Public works lab needs technicians

Hong Kong's Public Works Laboratories (PWL) are the unseen quality control behind every public construction project in the city. Under the guidance of 13 professional geotechnical engineers, 94 technical grade staff carry out more than half a million specialised tests each year, conducting analysis of soil, rock, concrete, bitumen and steel, as well as setting construction standards and supporting slope safety across the city.

The PWL was born as the Geotechnical Control Office, a government department set up to improve slope safety in the wake of several fatal landslides in the 1970s. Now, while it is recognised as a world leader in landslide risk assessment, its remit is much wider, offering technicians and engineers a rewarding and interesting career.

The 10 major infrastructure projects announced in 2007 are a mother lode for the geotechnical engineering community, with the department estimating that the number of tests run through the PWL will probably double to more than a million by 2016.

'With many big public works projects, the [construction] testing industry will be booming these next few years,' says Tony Lau, senior geotechnical engineer with the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD). Indeed, a major recruitment drive will soon be underway to staff an entirely new laboratory in Siu Ho Wan, near Tung Chung in Lantau, dedicated to the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.