclplaw.com
Chairman Elect Jim Chessell, jchessell@bkasiapacific.com
Deputy Chairman Keith Buckley, keith.buckley@lighthouseclubmacau.com
Secretary Janey Rogers, jrogers@bkasiapacific.com
Treasurer Neil Roberts, neilr.lighthouseclub@gmail.com
Membership Secretary Neil O’Meara, neil.omeara@mcdgroup.com
Australia David Gibson david.gibson@dga-group.com Nick Longley nick.longley@hfw.com Yazeed Abdelhadi yazeed_abdelhadi@yahoo.com
Cambodia Kerr Thomson kerr.thomson@covathinking.com
Hong Kong Neil Roberts neilr.lighthouseclub@gmail.com Steve Tennant stevetennanthongkong@gmail.com
Macau Keith Buckley keith.buckley@lighthouseclubmacau.com
Malaysia Pui Mun Teoh teoh@speedbrick.com
Myanmar John Anderson johna@meinhardt.net
Philippines Bert de Munck bdmunck@gmail.com
Singapore Jim Chessell jchessell@bkasiapacific.com
Thailand Gareth Hughes Gareth.hughes@rsmthailand.com
Vietnam Colin Johnston cjohnston@bkasiapacific.com Honorary
John Battersby
Keith Buckley - Macau
Phil Clarke - Macau
Willie Kay - Singapore
Les Leslie - Hong Kong & UK
Nick Longley - Hong Kong & Australia
Bert de Munck - Malaysia & Philippines
Steve Tennant - Hong Kong
Phil Thoburn - Philippines
We’ve taken our Help Inside the Hard Hat Campaign out ‘on site’ and since February we’ve visited over 130 construction sites and builders merchants across the UK and Ireland.
The on site visits have been incredibly well received and we are reaching some of our most vulnerable workers, including the trades and contractors who have nowhere else to turn to for support.
It’s vitally important that we get our message in at grass roots level so we made a conscious decision to ensure that our team are from the trades and they are able to share their lived experiences with poor mental health in a down to earth and relatable way.
The emphasis is very much on having an informal chat over a ‘cuppa’ and to let workers know about all the support available to them and their families.
We deliver an informative ‘Toolbox Talk’ to everyone on site which focuses on the importance of looking after your emotional health and wellbeing. The team also set up a stand with the van and this gives the workers on site a chance to engage with our team on a one to one basis and ask any questions or talk about any issues they may need help with.
Since we started the tours in February, we know that by simply having a conversation with people, our on site team have made a life changing and life saving impact. We have spoken with 20 workers who said they were feeling that they had nowhere to turn to and were on the brink of taking their own lives. But as a result of opening up to our team, they have been given immediate support and our charity has put in place interventions to help them manage their issues in a positive way.
“It is great to see more support being given to those working on site. The Help Inside the Hard Hat initiative will help provide support to those who really need it and start important conversations, where talking about mental health is welcomed and normal.”
Sara Cartin, Operations Manager, HBF“This has to be on of the most powerful and engaging talks I have had.”
Ryan O’Loughlin, Director, Henry Boot Construction Ltd
“This initiative has enabled industry ambassadors to speak directly to our site teams and give information on the services they provide.”
Rebecca Jones, HR Manager, William Davis Homes“The trigger for us to get the Help Inside the Hard Hat On Site team here was that, tragically, one of our contractors had taken
their own life. We knew about the Lighthouse Club already and had seen the campaign so really wanted to engage. We’ve shared all the campaign posters and reached out for support.
It’s getting harder to get workers on site so it’s about keeping them safe, healthy and in a good state of mind. We see our team every day, so for them to see someone independent who can share their own experiences is great. It means that they’re much more likely to take the wellbeing message on board and the feedback from everyone has been brilliant.
Just having those one to one conversations in their own environment rather than a classroom situation is really important. On of our groundworker contractors is already planning to take the Help Inside the Hard Hat message back to his company.”
David Ford, Head of Health and Safety, Countryside Properties
Once again, the Lighthouse Club Macau Benevolent Fund has been utilised to help where it is most needed.
Following the death of a Filipino maintenance worker in the Wynn Palace in August, for which the Benevolent Fund donated MOP70,000 to the deceased's wife, there were two further fatal accidents in October. Donations of MOP80,000 were made to each family.
On 22 October a PRC worker was fatally electrocuted whilst installing advertising signage. He leaves behind a wife, an 8-year-old son and 6-year old twin daughters. On 23 October another PRC worker was fatally injured in an accident on Galaxy Phase 4 in an accident involving a lifting platform. He leaves behind a wife and two daughters, aged 8 and 3.
So far this year the Benevolent Fund will have made donations totalling MOP 440,000 to the Next of Kin of the deceased and to the wife of a worker injured in 2019 who remains in a vegetative state in the PRC.
As tragic as these cases are, you can see how your support of Lighthouse Club Macau is helping the families of workers who have died as result of construction related accidents.
Your membership, sponsorship and generosity are greatly appreciated..
A total of 28 scholars are being supported by Lighthouse Club Manila with assistance via the James Battersby Educational Trust and Asia Pacific Region Benevolent Trust. These young people would never have had the opportunities for further education and career paths if not for the generous donations from members, not only in the Philippines but around the wider region. Three of the scholars wished to show their appreciation and have sent the following letters:
Rhea CasusiI am Rhea Dan Ruth B. Casusi. A BS Mechanical Engineering graduate from TIP Manila. I'm proud to say that I'm a recipient of the Lighthouse Club Manila Scholarship. Growing up, I had a lot of dreams that I wanted for myself. I remember when I was a kid, I thought that fulfilling aspirations might occur instantly as in the old fairy tale movies where everything is laid out in front of you with a single wave of the magic wand. However, the truth hit me hard when I started college.
