Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
1. Chairlady’s Statement
It is my great honour to be the first Chairlady of the Division. With the Covid-19 pandemic bringing massive challenges to learned society activities, we have expedited all our efforts to keep up the continuous professional development for our members through application of the latest technologies. With the unconditional support of my fellow committee members, we have made our mission “Adapt to challenges and innovate to thrive for a sustainable future!” come true.
Virtual Site Visits – Due to the pandemic it is almost impossible to arrange any physical site visits for our members, but with application of the latest technologies, we have successfully arranged more than 3 virtual site visits, each attracting more than 500 participants. I would like to take this opportunity to send my appreciation to all our partners who have worked together with us to achieve this successful milestone.
Geotechnical Pioneer – Following on with the vision from the last Session, our “Geotechnical Pioneer” group has made a constant effort to arrange online workshops for our young engineers. After a year, we have finally completed the whole series of workshops on various geotechnical subjects that are commonly covered in the Professional Assessments for MHKIE(G). We will review the arrangement and re-run the workshops in suitable timing.
Technical Competent Person (TCP) grade T3 Online Course and Examination – Following the arrangement from the last Session, we were once again able to obtain approval from the Buildings Department (BD) for arranging the TCP grade T3 top-up course using e-LMS and online exam. We have also obtained approval from the Buildings Department to collaborate with the School of Professional Development in Construction of the Hong Kong Institute of Construction, Construction Industry Council (CIC) as our co-organizer for the top-up course. We would like to express our gratitude towards the support from the BD and CIC. Both the TCP T3 course and examination were successfully held online in February and March 2021.
Annual Seminar – The 41st Annual Seminar “Adapt to Challenges, Create to Thrive” will be held through a hybrid mode on 18 May 2021. I am sure all of you will enjoy this seminar and gain some valuable insights.
Young Geotechnical Club – We are very pleased to have a group of young and enthusiastic engineers joining our Young Geotechnical Club (YGC) for arranging various activities for the young engineers. YGC attempted a new way to share knowledge and experience by arranging a programme called “Chit Chat with Geotechnical Elite”. We were honoured to invite Ir Pun Wai Keung, the Head of the Geotechnical Engineering Office as our first Guest in this programme. It proved to be a very successful event and our YGC will continue arranging similar chit chat programmes so that more of our young engineers can benefit from the experience sharing by the Geotechnical Elites. Members who are interested to join the YGC are very welcome. Stay tuned for more exciting activities!
Lastly, I would like to conclude my statement by extending my heartfelt thanks to my fellow committee members, members of working groups, task forces, organising committees of various events and our dedicated team of young helpers for making this session fruitful and successful. I wish every success to the Division in the coming Sessions.
Thank you.
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
Ir Maureen Ng Chairlady Geotechnical Division (Session 2020/2021)
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
2. Membership As at 1 March 2021, the Geotechnical Division (GD) has a membership of 4,824, including 246 Fellows, 3,560 Corporate Members and 873 Graduate Members. There are also 71 Associate Members, 41 Student Members, and 33 Affiliate Members.
Appendix A presents the list of GD Committee members, organizing committees and task forces for session 2020/2021.
3. Financial Highlights The GD began the 2020/2021 financial year with a healthy balance of HK$1,045,503.37 from Session 2019/2020 and received a total allocation of HK$107,880.07 from the HKIE Headquarter. At the end of the financial year ending 31 March 2021, the Division maintained a balance of HK$1,843,601.93.
In this Session incomes were contributed from TCP T3 Top-up Course, workshops on Geotechnical Engineering on various topics and Annual Seminar, whereas expenses were mainly associated with local technical meetings, the HKIE GD website enhancement, sponsorships for attending overseas online conferences and awards for local universities. The Division’s Income and Expenditure Account (Unaudited) for the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 is summarised in Attachment 3. Full details of the 2020-2021 “End of Year Account” will be available for inspection after audit shortly.
4. Technical Meetings, Workshops, Seminar Due to the pandemic, the technical meetings, workshops and seminar have been organized via webinars and online learning platforms. The details are presented in Appendix B and the major ones are reported below.
4.1 41th Annual Seminar on Adapt to Challenges, Create to Thrive The 41st Annual Seminar, jointly organised with the Hong Kong Geotechnical Society and supported by the HKIE Civil and Structural Divisions, will be held on 18th May 2021 at the Hong Kong Productivity Council in the hybrid mode of in person and via Zoom. The Annual Seminar will co- organize the adjourned Tripartite Seminar 2020, and feature The Bright Spark Lecture by HKGES, two keynote presentations, and presentations from the Tripartite counterparts of Chinese Institute of Engineers (CIE) and The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM), and the selected papers submitted to the Seminar.
