Knowledge-building for successful partnering

Partnering in Hong Kong construction projects has been boosted by the recommendations of the Tang Report, as well as by the reportedly positive experiences of a few quasigovernmental and private clients. However, these experiences need to be carefully analysed, compared, consolidated and codified in a ‘body of knowledge’ that can help clients, consultants and contractors who are considering (or have recently commenced) partnering. This body of knowledge is expected to have both ‘generalisable’ and ‘Hong Kong specific’ segments. This paper reports on a case-study of a partnered housing project, against a background of salient features elicited from a cluster of recently reported partnered projects. The underlying objective is to contribute to both the structure and contents of a planned knowledge-base of partnered projects. This knowledge-base is being formulated to help potential partners to identify and overcome common barriers, maximise potential strengths and minimise possible weaknesses in project partnering arrangements.