Realising my dreams to study engineering wasn't at all simple. It required my best efforts and, most crucially, financial assistance. After I had started my University Degree, I recall discussing with my parents that I would need to stop studying because we were struggling financially, and my parents were also supporting my three younger siblings through their basic schooling.
However, after the family discussion that I would need to stop studying, my father's employer referred us to Lighthouse Club Manila so that we may try to apply for a scholarship for me there. Receiving that scholarship was such an answered prayer. To make a very long story short, with the unwavering support and help of the Lighthouse Club I was able to earn my degree on time. My aspirations to complete my studies had become a reality.
I am pleased to announce that I am now employed by a fantastic organization. A perfect environment in which I can become my best self. None of this would have been possible without Lighthouse Club Manila’s invaluable assistance. I will be eternally grateful that I was able to complete my education, realizing my aspirations for myself and also for my family. I sincerely hope that you will continue to work to help future generations achieve their goals. And, just as you have helped me, I hope that one day I will be one of the people who also helps others realise their dreams.
I am Mark Vincent B. Bascoguin, one of the Lighthouse Club Manila Scholarship grantees. I am a 4th-year college student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering at Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation.
The Lighthouse Club Manila Scholarship is an excellent opportunity to help me pursue my dreams financially. I won't promise anything, but I will do my best to study hard and reach my goals. After graduation, I plan to enter a review centre and take the Board Exam.
Also, I plan to find a job in which I can utilise my skills to help my parents immediately.
The words “Thank you” are not enough for how Lighthouse Club Manila played a significant role in achieving my goals. I am beyond grateful and forever thankful to Lighthouse Club Manila for this opportunity. I hope you will continue your advocacies for helping students, especially the less fortunate ones. I thank the Lighthouse Club Manila for choosing me to be their scholar and supporting students in chasing their dreams.
Being a scholar of the Lighthouse Club Manila did not only open to me a door of vast opportunities but also shed a light for me to learn things outside the university.
For four years of being a scholar, I have learned that Lighthouse Club is more than a charitable institution but also a bold network of friends and people that are constantly in hope of building a better society together.
I am currently studying a Bachelor of Science in Architecture with the hope of providing a service dedicated to make progress in our country’s construction industry in the future. I enjoy designing sustainable buildings and making plans that primarily focus on the wellness of endusers. With this, I am always holding on to myself the vision of the Lighthouse Club for the construction community.
Lighthouse Club has changed the lives of many. I cannot continue my education on my own. My family is a large one, and my parents, a barber and a housewife, are really lacking in terms of financial capacity to fund my education. I have to juggle being a working student. What I have right now would not be possible without the constant support of the Club, it has really changed my life.
Once I graduate, I am planning to continue my architectural journey by finishing the two-year apprenticeship and taking the board examination to fulfill my dream of becoming an architect. I am also planning to take a master’s degree in architecture and to build my own firm, hopefully.
I will bring the hope of the Club that their scholars will not be a burden but be functioning members of the society. Thank you Lighthouse Club for investing in my future!
For only the 2nd time since its inception in 2020, Corporate members of Lighthouse Club International and their guests, enjoyed a lunchtime event at the Hong Kong Club. Three tables of eight made for a small but nonetheless enjoyable gathering and there was lively discussion among all as some got stuck into the wine!
After a filling three-course lunch, Steve Tennant delivered his speech which was entitled “So much for 18 months….” However, just before he took us back in time, he attempted something no-one has done before – reading the minds of some of Hong Kong’s “top echelons” of the construction industry! Naturally, his success was limited – but isn’t that because the “all seeing eye” cannot penetrate lead??! Brushing that off, Steve launched into a very potted personal history of his journey from arriving in Hong Kong in 1980 with Franki Contractors (for 18 months!!!) to moving full steam ahead with Nishimatsu until finally arriving at Steve Tennant Associates and Plus 3 Consulting where he has been happily ensconced for a number of years.
Steve made a number of references to safety in the construction industry and recalled one of his first tasks as Treasurer of the Hong Kong Lighthouse Club branch being to write a cheque for HK$ 300,000 to assist the bereaved families of a serious accident in which six workers lost their lives. Safety issues have improved but they still have a long way to go, he said.
As Steve said, he retired at age 47 but was bored within a very short space of time and as long as he has something to keep offering within the industry, both in Hong Kong and around the region, then he’ll keep going.
Steve also mentioned the role that John Battersby has played throughout the 30+ years of Lighthouse Club in Hong Kong and its growth in South East Asia and Australia.
For the attendees, the presentation was the perfect length. As a final generous gesture, Steve announced that everybody’s lunch was being covered by himself and all proceeds would be going straight to the LHCI Benevolent Trust, which was humbly appreciated by all.
BKAP Cordia Yu John Battersby Graeme Brechin (Guest) Leighton - Colin Birkby (Guest) Leighton - Paul Kimberley (Guest) Leighton - Kevin Lemaire (Guest) Ryder Architects - Richard Dorkin, (Guest) Collers PM - Wayne Hallas
(Speaker) Steve Tennant
(Guest) BKAP - Janey Rogers
(Guest) ROF - Mike Staley
(Guest) Chun Wo - Stephen Lee
(Guest) Currie Brown - Amanda Wong
(Guest) Loeb & Loeb LLP - Terrence Wong
Imet Keith Buckley, Chairman of Lighthouse Club Macau and Deputy Chairman of Lighthouse Club International, on a Zoom call, hosted from his quarantine hotel, the Grand Coloane Resort, Macau. He has just returned to Macau, having had a hip replacement operation in Hong Kong.