4.2 Workshop on Soil Mechanics – Theories and Applications (e-Class) The Division has organised a series of workshops targeting young geotechnical, civil and structural engineers with an interest in geotechnical works. The five workshops, are listed below:
1. Workshop on Slope Engineering held on 29 August 2020; 2. Workshop on Foundation Engineering held on 3 October 2020; 3. Workshop on ELS – Design & Construction held on 28 November 2020; 4. Workshop on Natural Terrain Hazard Studies held on 16 & 30 January 2021; and 5. Workshop on Remote Sensing Techniques and Applications held on 20 & 27 March 2021
4.3 Top-up Courses for TCP T3 on Ground Investigation Field Works (GIFW) and Building Works with Significant Geotechnical Content The Division has joined forces with School of Professional Development in Construction (SPDC) to
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021 organise a top-up course with a series of e-class lectures and an exam for TCP T3 on GIFW and building works with significant geotechnical content from February to March 2021. The course aims to provide graduate engineers, geologists and technical inspection supervisors with basic knowledge in geotechnical training which is needed for those with less than 2 years of relevant experience in order to be qualified for TCP T3 in accordance with Code of Practice for Site Supervision 2009 issued by the Buildings Department. The course was very popular and attended by 194 young engineers.
5. Technical Visits Technical site visits were organised for the participants to acquire the latest good practice in various geotechnical and civil engineering projects. Due to the pandemic, the GD has innovated and invested in digital media equipment to arrange virtual site visits as summarised in Appendix C.
6. Prizes, Awards and Sponsorships 6.1 AECOM Prizes AECOM Prize for Best Student of the Year is awarded to students attaining good performance in geotechnical subjects in local universities that offer eligible undergraduate degree courses accredited by the HKIE for Scheme “A” training in the geotechnical discipline. The prize awardees nominated by the universities are as follows:
Awardee University LI Chung Kin The University of Hong Kong CHAN Kin Shing The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology NG Ming Ho The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
AECOM Prize for Best Final-Year Geotechnical Project is awarded to students of local universities to recognize their effort on the final year geotechnical projects so as to encourage them to continue making effort to improve the local engineering practices in their future careers. A judging panel consisting of Julian Kwan, Y C Lam and Jack Yiu was formed to review the submissions from the local universities. The prize awardees are as follows:
Award Awardee University Winner Levinna Natalia The University of Hong Kong 1st Runner-up WANG Fangran City University of Hong Kong 2nd Runner-up LAM Pui Shan City University of Hong Kong
6.2 Fugro Prize The Fugro Prize is awarded to young members of the HKIE to recognise their geotechnical study, research or project work with significant contributions to the advancement of the geotechnical practice in Hong Kong. A judging panel consisting of Raymond Cheung, Warren Dou and Louis Wong was formed to review the submitted papers. The final competition was held on 4 March 2021 via Zoom, in which the authors of shortlisted papers were invited to make an online presentation in front of the judging panel and the audience. The prize awardees are as follows:
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
Award Awardee Affiliation Title of Paper Winner Wilson NGAI T Atkins Preliminary Studies of Proposed W S Subsurface Railway in North Lantau Area 1st Runner- Alex YU Hin Lap AECOM Asia Self-healing Strain Hardening up Company Limited Cementitious Composites (SHCC) for Resilient Underground Construction
6.3 Ringo Yu Prize for Best PhD Theses in Geotechnical Study With the support of Ir Ringo Yu, the Division launched the Ringo Yu Prize for Best PhD Theses in Geotechnical Studies in the 2018/2019 session. The prize aims at commending the best PhD theses in geotechnical engineering in Hong Kong. A prize of HK$8,000 is awarded to one PhD graduate with thesis of outstanding quality from each local university offering PhD degree in geotechnical studies. The university nominated prize awardees are as follows:
Awardee University Dr TANG Xiao The University of Hong Kong Dr LUO Hongyu The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Dr HAN Dongya The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Dr HU Yue The City University of Hong Kong
6.4 LPM Scholarship Scheme The LPM Scholarship aims to provide financial assistance and encouragement to undergraduate students to pursue studies in geotechnical engineering. A selection panel consisting of Maureen Ng, Ken Ho and Victon Wong was formed to review the applications received from the local universities and to recommend awards. The scholarship awardees will be announced after the selection process is completed on 30 April 2021. One awardee will be selected from each university as follows:
Awardee University TBC The University of Hong Kong TBC The Hong Kong Polytechnic University TBC The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology TBC The City University of Hong Kong
6.5 Technical Book Prizes Technical Book Prizes are awarded to young engineers who prepare high standard technical reports on technical meetings or technical visits organized by the Division, aiming at encouraging participation of GD events and promoting practice of report writing. The prize awardee is as follows:
Awardee Technical Report SU Chi Fung Technical Site Visit to Contract No. NE/2017/08 Cross Bay Link – Tseung Kwan O 11 January 2020
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
6.6 Sponsorship Scheme This sponsorship scheme is to offer young engineers to attend international conferences in order to broaden their horizon and share their lessons learned from the attended conferences with other engineers. Applications for sponsorship were assessed by Becky Lui and YC Lam. During the 2020/2021 session, the successful applicants were sponsored to attend virtual conferences, namely the World Tunnel Congress 2020 and the 17th World Conference Associated research Centers for Urban Underground Space (ACUUS).
