Feature Meet the international members


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example, and even publishing a Chinese language magazine.” The success of an international qualification will also hinge on raising awareness of the CIOB “brand” abroad and differentiating its qualification from other certification or qualification schemes offered by competing organisations, such as the Construction Management Association of America and the Project Management Institute. “There is still a lack of definition of


what a chartered builder is and what the qualification means, which tends to reduce its value,” says Neil Coker MCIOB, with a mining role in Sierra Leone, who has worked extensively in India, Saudi Arabia, and Africa. “This is partly because MCIOB appears to be a catch-all qualification that encompasses several disciplines, unlike RIBA for example, which is specific to design. When people come to understand what MCIOB is and the high standards it requires to achieve they have a great deal of respect for it,” he concludes. From a UK perspective, we tend to assume that construction management elsewhere is a variation — to a greater or lesser extent — on familiar UK themes. As our profiles show, that is not the case: cultural norms define projects from the ground up. But an international brand linking the common factors that do exist — professionalism, innovation, integrated working, technology, sustainability — would clearly add value to individuals’ careers, to the CIOB as an international brand, and to the UK’s traditional status as an exporter of first-rate construction methodologies. CM


HYUN WOO LEE (SEAN LEE) ICIOB SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER, AECOM, ABU DHABI


A 38-year-old South Korean, Lee’s career has spanned three continents. He studied architecture at Seoul National University, and in 1996 became a site engineer at contractor Hyundai Engineering & Construction. Shortly afterwards he took on the role of a QS preparing bids for overseas projects in South-east Asia and the Middle East. His early experiences in South Korea were of an


industry dominated by large local contractors such as Hyundai, LG and Samsung. “It’s a very established sector which is very hard for foreign contractors to break into,” he says. “It’s hugely competitive and has some bad habits, such as the very untransparent contracting system.” In 2002 he moved to the US to become a project manager at Aecom where he worked for six years, but a desire to take on larger, more exciting projects inspired a transfer to Abu Dhabi, where he now works as senior project manager. Lee’s recent projects include the Saadiyat Island Cultural District Program, the region’s biggest arts hub. Lee applied for ICIOB status in 2009 to boost his


career prospects working in the UAE: “It helped me overcome misconceptions that being from Korea I


“South Korea is hugely competitive and has some bad habits, such as the very untransparent contracting system.”


might be less competent or familiar with global construction. The CIOB is recognised across the UAE and in South-east Asia,” he says. Lee describes Abu Dhabi’s construction industry


as “cross-cultural” and driven by a diverse array of foreign investors and practitioners. “On the plus side this means we can think outside the box on a project and re-examine the basic concepts of what a contract is and how to manage costs etc. There are less assumptions on how you should work. Long established standards and methods of doing business in the UK, for example, would not necessarily work here,” he says. On the negative side, the lack of established


procedures can create tensions: “There’s no established litigation procedure here, which means conflicts are often resolved based on personalities in an informal manner,” he says. To improve the CIOB’s impact in the Middle East,


Lee recommends that the Institute opens itself up to the entire industry and drops the emphasis on membership as denoted by the “M” in MCIOB. “To people who don’t know it, MCIOB sounds like a niche qualification, unlike the Project Management Institute’s internationally- recognised Project Management Professional certification, for example. I’d also like to see a dedicated CIOB online forum,” he says. “Networking sites like LinkedIn are too broad and there are too many groups to choose between.”


DELIVERING: INTEGRATION & QUALITY


In today’s complex construction industry, it is more important than ever that the building and engineering services elements of a project are undertaken by companies with the skills, the capability and the resources required to do a truly first-class job.


As our new name highlights, members of the BUILDING & ENGINEERING SERVICES ASSOCIATION (B&ES – formerly the HVCA) are able to demonstrate the necessary competence and professionalism.


Our members meet the exacting standards that are essential for the quality design, installation, integration and maintenance of building and engineering services and renewable technologies.


a new brand; a new HVCA CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | APRIL 2012 | 25 www.b-es.org


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