He asks me if I recognise the background on the screen –and given that I’m calling in from London, I answer in the affirmative, before realising my mistake – he was in Macau not London.
“I almost fell for that one!” I laugh.
“We finished the original building in 2013. It had around 6,000 rooms in it, two Sheraton Grand hotel towers each with 2,000 rooms, a Holiday Inn with 1,000 rooms, a Conrad hotel with 500 rooms and the St. Regis with 500 rooms. In 2018-2020, it was converted to The Londoner so the whole external façade was changed to the Houses of Parliament, and then there’s a full-size replica of Big Ben to the left of me. The Holiday Inn became the Londoner hotel with 633 rooms and suites and the Londoner Court with 368 rooms was added to the building complex".
Buckley has lived and worked in Macau for close to 20 years and has witnessed and been a part of its metamorphosis from Portuguese colony to Asia’s Las Vegas.
I begin by asking him how he started out. Having been born and brought up in Germany to British parents and educated in British Families Education Schools where his father taught, he enrolled, at the age of 18 for a degree course in civil engineering at the University of Surrey, Guildford, from where he graduated in 1971 before starting his first job with the John Laing Group.
And with a career spanning over 50 years, he tells me of a career that has taken him and his family around the world, the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on Macau and the role the Lighthouse Club has to play in promoting safety and camaraderie within the construction industry.
When I first started there were no computers, no fax machines, no emails. I even remember my first calculator replacing the old slide rule. A lot of things have changed over the years, but a construction site is still a construction site. You still see crawler cranes and tower cranes and there’s still rebar, formwork and concrete. But at the end of the day, I don’t think that much has changed. There’s still a lot of manual work to be done,” he says.
Buckley’s university course was known as a sandwich course, meaning year two of the four year course was spent working. Because as he could speak fluent German he was sent to Switzerland and then the Netherlands to work with consultant companies.
Buckley spent close to 25 years at John Laing, where he was involved in a diverse range of projects, including a power station on the Isle of Grain in Kent, which at that time was Europe’s largest green field site, Redcar Steelworks in the north of England, the construction of the apron at the new Edinburgh Airport in Scotland, and finally a facility at RAF Valley in Anglesey, to receive the newly introduced Hawk jet trainers.
In 1976 he was sent to Poland to work on a chemical plant to manufacture PVC before returning to England to work for two years on London’s M25 motorway at Averly, in Essex. An interesting fact about this project, he tells me, was that it was UK funded and all materials aside from rebar, cement and aggregates had to come from the UK, as did the entire workforce of around 1,200 workers. The lowest temperature experienced was -38oC.
In 1981 after the war, Laing wanted me to go to the Falkland Islands where there were quite a few British contractors building new facilities. I declined and they sent me to Iraq instead!”
The Army Canal Interchange Project was a complicated project involving changing an existing at grade road, roundabout and canal crossings into a motorway across part of Baghdad, including 76 bridges and 14 underpasses. He and his family lived there with ten other married families and 90 bachelors in a prefabricated staff camp. The workforce was from Pakistan, and in comparison to Poland’s low winter temperatures, they experienced 50 oC plus temperatures.
Every so often the Iraqi military would come in and close access to our sites and we would see the tank transporters come in with beds and desks, as well as tanks and artillery, to set up a new battle front. And we would know the battle had ended when the taxi started coming back to Baghdad with coffins on the roofs. It was something we lived with,” he recalls.
In 1983, after the birth of their second child, the family moved to Cairo, Egypt, where Buckley worked on the British-funded Cairo wastewater project for two years, before setting off to Turkey to work on several projects, including a World Bank funded project to build grain terminals at four ports along the coast, a 1,000-bed holiday village in Antalya and three Hilton Hotels in Ankara, Izmir, and Mersin.
In 1990, it was off to Kuala Lumpur to work on the construction of 12 British-funded hospitals across Malaysia, as well as an airport in Sibu, Sarawak. And five years later the family moved to Hong Kong, where Buckley worked on the construction of the British Consulate, the Olympic station of the MTR and the construction management of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Buckley
It was time for a change, and a great opportunity to work for the biggest contractor in Hong Kong, and it was a regional role looking after projects in Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines. I practically lived at the airport, taking around 150 flights a year for two years. Then in 2000 I joined Anglian Water and moved to Beijing to work on its joint venture with Mitsubishi constructing a water treatment plant to supply Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics,” he explains.
On completion of his time in Beijing in May 2003, Buckley had secured a job back in Hong Kong with Hsin Chong Construction Group to work on the tender for the new Legco building. He arrived in the city to hear the next day that with the onset of SARS the government had put the project on hold.
However, his new employers offered him a contract in Macau to be responsible for the construction management of Sands Macau working with the US company who had won the new Macau gaming concession. And so began the start of a 20-year journey that is Buckley’s time in Macau.
Beginning with Sands Macau, Buckley then stepped into a major role with the construction of The Venetian and has since been involved with every new construction project by Sands China Ltd – The Venetian Macau, the Four Seasons resort , Sands Cotai Central and The Parisian. In 2018, following the demise of Hsin Chong, he and his partner, formed their own company Buckley Clark Associates and worked on The Londoner project after winning a service agreement for The Venetian.
It’s not often you get so many jobs on the same street,” he jokes.
was later headhunted by Gammon Construction.