7. Overseas Links 7.1 HKIE-IEM-CIE Tripartite Seminar The Tripartite Seminar is an annual event jointly organised by the respective geotechnical divisions of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) and the Chinese Institute of Engineers (CIE, Taiwan). This year the Tripartite Seminar was hosted by the GD in conjunction with the GD Annual Seminar on 18 May 2021. Papers have been received from the CIE and IEM on topics related to ELS, foundation, landslide and geotechnical BIM.
8. Working Groups
8.1 Task Force for GCO Publication No. 1 /90 on Review of Design Methods for Excavations Taking cognisance that the Geotechnical Engineering Office plans to update GCO Publication No. 1/90, a Task Force on Review of Design Methods for Excavations was set up to provide technical information, advice and views on the updating of the Publication.
Since May 2019 the Task Force has been reviewing the prevailing local and overseas design practices, deliberating salient issues such as the limit state design approach, the role of the analytical/numerical methods, the design and construction considerations with respect to local practice, and the use of instrumentation monitoring for ELS works. The updated Publication shall be released soon.
8.2 Geotechnical Pioneer This working group was formed in 2019 with the aim of fostering our young members’ interest and capability to advance their career in geotechnical engineering. Led by Tony Ho, the working group actively organised workshops on various geotechnical topics to help the members prepare for the Professional Assessment. During the outbreak of the COVID-19, online workshops became the new normalcy and this learning mode was welcomed by the members with overwhelming applications received. The working group will continue to explore new initiatives to motivate our young generation to join the geotechnical community with the long-term goal of maintaining a strong and sustained geotechnical workforce to serve the industry. Digital technologies are transforming our world in a fast pace. To embrace the opportunities brought to the geo-community, the GD in conjunction with the Geological Society of London (Hong Kong Regional Group) and HKGES will organise a one-day Symposium on Digital Geosciences and Geotechnology on 16 September 2021 to let academics and practitioners share their insights and experience gained from researches and practice. The Symposium will focus on three themes, namely (1) Advances in remote sensing and smart technologies, (2) Applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and (3) Innovations and project applications. The keynote speakers will be Prof K K Phoon of The Singapore University of Technology and Design and Prof John Shi of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
8.3 Young Geotechnical Club The Young Geotechnical Club (YGC) is a newly established group under the GD. It is led by a group of young professionals under the age of 35. The objective of the group is to provide a platform for young professionals to expand their network and enrich their career development in the geotechnical field. The group also plays a supporting role to the operation of HKIE GD Committee, including coordination of the event helpers and revamp of the HKIE GD website. The YGC initiated an event series called the “Chit Chat with Geotechnical Elites” series. The first event of the series was held on 18th December 2020 and had young representatives interviewing the then-Head of the Geotechnical Engineering Office, Ir W K Pun. The 1.5-hour session was carried out live on the Zoom platform due to restrictions from the pandemic situation. More than 150 participants attended the event. The second event of the series is scheduled on 28th April 2021 interviewing Ir Prof. Philip Chung. The 1.5-hour session will also be broadcasted live on the Zoom platform due to the pandemic situation. In January 2021, the YGC conducted a recruitment for core members who are keen to cultivate interests and networking in the industry. Five new young engineers have been selected and afterwards, the YGC will be run by a group of 13 core members. The group will continue to organise a diversity of activities, aiming to promote the YGC and help our young engineers to build their network from the early stage of their career.
