The Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC) is an Australian based company with an international network of more than 20 subsidiary and associated companies. Formed in the mid-1970s, SMEC was born out of the large, state-run, hydropower projects undertaken in the Snowy Mountains region of ACT (Australia Capital Territories), near Cooma. Mr Benson explains that, “As a consultant engineering firm, SMEC was required to manage a large number of hydropower projects, and for many of these we were heavily involved in the design stages.” Since that time, the company has won a significant number of hydropower contracts around the world, in countries as diverse as Nepal, India and the Sudan. “That is where our name comes from and that is probably what we are best known for,” affirms Mr Benson.

SMEC has subsequently established bases in 26 countries around the world. “We first established SMEC Asia, in Hong Kong, in 1994,” Mr Benson informs us. “We also have SMEC India, in Delhi, which has 900 people and SMEC Malaysia, which has 200 people. SMEC Asia currently has 20 people, but is rapidly increasing and we have SMEC China, in Beijing, which has about a dozen people. In total, as a group, we are about 3,000 people.”

Recent developments

As consulting engineers, SMEC Asia performs feasibility studies, in addition to the detailed design.  Mr Benson explains, “In brief, we will initially perform a feasibility study, which assesses the existing conditions and constraints before submitting our project proposals. If accepted, we would then work on the detailed design.” He continues, “Our capabilities include the design of complex temporary and permanent works, which may have a variety of interfaces, including: electrical-mechanical, building services, track work, and client specific maintenance and operational requirements.”

With regard to significant developments, Mr Benson outlines some key areas: “When I took over SMEC Asia in January 2008, I was given quite a clear directive to enhance our tunnelling and underground design capability. I come from a tunnelling, structural, water-orientated background, and since joining SMEC Asia I have been working primarily to enhance the services that we can provide in these specific areas. At SMEC Asia, we are able to offer: tunnelling, geo-technical, civil, water and power consultancy and design services. 

“Recently, we have been working on the Singapore Downtown Line Stage Two, providing Tender Designs for McConnell Dowell. We are working on what is known as Contract 916, which involves the design and construction of a station at Beauty World (an area of Singapore) and associated tunnels. To be specific, this involves the temporary and permanent works design for the station, which will be a cut-and-cover construction; the tunnels, which will be constructed by a TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine); and a number of cross passages. There will also be ground treatment, piling, and intensive instrumentation and monitoring because we are working in a built up area with a number of sensitive structures, and environmental concerns within the zone of influence.” Mr Benson elaborates: “This will primarily be settlement monitoring. So, any settlement movement will be picked up by our Triple-A alert alarm action levels. In addition, environmental monitoring, such as noise and vibration levels will also be monitored.

“You have to pay very close attention to the given constraints, in the form of existing utilities – buildings and their foundations – and the geological ground conditions. The accuracy of the information that comes from the client based on previous investigations is also crucial.” To this end, SMEC Asia's ability to draw on the experience of the overall group is a major strength. “We are able to draw on a wide realm of resources and capabilities, not only within our region, but from as far afield as Australia and India.”

SMEC Asia's client list includes many of the region's most prestigious engineering firms, including: McConnell Dowell in Singapore and Leighton Asia in Hong Kong. Mr Benson tells us, “We have recently formed a MoA (Memorandum of Agreement) with Leighton to carry out work on the first section of the West Island line in Hong Kong – Contract 703 – due to come out for tender in either late-2008 or early-2009.”

“Further success has been gained on the HATS2 (Harbour Area Treatment Scheme), where joint venture contractors Paul Y Engineering and McConnell-Dowell have appointed SMEC Asia Ltd to carry out the tender design.”

Modernising

Of course, projects such as the one described above necessitate a broad and varied range of staff with technical and engineering capability, and a high level of expertise. “We have geological engineers, structural engineers, tunnelling engineers, civil engineers, water and utility engineers, as well as specialist geologists,” Mr Benson informs. As a services company, SMEC Asia's staff is its most important asset, which is why Mr Benson is currently in the process of revamping the company's graduate training scheme. “It is a bit of a work in progress at the moment,” Mr Benson explains. “I can't really give you any specific details, but in terms of general overview - obviously it needs to comply with ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers) and HKIE (Hong Kong Institution of Engineers) requirements. The whole system is being modernised to deal with the demands of a more dynamic market place, focusing on the areas where there have been significant changes in relation to the ICE. It is going to have a strong ‘safety’ element, as this is an area, that we consider to be of utmost importance. It will also focus on hands-on design experience and environmental awareness, as well as quality control, checking and management systems.”

Mr Benson adds, “We are also very proud of the fact that we are a multi-discipline and multi-cultural workforce. We have a strong team of Hong Kong-Chinese engineers, which we supplement with Europeans, Philippinos and Indians. I would also say that, compared to a lot of other companies, we have a lot less bureaucracy with respect to inter-company collaboration. It's very much a team atmosphere that we try to promote.

"Developing a new training programme is largely a case of looking at the current market, observing how it is changing and then incorporating that into your future plans. At the moment, we are particularly keen to work with contractors because a lot of work tends to be going towards Design and Build. It is also encouraging to see Alliance Contracts coming back into the fold.”