Buckley has few regrets about his time in Macau.
The Venetian was a really interesting project. It was built in 37 months, including the land reclamation, foundations and had around 19,000 workers on the job, 500 from my company. And then of course The Parisian – you don’t get to build a half size Eiffel Tower every day. What was special about being involved in the casinos compared to building an office block or a mixed-use development – where you basically as a contractor finish the structure, curtain wall and public areas and the owner takes over and starts leasing out to tenants – is the sheer scale of it.
When it opens you have a hotel, a casino, shops, theatres, exhibition spaces and restaurants all opening on the same day. It’s mind-blowing and really exciting to be a part of.”
In January last year, with work on the Integrated Resorts having largely stopped, Buckley went on to join Macau Professional Services Ltd, a statutory design consultancy working on government and private sector projects, including site supervision of a fourth bridge, 3km long, connecting the islands, a prison and various new government buildings.
It has been a bit strange - I’m used to working in a site office with a construction site outside so it’s quite strange working in an office block. It’s also the first time I’ve not had to work on a Saturday,” he says.
Covid restrictions have also changed the face of Macau’s construction industry.
Private sector construction has dropped off significantly, but there have been a lot of tender awards to contractors for new government funded projects. New gaming concessions have been tendered and should be awarded by the end of the year and the government is looking at non-gaming investments such as MICE, medical tourism and gastronomy, which should result in an upturn in construction work,” he explains.
As Chairman of the Lighthouse Club Macau Buckley remains philosophical.
Because of the casino projects we have developed a good camaraderie between contractors and clients and the club has been thriving for the past ten years. Macau is a small place, but our events are as big as those in Hong Kong, and we usually attract around 120 people to our monthly events, and more at our annual golf day and dinner, which are all fully sponsored.
I think because I’ve been central to the work in the Cotai Strip there are a lot of local contractors who get repeat work, and we’ve created a good atmosphere for members to network,” he says.
And in his capacity as Deputy Chairman of Lighthouse Club International, whilst he acknowledges that Covid has meant that people are now unable to travel to attend regional meetings, and branches have been forced to hold events virtually, he is confident that the organisation can continue to fulfil its role as a charitable
organisation to provide financial assistance to the dependents of construction staff and workers involved in work-related injuries and fatal accidents.
Standards of safety in China are different than Macau, which relies much more on Hong Kong in terms of setting the standards from a regulation point of view. This year we have had six fatalities, compared to maybe 15 at the peak of construction five or six years ago. I would say that most of the accidents we have seen have been caused by individuals not taking care of themselves, rather than the safety system that’s imposed on site by the contractors.
Our main role, other to raise awareness of construction law and safety, is to raise money for the Benevolent Fund and pay people, or their families, who are involved in accidents. Construction has a low barrier to entry. We also want to work to attract younger blood into the organisation and to make people aware that construction can be an exciting and rewarding career option,” he concludes.
Did you know that in the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel project, the Leighton Asia led joint venture team had to excavate extensive site formation works of over 1.8 million cubic meters to construct the Lam-Tin Interchange? That is equivalent to enough rocks to fill up more than 2,900 standard swimming pools!
Did you know that the impressive roof of the Hong KongZhuhai-Macao Bridge Passenger Clearance Building was built offsite? Modules measuring 60m long by 25m wide by 15m high, weighing up to 670 tonnes each and amounting to 60,000m2 of curved steelwork supported on 50 reinforced concrete columns are fabricated in Zhongshan on the Mainland. This makes it the largest and most complex offsite fabrication scheme ever executed in Hong Kong.
The Viaduct system at the Lam Tin Interchange comprises six elevated post-tensioned viaducts and serves multiple-way traffic. It is made more complex by the difference in levels, which vary from +23 mpd on the approach roads to -14mpd on the main carriageway.
As construction projects become more and more complex and larger in scale, Leighton Asia’s forward-thinking culture and access to a world of expertise have enabled it to lead the way in leveraging the latest technologies to ensure safety, enhanced efficiency, quality and sustainability.
“Safety underpins everything we do. As a leader in the industry, we have applied digital engineering and technology throughout project cycles and actively encouraged everyone to utilise it across the organisation,” Francesco Tizzani, Group Manager of Digital Construction at Leighton Asia says.
“We believe successful digitisation is not about having the latest technology or collecting the most data. It is about using digital tools effectively at all levels, analysing the data wisely to enhance the safety and efficiency of our everyday work,” he adds.
As a member of one of the world’s largest international construction groups rated by the Engineering News-Record, Leighton Asia has the capability to bring together the best specialists, solutions and technologies to undertake projects of all magnitude within the entire construction value chain across the region.
As such, it takes pride in being able to meet the needs of clients and drive real change to achieve more sustainable outcomes for the communities where it operates.
Leighton Asia is renowned for its strong safety track record, alongside its comprehensive safety management system, policies and processes, and a strong focus on safety leadership and culture.
This approach is evident throughout all levels of the organisation, not least its strategic Strive for L.I.F.E (Leighton Incident Free Environment) safety program and its ONE HSE Safety Culture Framework.
These strategic programs use a variety of initiatives to ensure the highest safety standards possible from design to tender to project delivery, all geared towards being fully compliant with statutory requirements, ISO 45001:2018 international standards, specific contract requirements and the company’s own internal standards. The company boosted its deployment
Leighton Asia has clear HSE culture framework that guides its people’s behaviour
of high-tech tools such as the Cloud, virtual reality, analytics and artificial intelligence to bring a step-change and a cultural shift towards the elimination of critical incidents.
