Career Profiles: David Chin Shan Lee

What steered my career in the right direction was a field trip to Japan to study seismic engineering, the result of a Palmer and Turner Travelling Scholarship I won at school back in 1981.

My first job was with Palmer and Turner Architects and Engineers in Hong Kong and coincidentally my first task was the seismic analysis of high-rise residential towers in Guangzhou in the People's Republic of China (PRC). This also founded my interest in seismic design.

Then in 1982 I was seconded to Palmer and Turner's Singapore office for an urgent commercial project in Jakarta, Indonesia. A year later I was posted to the firm's structural engineering branch office in Macau and was subsequently given the responsibility to run the branch office, consisting of some five engineering staff, continuously for two years. This gave me the opportunity to work independently and exercise engineering judgement for small to medium size building projects from inception till implementation.

After I passed the Part III examination in 1985, I decided to make a career move. Maunsell Consultants Asia (a consulting civil and structural engineering company) became my second employer. My first assignment in Maunsell was the 200m tall Jingguang Centre in Beijing, PRC - then the tallest building in Beijing. Thereafter I worked on a variety of mainly building projects such as offices, hotels and residential apartments and industrial assignments.

I was promoted to Senior Engineer in 1989, Principal Engineer in 1990 and Associate in 1991. During that period, the property market and the local economy boomed as the PRC opened up. A number of PRC projects was undertaken by me including office, hotel and residential development in Hainan Island, Wuhan, Dalian, and Guangzhou. Of particular interest to me was a 325m tall reinforced concrete office building - the CITIC Plaza - in Tianhe, Guangzhou, PRC. This unique building was a challenge in itself - the structural design of which was influenced by both seismic and wind effects.

After serving some 12 years after graduation, I was made a Director of the firm. The building projects I was then involved in also seemed to be reaching new heights. The major highlight of that time was The Center - a 300m tall steel office building in Central District, Hong Kong. Other duties included management of design and construction for various building projects in Hong Kong.

More recent projects involve several high-rise residential buildings, some 200m tall located at various sites in Hong Kong. To ensure occupants' comfort, advanced technology such as water dampers were introduced in these buildings - another new experience in my career development. In addition, I also broadened my experience in engineering studies and became involved in tunnel works for railway related projects in Hong Kong.

Over the years, I have been involved in building over 800,000 square metres of gross floor area comprising public, commercial and residential developments. My current portfolio for buildings under construction cover another 800,000 square metres in gross floor area of residential development. My recent milestones for projects in my portfolio are:

• above ground level the tallest skyscraper towering over 300 metres
• below ground level the deepest basement measuring 20 metres

I have been fortunate to have set my path on a very interesting career where every day brings something new. What enjoy the most is the ever changing working environment, responsibility of meeting new challenges and needs, the continuous taking on of new assignments and setting ever higher standards for myself as an individual and for my firm, as a part of the economy.

David Chin Shan Lee
FIStructE MHKIE MICE MIEAust