The market situation

Of course, one cannot look about the present market situation without mentioning the global financial crisis. Mr Benson explains, “The markets that seem to be the most adversely affected in Hong Kong at the moment are property and the casinos in Macau – we recently saw 10, 000 people laid off in Macau – a significant number. Of course, when you start taking chunks of people out of the work force, construction slows down too. We are finding that consultants who previously had strength in either the property or the banking sector are suffering most.” 

SMEC Asia still remains positive about the future outlook for their business. “We are hoping that the governments are going to release more money for spending on general civil infrastructure, in order to boost the economy. And I know that this can be said for Australia as well as Hong Kong.”  The fact that SMEC Asia happens to have made this area their main focus should be hugely beneficial. Mr Benson states: “We believe that we are well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that might arise from governments or from our clients, should they increase their spending on civil infrastructure, because of the particular strengths that we have in this field, including geologicalstructure interface analysis.”

Safety and sustainability

“Safety is particularly important when you are talking about tunnels because you are dealing with confined spaces. This means that ‘confined space’ training is essential for anyone working in the tunnelling environment because of the potential for asphyxiation – either from a lack of oxygen or toxic gases. In addition, workers would also carry gas monitoring equipment to alert them to any danger.” As consulting engineers, SMEC's role is to make certain that the main contractor, with the project overview, does not fail to recognise potential hazards and take the necessary precautions to prevent accidents. 

Mr Benson continues, “Risk management is another very important aspect of what we do. For example, working through our SMEC China office, we recently picked up a job advising an insurer and a Chinese contractor on risks and mitigation measures on highway bridge and tunnel structures in North Africa. We generally comment on anything that we consider to be common sense in terms of safety.”

Mr Benson has already mentioned that environmental aspects are becoming increasingly important and goes on to elaborate on this; “Hong Kong is particularly interesting in this regard because it is a society that has become very environmentally conscious in the last five years. The harbour reclamation programme, which involved the shifting of the Star Ferry terminal, was met with protests from over 200,000 people, and that has encouraged the government to take more of a public consultation route with the development of their infrastructure proposals. We are finding that companies with a highly developed environmental policy are able to be more receptive to the client and the public needs.

“Certainly, sustainability is becoming a bigger and bigger issue, one that we have to pay closer attention to with the very high resource prices. Developing sustainable designs, looking at the possible re-use of aggregates, and so forth, is no longer simply an engineering problem, it is an essential part of developing a more beneficial 'whole-of-life' solution,” Mr Benson explains. SMEC Asia's role in this is to advise on the use of newer and better materials. “For example, we have suggested that the excavated granite from the tunnels is used for the aggregate in the concrete mix for the tunnel lining, which can be recycled through various quarries in Hong Kong.”

Asked about the company's research and development, Mr Benson provides us with a refreshingly candid answer. “To be honest with you, we are light on the research and development side. However, there is something that I am very keen to develop, that being the use of plastic fibres to reinforce concrete tunnel linings. Now obviously, there is an issue with fire because it could melt or lose its strength or have inherent durability issues. At the moment, we use plastic in addition to the steel in order to help minimise spalling in Metro tunnels, should we have a fire. But there may be the possibility, if you can develop the right plastic fibres, to use solely plastic fibres and eliminate the steel reinforcement and associated durability issues.

“This would have a large scale benefit with regard to sustainability because it would provide the opportunity to use recycled plastics, as opposed to disposing of them or incinerating them, which releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.” Mr Benson further explains, “These are just thoughts that I have had and tried to promote with the odd client – but no takers yet.” At the present time, these developments are very much at the informal stage. “A good friend of mine works for China Resources, a company with about 2 million employees. We have talked about the possibility of developing something like this, but at the moment we have not been able to take it any further. 

“We also explored the possibility of developing a code for the design of tunnel lining. I believe it would involve quite a bit of research and development in preparing different tunnel linings, for example, segments that slot in behind the TBMs, as well as a number of various load tests. Then one could develop a theory based on these load tests.”

Focus on tunnelling

Addressing the company's plans for the future, Mr Benson added: “SMEC Asia is already considered a tunnelling centre of excellence, as well as a geotechnical centre of excellence, within the company. These are the two main strengths that we will use to drive our expansion. We will look to enhance our tunnelling capabilities – not just in railways and stations – but on highways, roads and cable tunnels too. We are also keen to develop a capability in Hong Kong in E&M (Electrical and Mechanical) and water sectors, because the group, as a whole, already has very strong E&M and water capabilities. 

“Finally, we recently won a project with Hong Kong’s EMSD (Electrical Mechanical Services Department), looking at their fuel price estimating. The work involves reviewing and assessing the current market conditions, the available resources, and the electricity supply costs and tariffs, then reporting these economic factors and conditions to different electrical authorities in Hong Kong. We received a good fee for this work.” With so much experience and expertise in these high growth areas, SMEC Asia will be well positioned to take advantage of the new opportunities that will present themselves as the economic storm clouds disperse.