“We have digitised our end-to-end inspection process with our award-winning Strive for L.I.F.E Inspection app, which is designed to improve efficiency by simplifying the inspection process and eliminating the need for paper-based reports, whilst providing timely back-end analysis of all inspection data, enabling us to track and address key areas of performance,” Dean Cowley, General Manager – SHEQS at Leighton Asia says.
“In addition, our Class 1 Risk Management Virtual Reality mobile training facility augments our existing classroom-based training material and provides our frontline Engineers and Supervisors with a more immersive experience. The interactive training builds trainees’ skills and confidence in better understanding and applying our Class 1 Risk Management Process on site.”
Caption pending
Immersive Virtual Reality safety training
We believe successful digitisation is not about having the latest technology or collecting the most data. It is about using digital tools effectively at all levels, analysing the data wisely to enhance the safety and efficiency of our everyday work.
FRANCESCO TIZZANI GROUP MANAGER OF DIGITAL CONSTRUCTION AT LEIGHTON ASIA
It's a strategy that has not only been recognised in safety awards across the region - including multiple awards won at Hong Kong’s Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme, Certificate of Excellence in the Land Transport Authority’s 24th Annual Safety, Health and Environmental Award Convention for its North-South Corridor N103 project in Singapore this year - but also proven with the Leighton Asia Indonesia team, who celebrated their achievement of three million safe hours.
The Harvard Business Review Analytic Services recently featured Leighton Asia’s pioneer application of a digital twin, automation and simulation to drive safe delivery of the foundation and substructure works at Hong Kong International Airport’s Terminal 2 expansion.
In particular, the project leveraged a digital twin to generate Construction Method Simulations (CMS) to verify the feasibility of construction and mitigate safety risks. CMS generates animated snapshots of a sequence of construction methods.
Actual construction of the bridge
Digital twin at Tseung Kwan O portal
The Exhibition Centre Station
The animations enable engineering and operations teams to view the site in 3D, and collaboratively validate methodologies for constructability, and mitigate safety risks before commencing work.
Similarly, at the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel project, Leighton Asia safely placed the 60-tonne segmented viaduct for the bridgework at Tseung Kwan O tunnel portal on a marine environment by utilising Building Information Modelling (BIM) and a specially designed launching gantry.
The project team integrated their workflows into the digital twin, inputting data as the project progressed. Without locking data into spreadsheets and 2D drawings, the team used the model to collaborate on change management and streamline onsite operations.
Leighton Asia also worked on the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel footbridge, developing an innovative solution to erect, use and dismantle a temporary falsework system to facilitate the construction of a new footbridge to the Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries positioned on a steep slope.
Here, the use of BIM technology allowed the team to plan the installation of additional vertical support underneath the bridge to separate the falsework trusses. This enabled the trusses to slide out from the cover of the bridge and be reached by tower crane, thereby greatly increasing safety and streamlining the entire construction process.
Powered by Leighton Asia, Nexplore Hong Kong is a software innovation company that builds custom-made solutions for the construction industry using next generation technologies to accelerate the industry’s digital transformation.
Nexplore has resulted in collaborations with some of the world’s leading research institutes to build innovative solutions, not only for the Group’s business in Asia, but for the construction industry as a whole.
Digital twin at the foundation and structural works for the HKIA T2 expansion
Leighton Asia’s Vale project in Sorowako, Indonesia celebrated three million safe hours.
Nexplore’s ability to access accurate construction data to develop solutions that ease industry pain points was trialled through a prototype used on a Leighton Asia project to gather user feedback in a bid to refine the process.
Leighton Asia’s partnership with Advanced Science and Technology Research Institute, through its award-winning 360 degree proximity camera, further demonstrates the company’s commitment to ensuring safety whilst accelerating its digital deliverable capabilities.
Experience the innovative solutions firsthand
Leighton Asia will exhibit at the Construction Industry Expo 2022 to showcase its latest technologies and successful cases to solve some of the engineering puzzles. You are welcome to visit its booth (1D-B2) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 13-17 December 2022 to experience some interactive exhibits and exchange ideas with Leighton Asia subject matter experts.
Scan the QR code to register for a pass to visit now.
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From the organising committee and the full Lighthouse Club committee in Singapore: THANK YOU SO MUCH for your attendance, generosity and support of our recent Annual Dinner and Dance.
We were thrilled to see so many of you show up and take part in a fun and enjoyable night and have passed on our thanks to the Tanglin Club for feeding and watering us all so well, to the piper for giving us a beautiful rendition of the Skye Boat Song and more to bring us to our dinner, to Pan Pixels for capturing the moments in many glorious photographs, to Stephen Francis & Friends band for their entertaining music that brought us on the dancefloor and to the wonderful inspirational dancers that brought the crowd together in their soft and hard shoe Irish dancing performance and wrapping it up with a classic ceilidh!
Once again another Thank You to our sponsors on the night: CCI, CoGri Asia Pacific and Kroll for your support to make this a worthwhile event for the beneficiary fund of the Lighthouse Club.
In addition, we would like to thank WAK Consultants, Linesight, Envirotec, DGA, CCI, SAS, Accuracy, BK AsiaPacific, DPR and FTI for buying full tables and Magnetite, CoGri Asia Pacific, Muddy Murphys and Accuracy for donating prizes to the raffle on the night.
A big well done and thanks goes to our most enjoyable emcee of the night, Sid Bhalla, who kept the crowd enraptured and hosted a fantastic auction which saw our Best Dressed Man, Mr Ross McQuillan, be secured for a date by his wife, Jacqui McQuillan for $400; and the Best Dressed Female, Ms Karthini Mahendranathan be auctioned for another fabulous $400 by Trudie Moeller! Thank you, ladies, for being so generous to the cause!
