Setting its footprint in Hong Kong in 1979, China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) Limited (CSHK) strives to live up to its entrepreneurial spirit of “Integrity, Innovation, Surpass, Win-Win situation” as it takes the digitalization of site management in the construction industry to the next level to create a safe and efficient working environment.

A cutting-edge solution for site management

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck the city in 2020 and quarantine facilities were desperately needed, the company developed the C-SMART All-in-one Smart Construction Management Platform in response to the industry’s pain points such as multiple subcontractors and workers, complicated workflow, and more.

CSHK has deployed the smart site management system in over 140 construction projects in Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China to date.

The one-stop platform is built on various advanced technologies – including the Internet of Things (IoT), sensors, facial recognition, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and Building Information Modeling (BIM) – to achieve real-time data integration and analysis, trend prediction and early warning for project overview, personnel management, construction progress, and quality and safety management.

“Our goal of creating C-SMART is to facilitate efficient project management by utilizing innovative technology, in light of the enormous amount of public works that would be undertaken in the future amid the decline in the number of management talent and frontline workers,” says Chris Cheung, technical director of China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) Limited. “We are reforming the traditional management approach in the construction sector, which relies on manually documenting various data and project progress.”

During Covid’s fifth wave last year, CSHK needed to complete several mobile cabin hospitals and quarantine facilities in Penny’s Bay and Kai Tak within four months, involving tens of thousands of people and an enormous amount of modular integrated constructions (MiCs) – which were produced in seven factories in the mainland and shipped to Hong Kong via a dozen ports.

The system has reduced unnecessary construction expenses caused by resource mismatches while also giving project managers and stakeholders a more transparent and accurate overview.

“Thanks to the C-SMART platform, the efficiency is so impressive for such a massive construction project that we can complete the site without manufacturing any spare MiCs,” says Cheung.He explains that a system was specifically designed for tracking the logistics of MiCs and centralizing all sorts of data in the C-SMART platform. Each MiC has its own unique QR code for identification. Co-workers from production to installation may monitor and report the status on the platform by simply scanning the QR code with their phones.Meanwhile, the worker management module under the C-SMART platform has effectively prevented cluster infections during the peak of the Covid outbreak. “We can monitor the number of workers in each area of the construction site to ensure social distancing of workers and control the risk of infection,”

Cheung adds. “In case a worker is diagnosed, it can also help track his or her close contacts, isolate relevant personnel, and identify key work areas for disinfection.” Data analysis is no longer a painful job when the C-SMART platform can automatically analyze the collected data, as well as provide a more accurate understanding of the best cost-effectiveness of construction, such as calculating the number of site workers and corresponding machines required for completing the project.

Boosting efficiency and productivity

The C-SMART platform has the potential to significantly accelerate construction, Cheung says, as the construction of the Kai Tak quarantine center and Penny’s Bay Phase 5 and 6 were finished within 121 days to install 17,664 MiC modules, compared to the 88-day work period of the Penny’s Bay Phase 3 project in 2021, involving only 850 MiCs.

Moreover, the C-SMART system is designed as a web-based platform for easy access without any complicated installation, which differentiates the platform from other smart site management systems on the market. “It is compatible with major smartphone operating systems, making it simple for workers in Hong Kong and mainland China to report information and monitor progress,” Cheung emphasizes.

He adds that the process that used to take frontline colleagues and management hours to exchange information has been significantly shortened to minutes after replacing paperwork with the smart platform.

Frontline staff are able to report the site status quickly and instantly via mobile apps, and receive instructions directly via messaging apps or email.

Enhancing site safety

Site safety is the latest advocate of the construction industry after the number of accidents has spiked in recent years.

To enhance safety in their construction works projects, all frontline workers wear the automatic clock-in/clock-out safety helmets that aggregate real-time data to the C-SMART platform, allowing management to know about employees’ whereabouts across the whole work site and prevent workers from accidentally entering areas performing high-risk duties.

Artificial intelligence is an indispensable part of the smart management platform, says Cheung, especially when incidents happen in little-known areas. For instance, AI can help with fire monitoring by automatically detecting smoke, activating fire alarms, and enabling quick evacuation of site personnel in the event of a fire.

Thanks to the use of the C-SMART system’s drones and CCTV for night patrol, a vehicle fire was successfully avoided at the Penny’s Bay quarantine facility construction site in May 2022, allowing the project to maintain a record of zero fire occurrences.

Award recognition

The C-SMART All-in-one Smart Construction Management Platform is honored to receive numerous accolades, locally and internationally.

The company was awarded two bronze awards at the International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva 2023 last month for its innovation of the smart construction management platform, as well as the C-S Hyper Construction Site Robot – a collaborative work with the Hong Kong Productivity Council which is a part of the C-SMART ecosystem.

Last December, the platform also won the 21st Asia Pacific Information and Communications Technology Alliance (APICTA) Awards in the industrial category for engineering and construction.

Looking forward

As the government encourages the adoption of a smart site safety system to improve safety performance on-site in the most recent technical circular released in February, Cheung reveals that the company plans to share the C-SMART system with counterparts soon via its technological solution arm Transcendence Company.

“Small and medium-sized contractors may not have enough resources to develop a large-scale and comprehensive smart site safety system like C-SMART,” Cheung explains. “By sharing the technology, we would like to assist contractors in keeping up with the industry trend, which will be very beneficial to the entire industry in promoting digitalization.”