The Lighthouse Club (LHC) aims to promote good fellowship amongst its members who work in or are associated with the construction industry and to provide charitable assistance to those in need within the construction industry and to their dependents in qualifying cases. It is a great platform to promote good fellowship among members and construction professionals. Since its formation of a Branch in Hong Kong in 1986, LHC has developed a strong connection with The University of Hong Kong and its students. A lot of the undergraduate students, masters, and PhD students are already benefiting a lot from being members in LHC. Here, some student members in the Department of Real Estate and Construction expressed their gratitude for being LHC members.
A previous LHC member in the Department of Real Estate spoke highly of the LHC activities:“ There are many LHC activities that are open to students at HKU. As an RPG student, over the years I was a regular attendee at their monthly social gatherings, both for general members and for young members. I also attended a number of technical seminars and helped organise a various career talks for the LHC Women-in-Construction chapter. These events are very accessible and provide a fantastic opportunity to meet professionals in the industry and to keep up to date with the latest news from the construction industry. I found the LHC community to be friendly, professional, inclusive, and welcoming and I have made a lot of friends from attending club activities.”
One of the current PhD students fully supported and called for more involvement in LHC activities: “I find the LHC as a platform to meet industry professionals and colleagues in the construction industry. It organizes several events, gatherings even conferences (i.e. LHC safety conference) to enhance and share knowledge among practitioners and students. As students, participating in LHC activities would be beneficial for our research, especially for data collection. Finally, what I have to say is, being a member of LHC is a great opportunity for students like me (non-local) to get to know the HK construction industry.”
One current PhD member in LHC expressed his concern and share his experience in attending LHC events: “ As research postgraduates (RPGs), our interests in the construction industry are wide and varying. They range from arbitration through safety, to regulations, digitisation and economics of the industry. Indeed, perpetuation of the research-practice relationship borders on constant interactions between the two interrelated sides in construction. This is where an organisation like the Lighthouse Club Hong Kong (LCHK) provides the perfect nexus for worthwhile interactions between us (RPGs) and industry practitioners.
The wide array of events organised by the LCHK afford us a rich ground of opportunities bordering on: exposure to the prevailing issues in global and local construction, development of research agenda, and identifying potential employers after studies. The annual safety conferences for instance, bring us into contact with industry professionals who are potential implementers of research recommendations, and at the same time, sources of rich insight into cutting-edge safety-related innovations. The monthly gatherings also provide good grounds for us to establish and build formal and informal relationships that go long ways to benefit mutual interests of our research and construction practise. As we engage with young professionals at the networking events, we are able to get a ‘feel’ of their experiences in the industry, which sometimes feed into our future career decisions.
In the future, as RPGs, we hope to strengthen existing ties with the LCHK, and collaborate in organising joint events that will help push frontiers in academia and practise. Specifically, joint university-based conferences and symposia, as well as tailored site visits on emerging topics of interest will be beneficial.”
Here are some photos indicating some of the LHC activities.
Lighthouse Club Conference 13 March 2018
Lighthouse Club Annual Dinner
12 April 2016 Technical site visit to PMQ by Herzog & de Meuron
LHC Annual Dinner 30 Oct 2015
15th Nov 2014 Field trip to tunnelling project by Liebherr
In summary, as members in LHC, we are entitled to participate in a plethora of meaningful events organized by it, such as conferences, seminars, socialnetworking events, dinners, etc. It provides us with a platform to meet professionals in the construction industry. Though communication and sharing with each other, we, as students, could actually learn a lot from the industry experience. For undergraduate and master students, joining in LHC is beneficial to connect to the industry which could help secure future job opportunities.For research students and PhD, by attending a range of LHC activities, they could form connection with the construction industry and share knowledge between practice and theories.
Here we look forward to more students to take part in LHC activities and events, including undergraduate students, MSC, or research students. We also hope for more strong interaction between students and industry. Such collaboration between academic and practice would push us forward to build bright future in the construction practice!