Thanks to all of you and your kind generosity - we made $17,029 on the night! Over $4,600 of this was on raffle sales alonethanks again to you all for being such generous patrons buying the multitude of coloured tickets available and to the team for selling the tickets. This money will go a long way to support the workers and families of workers injured in construction and we again thank you deeply for this wonderful goodness that we can share with our friends that need support.
There will be photos of the event shared on our Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram accounts so please keep an eye out for yourselves, like the posts and share! And if you are not a member, but keen to join - please sign up here. All memberships registered now will be considered paid for until the end of 2023!
We will be hosting our next get-together at Molly Malones on Thursday 15 December, 2022 and it would be great to see you all there if you can make it. We are looking for a sponsor for this event so please get in contact if you would like to spread the Christmas joy!
This post was meant to go out the morning after, but surely we’re forgiven as it certainly took some time to ~sober up~ recover from our networking event last week!
We had Ankura and 39 Essex as co-sponsors so the event was twice as fun as usual (as impossible as that sounds!). Everyone was socially lubricated with 2 drinks each, and full from the finger food, all thanks to the generosity of our co-sponsors.
Jim, our president, took the mic to share a few words about the Lighthouse Club- and humble as he is, he said that that we’ve not helped our beneficiaries much this month though we’ve contributed meaningfully to the welfare of our migrant brothers over the past year.
As lovely and rare as it is to see Jim humble, this post is to set the record straight- we in fact set up a library for our migrant brothers just this month thanks to the generous contribution of books from you- our members. So do pat yourselves on the back (whilst we pat Jim on the head!)
We also had Premjit Dass say a few words on behalf of Ankura and he shared the mic with Adrian Hughes KC from 39 Essex.
You could just feel the buzz in the air, the excitement, the anticipation as Lindsey Scott of 39 Essex dipped her hands (literally both hands, and behind her back as to negate any perception of possible bias- these lawyers, I swear!) into the bowl containing everyone’s business cards to pick a lucky winner
Our September networking night came with many surprises!
For one, we had a last-minute sponsor for the night - Rory Cavner from MOVEX Pte Ltd while Molly Malone's Irish Pub Singapore dished out platters for the guests. And then we had a record turnout of almost 50 guests. Plus the book donation was an amazing success with a mountain of books donated by the guests.
Lastly, we made over S$1000 for the night counting the donations, sponsorships and membership. This included 6
The Lighthouse Club book collection drive for the migrant workers turned out to be a huge success! We collected 3 boxes of fiction, non-fiction and self-development books for the bookworms at the dormitories. It was a very heartwarming moment for all when the books were given to the avid readers. All thanks to the kind donors for their generosity!
of a ticket to Lighthouse Club’s Annual Dinner on 19 November 2022… and the winner was Neil Gunn! You can see just how thrilled he is from the photo!
We also had a bucket passed around for people to donate- and as we know, slight intoxication brings the best out of us, our most generous selves, and thanks to everyone, we raised a total of SGD560.50 consisting of SGD512, USD20, AUS15 and GBP5… our first event with donations of international currency!
All in all, it was a successful evening if we say so ourselves. And as we do with donations, we don’t discriminate and encourage all walks of life to attend our Annual Dinner on 19 November 2022. We have 3 tables left- so hurry and join us as we let our hair down and paint the town red.
Till the next one, take care!
tickets from the organisers of the Singapore MX Beach Race which were auctioned off at the gathering.
So what's next? The upcoming social night on 20 October 2022is a members-only event, so save the date and watch this space for details. If you aren't a member yet, now would be a good time to sign up here t.ly/9a8V. And the book collection drive is not over. Healthserve is still collecting the books so if you have more books to donate, you can drop them off at HealthServe clinic at Lor 23 Geylang, #01-07 Building 4, Singapore 388352.
unbeaten in this edition and they took the title back home again. Congratulations to team No Idea (Jeremy Plumley, Martina Plumley, Gordon Coyne and Bert de Munck). They can expect even stronger competition at our next quiz night.
The Lighthouse Club Manila (LHCM) continues to organise monthly social events and is already planning the events calendar for 2023. It remains important to expand our membership of both corporate and individual members. Our support to our scholars remains our most important focus and we plan to offer financial assistance to new scholars in 2023 onwards.
You can follow our social media at www.facebook.com/LighthouseClubManila and www.linkedin.com/in/lighthouseclubmanila or our website www.lighthouseclubph.org for the latest information.
Our recent regular social nights were held at the German Club (August) and Simply Thai (November). Whilst we did not have a social night in September, members were welcome to attend the lunch and award ceremony following a very successful Golf day. We also held another quiz night in October.
Our second quiz night of the year was held at the German Club. Following the previous quiz night, the participants were better prepared this time and keen to beat the winners of the first quiz night in August. So fierce was the competition that it took a tie-break to find the winner of the night. Despite the great efforts by other teams, the champions of the first quiz night remain
Following two graduations and one scholar which only needs to complete and submit his thesis, we are now supporting a total of 28 scholars. It is great to see that our scholars move forward in their studies and make such important steps in life where they find jobs and can provide support to their own families. Letters of appreciation have been received from a few of our scholars, highlighting the importance of the financial support they receive from LHCM with assistance from the James Battersby Educational Trust and the Asia Pacific Region Benevolent Trust. (See the Benevolence section of this magazine on pages10 and11 for the letters).
