Stephen Porter (left), Regional Managing Director, Hyder Consulting, and Tim Wade, Chief Executive, explain how Hong Kong's advantages assist the firm in its region-wide operations

Asia's real estate boom has seen the Hong Kong regional office of Hyder Consulting, a 150-year-old London-listed infrastructure and property design firm, busier than ever.

Working on landmark projects across the region, the firm leverages its Hong Kong expertise which is both world-class and easily portable, Regional Managing Director Stephen Porter says.

Mr Porter adds that Hyder's Hong Kong operation is pivotal for the firm, bringing an international edge to its partners in the region.

"It is a great source of expertise. The development of Hong Kong over the last many decades has bred a construction industry which is very mature, with expertise that's been handed down through experience. The educational system is (also) first class. So that is the prime reason why we are based here: we have a great source of expertise that we can draw on to bring into our projects, and we are  able to take that expertise to other parts of Asia and throughout the world."

Detailed support

A large amount of the Hong Kong office's current workload is derived form overseas opportunities, Mr Porter said. These projects include a light rail and the world's tallest building in Dubai, work on the London underground, and road tunnels in Australia.

The expertise the firm has in Hong Kong is not only world-class and very exportable, it's also cost effective, he added, citing a cost correction over the past few years. "So in Hong Kong we have very experienced, senior people providing detailed support to (our offices in) places like Manila and China, and that total package is very cost effective in the world stage in terms of design engineering."

Tim Wade, Chief Executive, Hyder Consulting, said Asia's property market was booming across all sectors: residential, retail, hotel and industrial. This was driven equally by increasing consumer wealth, and direct foreign investment where people are looking to set up factories both in China and other parts of Asia, he said.

While there is always the prospect of a slowdown in one market sector or another, Mr Wade said a property bust over the next couple of years seems unlikely, given the healthy state of the global economy.

Emerging opportunities

Of where to invest at this time, Mr Wade says the reasonably well established places of China and India are "definitely in the lead". "You have to be more adventurous to invest in the others, but there are an increasing number of people who are. So Vietnam for instance joined the WTO only a few months ago, and that is definitely going to be a source of inward investment."

Mr Wade added that Asia is critical to Hyder's overall plan.

"In 2004 we were very happily able to tell people in China that we actually did the Shanghai water treatment works in 1904 – precisely 100 years previously. So we've been around Asia for quite a long time," he said.

"Where's it going into the future? There's almost no doubt that the 21st century will be the century of Asia. There's a huge amount of economic growth, a huge amount of infrastructure, a huge amount of property. I would expect that where Asia probably takes up let's say one-third of our business now, it could easily be a half in 10 years time."

HK advantage in the Asian real estate boom

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