9. Annual Dinner Due to the pandemic, the GD has decided to cancel the 2020/21 Annual Dinner.
10. Hong Kong Geotechnical Society The Hong Kong Geotechnical Society (HKGES) was established in 2003, to serve as a ‘foreign’ office of the HKIE Geotechnical Division, connecting members to the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). The ISSMGE is the leading professional body representing the interests and activities of engineers, academics and contractors all over the world that actively participate in geotechnical engineering. Julian Kwan, SW Lee and Andy Leung were elected as the President, Vice President and Secretary General of HKGES (session 2020-2022) respectively on 19 June 2020. The 20th International Conference on Soil mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering and 7th International Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference, originally scheduled to be held in Sydney in September 2021, have been postponed to May 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 35 abstracts from HKGES have been submitted. In addition, to promote the exchange of knowledge and dissemination of experience amongst geotechnical practitioners/researchers around the world, HKGES has nominated 12 additional representatives to various Technical Committees of ISSMGE in this session. With the support from HKIE Geotechnical Division and the Young Member Presidential Group of ISSMGE, HKGES has established the Bright Spark Lecture Award. The first Lecture will be delivered during the 41st Annual Seminar of the Geotechnical Division of HKIE, to be held on 18 May 2021. During this session, HKGES organised the following events:
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
(a) HKGES co-organized the 40th Annual Seminar of the HKIE Geotechnical Division. The theme of the Annual Seminar was “Geotechnical Engineering Excellence and Essentials ˗ Quality Assurance for Design and Constructions”, and was held on 22 May 2020 via on- line mode. (b) HKGES collaborated with Geotechnical Society of Singapore, Indonesian Society for Geotechnical Engineering and Malaysian Geotechnical Society to organize the “Are We Overdesigning” Geotechnical Design Challenge Project, from November 2020 to January 2021. More than 100 practitioners/researchers from Hong Kong participated in the briefing session of the event. (c) HKGES collaborated with the Geotechnical Engineering Office and the HKIE Geotechnical Division to co-organize the R&D Collaboration Forum on "Slope Design in Hong Kong" on 24 April 2021.
11. ITACUS, Young Professionals’ Think Deep Program (YPTDP) YPTDP is a joint effort by the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association’s Committee (ITACUS) and International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP), which aims to actively involve young professionals working cross disciplinarily on underground space issues. The GD is collaborating with the ITACUS and ISOCARP to host a YPTDP in Hong Kong, tentatively in early 2022. This will be a five-day workshop providing a platform for young professionals to work cross-disciplinarily on urban underground space issues. Two successful programmes have been held in Wroclaw and Glasgow respectively. To take forward the initiative, an organising committee has been formed, with Tony Ho as the Chair and Johnny Cheuk, SW Lee, David Mak, Roy Hung and Jeffrey Wong as members. The event will be open to local and overseas participants aged below 35. About 30 professionals comprising engineers, planners, architects, etc. will be selected to form teams. The cost of sponsoring overseas participants would be partly recovered by applying to the PASS funding and by organising a one-day seminar at the end of the workshop. More details will be announced later.