This is what is so important for us within the Lighthouse Club. By providing these young Filipinos the opportunity to follow a construction-related study, they are able to find a job in their career field and work on their own and their families’ future. It is life changing for them all.
The Construction Industry in the Philippines is growing and will be booming once all railway, airport and infrastructure projects are underway. There is an expectation that there will be a shortage in qualified engineers and skilled labourers. And while we wish to expand the number of scholars to even 40 or 50, we are somewhat limited in the vast amount of administration that is required to support all these scholars. Within our own capacity we are currently limited to approximately 30 scholars. If we want to expand that number, we will need to look at ways to outsource the administration or to find additional funds to hire administrative support ourselves.
As usual, thanks to all members for their continued support of the club in Manila.
The Club was delighted to successfully organise its 2nd Annual Golf Tournament on Monday 19 September 2022. It was a long wait - three years since our last golf event because of Covid restrictions but the output was worth it.
The tournament was held at the famous and prestigious Ayala Greenfield which is characterised by a challenging 18 holes and spectacular scenery of the province of Laguna, south of Metro Manila. Together with the “Texas scramble” format of the tournament, a shotgun tee-off and the extreme dedication of our supporting team, our 154 players battled not only for the top spot in the competition but also an opportunity of winning a Mercedes Benz A180 as the major hole-in-one prize, sponsored by Auto Icon.
Even though nobody won the car, it was a great day of golf and socialising. The weather started out perfectly and held up for the whole game except for one short shower towards the end. The tournament was followed by a very well-attended late lunch and awards ceremony. Our live band entertained guests while the organising team consolidated all results.
The winners of the day were team AGGLCJenny (Soyean Lee, Song Gwi Nam, Keun Joo Choi and Han Kyong Kwan) followed by team Diggers&Swingers, AGGLC-David and Witco.
Special thanks go to Flore and Jean Louis Bouzanne, who made all the arrangements with the golf club for this event, and our events committee headed up by Arlene Elliott as well as all the volunteers who helped on the day. The team did an amazing job putting the tournament together in less than two months.
Last but not the least, this event was not only a great success in term of attendees but also allowed us to raise funds that will benefit the Lighthouse Club Manila scholars, our primary raison d’être.
We raised a total of PHP 260,000.00. This money will go to future scholars as we look to relaunch our scholarship programme in 2023. We already plan to organise our third tournament next year, along with other activities and networking events.
Not only do we enjoy these events together but they also contribute in financing the education of all the scholars we are supporting today and, hopefully, more in the future.
Thanks to all for your continuous support and we hope to see you next year on the fairway!
Having put the Covidrelated monthly event cancellations in June and July behind us, Lighthouse Club Macau were happy to be back in action in September, October and November. On Wednesday 14 September a monthly gathering was held in the Ritz Carlton Bar, sponsored by one of our loyal contractors Tong Lei Engineering Co Ltd. Lighthouse Club Chairman, Keith Buckley introduced and thanked Tong Lei for their generosity. A Lucky Draw was held later in the evening with all proceeds going to the Benevolent Fund.
The October monthly gathering was held on 14 and sponsored by San Fong Seng Construction & Engineering Ltd. We had a great evening, again in the Ritz Carlton Bar, with 90+ people attending. CEO Anthea Lao introduced her company and gave a presentation on working across the border in nearby Hengqin Island.
And on 16 November Jardine Engineering Corporation (JEC) sponsored our event on the Sheraton Jaya Pool Deck. The weather was beautiful and with 90 people in attendance, a Lucky Draw was held with prizes donated by JEC and Lord Stow’s Bakery.
The proceeds of the Lucky Draw went equally to the Benevolent Fund and also to the “Movember Foundation HK” in support of men’s health. Maggie Chan of JEC and Eileen Stow provided insight into the Movember movement.
The gentlemen members who were sporting moustaches were presented with a gift in recognition of their support.
Lighthouse Club – Macau held their 8th Annual Golf Day on Friday 14 October 2022 at Macau Golf and Country Club. The Texas Scramble tournament was well supported with 64 players participating on a warm and sunny day at the picturesque location.
Our thanks go to Min Da Construction & Engineering Co Ltd for their extremely generous sponsorship of this event. Not only did their sponsorship include the after-golf dinner which was held in the Sheraton Hotel but they also sponsored the Best Net Score competition and Gross Score competition providing prizes of Golf Club shop vouchers, Champagne and Golf Balls.
The awards were all presented at the dinner.
The Best Gross Score competition was won by Lai Si Construction & Engineering. Runnersup were SJ Synergy Engineering and in third place Circle Engineering.
The Best Net Score Competition was won by Aristocrat Technologies. Runners-up were Studio R and in third place Decora. Nine competition holes were also in play to give all the participants an opportunity to win some great prizes. The competition holes were sponsored by the following generous companies and, for the first time at a LHC Golf Day, an Individual, Mr Richard Coumbe, also sponsored a prize hole.
• Top Builder Group sponsored nearest to the pin on hole #4
• Tong Lei Engineering sponsored nearest to the centerline on hole #8
• Circle Engineering sponsored nearest to the centerline on • hole #10
• San Fong Seng sponsored nearest to the pin on hole #11
• Junpam Engineering sponsored nearest to the pin on hole #14
• JEC sponsored nearest to the edge on #15
• Min Da sponsored nearest to the pin on hole #17
• Mr. Richard Coumbe sponsored nearest to the centre line on #18
On hole #6, and also for the first time at a LHC Golf Day, Matt Humphries of Aristocrat organised and ran our Charity hole competition which raised over MOP 6,000. All the prizes for this charity hole were generously provided by Aristocrat and thank you to Matt for his time on the day.
