{"id":12851,"date":"2021-11-22T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T01:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsletter.bluebeecloud.com\/en\/?p=12851"},"modified":"2021-11-22T10:07:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T02:07:18","slug":"advice-on-working-with-chinese-builders-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsletter.bluebeecloud.com\/en\/reliability\/advice-on-working-with-chinese-builders-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Advice on working with Chinese builders abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"
This article, authored by Siveco China Managing Director Bruno Lhopiteau, was previously published in Aquatech<\/a>.<\/em><\/div>\n

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New Silk Road dominance<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Chinese builders have come to dominate the global infrastructure market along the \u201cBelt and Road\u201d, the loosely defined \u201cNew Silk Road\u201d of infrastructure-driven development across nearly 70 countries.<\/div>\n

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They draw on the unparalleled experience acquired in their home market over the last two decades. This is a period I have been privileged to witness: my firm has been involved in Chinese construction projects in China and all over the world, learning practical lessons for foreign stakeholders.<\/div>\n

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Despite the phenomenal progress, there remains a continued perception, especially in western media, of the poor quality associated with Chinese construction. This continues, despite a 2016 study from the World Bank dispelling this misperception, showing no statistically significant difference between the quality of work of Chinese and Western firms.<\/div>\n

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What they found, however, was higher volatility from one project to another. This is also my experience. Why is that?<\/div>\n

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To fulfil the country’s huge infrastructure needs, China developed its own construction management model. In a nutshell, with the preliminary design done, the Chinese go faster into construction, not hesitating to go back to the drawing board and even allowing design changes on site.<\/div>\n

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This approach has proven successful in hundreds of mega projects; large global engineering firms have studied and learnt from it, as it often results in cost efficiency and speed. Yet, it has drawbacks.<\/div>\n

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Problems encountered during the O&M phase<\/strong><\/div>\n

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China has built its ecosystem of companies and institutions, large and small, all over the country and promoted large-scale standardisation. Hence the tendency of Chinese firms to bring over all their suppliers and even sometimes workers.<\/div>\n

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In many projects, it is, however, not possible nor desirable. This leads to many of the problems observed during the O&M phase, including the following six:<\/div>\n

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