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
Appendix A - Membership Lists of Division Committee, Event
Organising Committees and Task Forces
Geotechnical Division Committee Ir Maureen Ng Chairlady Ir Chris Lee Immediate Past Chairman Ir Tony Ho Deputy Chairman Ir Dr S W Lee Honorary Secretary Ir Dr Johnny Cheuk Honorary Treasurer
Committee Members Ir Tony Chen Dr Clarence Choi Young Ordinary Member Ir Warren Dou Ir Dr Julian Kwan Ir Derek Kwok Ir Y C Lam Ir Tom Lee Ir Becky Lui Ir Clifford Phung Ir Grace Tam Young Ordinary Member Ir Candy Tsoi Ir Terence Yau Ir Jack Yiu Ms Emily Yu Young Ordinary Member
Co-Opted Members Ir Dr Raymond Cheung Ms Carman Lau Dr Louis Wong
Ex-Officio Members Ir Prof Ken Ho Discipline Representative Ir Prof Ken Ho Council Member (Division) Mr Ray Ng AMC Representative Ms Eileen Cheng YMC Representative Ir Kevin Man SSC Representative
Observers Ir Paul Chan Ir Ray Chan Ms Joanne Ko Mr Alex Leung Dr Andy Leung Dr Anthony Leung Mr David Mak Ir P L Ng
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
Ir Dr Gavin Toh Ir Victon Wong
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
Geotechnical Pioneer Tony Ho Leader Wilson Cheng Clarence Choi Julian Kwan Derek Kwok Andy Leung Anthony Leung Clifford Phung Louis Wong Jack Yiu
GD 41th Annual Seminar on 18 May 2021 Gavin Toh Leader Derek Kwok Y C Lam S W Lee Alex Leung Becky Lui Grace Tam Terence Yau Jack Yiu
ITACUS, Young Professionals’ Think Deep Program Tony Ho Leader Johnny Cheuk S W Lee David Mak Roy Hung Jeffery Wong
Young Geotechnical Club Alex Leung Leader Mickey Goh Johnson Wu Joseph Tsang Grace Tam Advisor Emily Yu Advisor Regis Chee Advisor
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
Task Force for GCO Publication No. 1/90 on Review of Design Methods for Excavations Richard PL Pang Chairman Frankie Lo Secretary Tony Chen Johnny Cheuk Ceres Chung Warren Dou Ho Chun-ning Julian Kwan Derek Kwok Martin Lee S W Lee Andy Leung Victor Li Gavin Toh K C Wong Thomas Wong Terence Yau Jack Yiu
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
Appendix B - List of Technical Meetings, Workshops, Seminars
Date Speaker Topic 29 Aug 2020 Various e-Workshop on Slope Engineering
2 Sep 2020 Dr Mark Cottrell Webinar on A DFN Framework with Application to Rock Engineering Characterisation, Analysis & Design
3 Oct 2020 Various e-Workshop on Foundation Engineering
9 Oct 2020 Dr Louis Wong Webinar on Rock strengthening upon heating - FACT or MYTH?
28 Nov 2020 Various e-Workshop on ELS – Design & Construction
18 Dec 2020 Ir W K Pun Webinar on Chit Chat with Geotechnical Elites
16 & 30 Jan 2021 Ms Sin Yin-man and e-Workshop on Natural Terrain Hazard Studies Ms Ho Hoi-Yan
5 Feb 2021 Ir Prof Jian-Hua Yin Webinar on A New General Simple Method for Calculating Consolidation Settlements of Layered Clayey Soils without/with PVDs under Any Staged Loading
22 Feb 2021 to Various e-Workshop on Top-up Course for TCP T3 on GIFW and 13 Mar 2021 Building Works with Significant Geotechnical Content
4 Mar 2021 Various Fugro Prize 2020/21 Competition – Online Presentation
5 Mar 2021 Dr Louis Wong Webinar on Use of Artificial Intelligence for Geological and Geotechnical Application
20 & 27 Mar Various e-Workshop on Remote Sensing Techniques and 2021 Applications
26 April 2021 Ir Prof Ken Ho Webinar on MHKIE(G) – why, what, how?
1 & 8 May 2021 Denise Tang (Ms) e-Workshop on Geology and Tse Tze Kei
Appendix C - List of Technical Visits
Date Site Works Client Host 31 Oct 2020 Virtual Site Visit to Contract No. Cavern, site DSD AECOM DC/2018/05 – Relocation of Sha formation Tin Sewage Treatment Works to Caverns - Site Preparation and Access Tunnel Construction 12 Dec 2020 Virtual Site Visit to Slope Works Slope, site CEDD AECOM at Feature No. 7SW-C/C1464 at formation Tsuen Wan Service Village under Contract No. GE/2018/20 27 Feb 2021 Trunk Road T2 and Cha Kwo Tunnelling, CEDD Hyder-Meinhardt Ling Tunnel Construction of undergroun Joint Venture Tunnel Boring Machine d
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
Date Site Works Client Host Launching Shaft and Cut-and- excavation Cover Tunnel 27 Mar 2021 Retrofitting of Escalators for Foundation, HyD Hing Fu (scheduled) Footbridges across Castle Peak civil works Road - Kwai Chung near MTR Tai Wo Hau Station Exit B under Contract No. HY/2019/17 Apr 2021 Bridge D3 for Kai Tak Bridge CEDD AECOM & Penta (scheduled) Development Stage 4 foundation, Ocean Infrastructure at the Former civil works Runway and South Apron, Kowloon, Hong Kong under Contract No. ED/2018/01 May 2021 Hung Shui Kiu / Ha Tsuen New Site CEDD Mott MacDonald (scheduled) Development Area Advance formation Works Phase 2 – Site Formation and Infrastructure under Contract YL/2019/02
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