Lighthouse Club Macau owes thanks to all the generous sponsors and to HMS Golf Society, Macau Golf and Country Club, the Lighthouse Club committee members and helpers for their invaluable help in arranging the tournament, which raised over MOP166,000 on the day.
Read the words “Gong Bath” and a mental image of all kinds of “weirdness” might enter your head! Fear not, though, for this is an experience where all you do is relax and let the sound of different tonal gongs wash over you...
For the uninitiated, like the writer, a unique experience awaits. A room, softened by candle-light, at the back of which hang the various gongs. Yoga mats adorned with pillows, bolsters, blankets and eye-masks are in neat rows on the floor. There is a sense of calm, peace, nobody is talking very loudly. In fact, most are whispering rather than talking.
We begin the session, our instructor Melissa, taking us through some basic relaxation moves, all very yoga-ish. Then we are invited to lie down, cover ourselves with our blanket and just adopt the “corpse” pose, as it’s known: flat on back (or knees bolstered), arms by our sides, palms facing up.
The pillows, I found, were rather hard, the blanket a bit scratchy, but as I was cold anyway it was a comfort and I soon found myself relaxing and trying not to listen to the gongs as much as feeling their vibrations. This was a little challenging to begin with as the sound was in competition with some rather “thumpy” music coming from an adjacent room in the building, and also, horror of horrors, somebody’s mobile ‘phone or timer went off!
But a half hour into what was an hour-long session and I began to feel a strange sensation – of being totally relaxed but also of having something pulled from within me. I also experienced a slight headache but this disappeared quickly.
By the middle part of the session, the vibration and noise of the gongs was all enveloping and, probably, quite loud. It was like being at a concert where only the percussion section of the orchestra was playing: the timpani drums crescendo-ing to fortissimo before falling back to almost a tubular bell sound. Not unlike listening to Holst’s Mars from “The Planets Suite” but without the music (for those of you who know that particular work).
During all of this time, others in the room (there were around 20 of us) were in various stages of relaxation. Some were definitely out for the count, judging by the very slight snores to be heard! And some took a while to wake up, having to be prodded and poked by their neighbours. At the end, I felt a huge sense of calm and could have gone on lying there for ages. But, it was a class and class had ended so we rose, gently, had our group pic taken, folded up our blankets and stacked the yoga mats away.
I had imagined that I might sleep well after I arrived home but, to be honest, it took me a while to fall into slumber. Perhaps my mug of Earl Grey didn’t help! All in all, though, the whole experience was very interesting and whilst I won’t rush back next week, I would definitely be willing to immerse myself in another Gong Bath.
The Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Young Members Group organised a site visit to the ongoing project of the Hong Kong Central Kowloon Route (HKCKR) - Central Tunnel on the 5 November 2022. This once in a lifetime opportunity enabled construction industry practitioners to witness a phenomenal infrastructure project. The site visit was led by the project team of DragagesHong Kong Limited.
At first, the project team delivered a comprehensive presentation on project details. The team specified particularly on the geological challenges and major risks associated with the project, tunnelling methods, rock excavation and tunneling support and the safety measures undertaken during the construction period.
The initial briefing provided a better understanding on HKCKR and its specialty being a project occupied with a 2.8 km dual 3 lane Central Tunnel and a Pilot TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) Tunnel of 7.1m in diameter. Later the site visit set off after all the participants were fully equipped as per the required safety measures to enter the site location. The site visit was guided by the project team and the participants had the
opportunity to descend below the ground level to witness this ongoing massive project. During the entire visit the participants were transported throughout the tunnel ensuring their safety without any disturbance to the ongoing work.
The group had the opportunity to stop and observe at different locations which emphasised the excavation and boring methods, waste extraction methods, scaffolding systems, concerting methods, waterproofing methods and ventilation systems. Additionally, the transportation and the logistic handling inside the tunnel construction was briefly explained by the project management team.
It was amazing to see the lining of the concrete wall against the tunnel perimeter with a thickness of 300-1000 mm delivering the assurance to the quality of the tunnel. The participants were able to witness most of the above mentioned as the tunnel construction was in different stages and the project team was keen on providing useful information on key locations of the tunnel.
At the end, it was a very well organised and educational site visit enjoyed by all the participants who appreciated this rare opportunity..
Written by Nirmala Kolugala
The October Get-Together was held at Rula Live, at the top of Lan Kwai Fong, a favourite gathering place for some of the Club’s more youthful members and increasingly, these days, the WIC. The night was graciously sponsored by Pi Construction, GWP Engineering and ceek - members of the GWP Group - led by COO, Sandra Lu. ceek’s John Clark gave a welcome speech to a packed house. The evening started slowly, perhaps in part due to the late arrival of the sponsors, but upon their arrival at 8pm the atmosphere was suddenly transformed.
The Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Branch would like to thank Sandra and her team, as well as the tireless DJ Bryce Templeton for their contributions to a great night enjoyed by all those in attendance.
The November Get-Together was sponsored by King & Wood Mallesons and held at Wanchai Stadium. Earlier in the day the Society of Construction Law Hong Kong One Day International Conference 2022, the theme of which was, “Money Talks – Payment & Cash Flow in Construction”, was held at the Hong Kong Football Club and attended by the great and the good of the local construction industry, including members of the Lighthouse Club Hong Kong branch. Numbers of which then headed to the monthly get together in Wan Chai, a favourite place to gather for many members who find the hill up to the top of Lan Kwai Fong more challenging as the years progress.
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