Enter the Dragon – CDC The Year of the Rabbit in review
The Year of the Dragon has arrived with a bang and it is time to take stock of the Year of the Rabbit at Contract Dispute Consultants and in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong finally dispensed with its last COVID restrictions in March (yes, we were still legally required to wear masks this time last year) and the economy is very slowly recovering. Visitors and outward-bound travel returned and life is gradually returning to normal. All of our staff managed to take extended overseas trips to reconnect with families having been stuck in Hong Kong for over 2 years.
CDC@15
As restrictions were dropped, we were finally able to gather together with clients, colleagues and friends to belatedly celebrate our 15th anniversary at Soho House in Hong Kong. CDC Director David Feehan described the impromptu formation of the company whilst working on the Stonecutters Bridge project and the early challenges of learning to run a business.
CDC 15th Anniversary Cocktail Party
He charted the transition of the company from working on one project to the expansion of its client base and project portfolio to today’s overseas work. The challenges of the last five years negotiating Hong Kong’s civil unrest and strict COVID pandemic restrictions were akin to “a difficult third album”. It was a fabulous evening and the first opportunity to properly reconnect with people for many years.
The Stragglers!
New Staff
As industry demand remained high, we continued to expand the CDC team, welcoming Ken Ngai to the team as consultant. Ken had previously worked with major Hong Kong contractors on several large infrastructure projects in both engineering and contract roles. We look forward to his further development with the Contract Dispute team.
Ongoing and New Projects
Work continued on long term commissions on West Kowloon Cultural Development, Third Runway related projects at Hong Kong International Airport and US based infrastructure assignments. CDC were also engaged on enabling projects related to the Northern Metropolis megaproject and on our first assignment in the UK. We hope to expand our footprint throughout South East Asia in the coming months.
West Kowloon Cultural Development (c)David Feehan
NEC
As the NEC contract is further embraced by Hong Kong government for its major infrastructure works, the remainder of the team completed the NEC4 Project Manager Accreditation Training. All of our contract consultants have now completed the PM accreditation and CDC are now working on several major commissions for contractors engaged on infrastructure projects under both NEC3 and NEC4.
Evidence in Arbitration Seminar
Director David Feehan presented at the ICE HKA G&S and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) seminar on evidence in arbitration last month. Topics included discussion of breakfast choices, the shooting of Bambi’s mother, 911 and OJ Simpson to show that memory is fallible, before exploring the types of records that should be kept by project teams and the difficulties in keeping site records.
Breakfast options
CDC Christmas Dinner
2023 was closed out with our annual Christmas dinner with staff, consultants and family members at A Lux restaurant in Central.
We wish all of our clients, colleagues and friends, a Healthy and Prosperous Year of the Dragon.
