CO-PUBLISHED CORPORATE PROFILE
The story behind SMEC’s quiet success in Hong Kong Find out how SMEC has grown to be one of the most sought-after professional services firms as it celebrates its 20th year in Hong Kong.
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elebrating 20 years of operation in Hong Kong this year, SMEC is a professional services firm with Australian origins and a global footprint that provides high-quality consultancy services on major infrastructure projects. SMEC couples expertise with responsiveness and reliability to deliver practical outcomes for major infrastructure projects. With over 5,000 employees and an established network of more than 70 offices in Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and North and South America, SMEC has built its success on a clientcentered approach. In Hong Kong, SMEC has grown over the past 20 years from just a few employees operating from a small office in Sheung Wan, to more than 60 employees based in a brand-new office in Kowloon, with a diverse portfolio of projects and offering a wide array of high-quality consultancy services to a diverse range of clients. SMEC provides engineering design, consultancy and advisory services to
Construction of Australia Eucumbene Tumut Tunnel 1954 28 HONG KONG BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 2013
both public and private sector clients in the transportation, water, environment, geotechnics and tunnels, urban development and energy sectors. Australian origins SMEC’s origins date back to Australia’s iconic Snowy Mountains Scheme in the 1940s. Described as a ‘wonder of the modern world’, this project was a remarkable feat and succeeded in its aim to divert the rivers from south-east Australia to the west, providing water for irrigation and generating peak load electricity for Victoria and New South Wales. Engineers and scientists from around
“SMEC provided permanent works and major temporary works design for Admiralty Station’s cavern and tunnel. ”
Graham Read Regional Director – Mekong and North Asia SMEC International Pty Ltd the world worked together on this massive multi-purpose project, undertaken between 1949 and 1974, which involved hydropower (dams, deep shafts, tunnels caverns), roads and bridges. At the time it was the world’s largest civil engineering project and in 1997, the American Society of Civil Engineers recognized it as ‘International Historical Civil Engineering Landmark’, joining the Panama Canal and the Eiffel Tower. After the Scheme was completed, and SMEC was established by the Australian Government, some of these engineers and scientists returned to their home countries, taking with them the “SMEC Spirit” of co-operation and professionalism that was born and nurtured in Australia. SMEC in Hong Kong SMEC has a significant design role in the development of all of Hong Kong’s new railway projects, including Admiralty Station, part of Mass Transit Rail’s (MTR) South Island Line (East) extension. The South Island Line has five stations and 7 km of underground and elevated structures. SMEC provided permanent works and major temporary works design for Admiralty Station’s cavern and tunnel. Situated directly below busy roads, an underpass and a car park with shallow rock cover, the station cavern spans 24.5 m, is 16 m high and 105 m long. Upon