To nurture talent for the construction industry, Sanfield Construction (Sanfield), SHKP's construction arm, organized a Summer Internship Programme to provide college students studying construction engineering-related subjects with extensive hands-on experience and opportunities to learn about the latest technology applied in construction. This year, 82 university students took part in the internship programme. After working with the experienced colleagues, most of them are interested in working at Sanfield to build a career after graduation.

Nurturing over 220 interns during the pandemic

Owing to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is difficult for young people to find a job. To help young people equip themselves with skills and experience before entering the workforce, since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, Sanfield has increased the quota for the internship programme and has trained 227 interns in total. This year, the programme received an overwhelming response, with more than 180 applications. The recruited undergraduates are studying at various colleges, such as The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and The University of Hong Kong, and majoring in civil engineering, structural engineering, building construction, building services engineering, quantity surveying, electrical engineering, fire engineering, drainage and air-conditioner engineering, and other related fields.

Integrating innovation and technology elements

Under the instruction of their seasoned colleagues, the interns took part in different construction processes and acquired hands-on experience in the workplace. In addition, to offer the interns opportunities to get experience with the latest construction-related technology, Sanfield arranged a one-week Building Information Modelling (BIM) course to help them learn how to apply BIM in daily operations. For instance, they uploaded data recorded by a drone to the BIM and used the installation to see how the BIM is visualized in the virtual reality.

At the graduation ceremony of the Sanfield Summer Internship Programme, SHKP Executive Director Adam Kwok said, "With more innovative technologies being applied in the construction industry, we hope that the interns can learn both basic construction knowledge and more about the latest technology. This will help enhance their competitiveness to complement innovation and technology development in Hong Kong."