A firm of Australian engineers has won its first big project in China, which is providing plenty of challenges and opportunities.
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Entrepreneurs: Simon Wild, Tim Elgood, Caimin McCabe, David Clark, Robert Lord
Company: Cundall Australia
Business type: Environmental engineering design
Founded: In Australia, 2003; Parent Company founded in Britain, 1976
Employees: 25 (Australia)
Turnover: (2004 - 2005) $1.3M
Head office: St Leonards, New South Wales; branch offices in Melbourne (Victoria) & Brisbane (Queensland)
Contact details: +61 2 8424 7000
The Cundall Australia Story
“Environmental sustainability” and “China” are not usually mentioned together in the same sentence. But some Chinese property developers want to change this - and are seeking Australian expertise to do so. Cundall Australia is helping.
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Key learning points:
- China projects - Work with trusted partners - and check the credentials of the client in advance.
- Chinese culture - To avoid frustration, be prepared to spend plenty of time talking, educating and engaging with the client and local Chinese experts.
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Cundall Australia was founded in 2003 to provide environmentally sustainable design and advice to the building and property industry. Its work includes designing heating, cooling, lighting, water and energy systems. The company has grown from two staff in 2003 to twenty-five in 2006.
In July 2005, following a referral by the overseas export development body Austrade, Cundall was asked to join the Melbourne-based architects Williams Boag to meet a developer in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. This lead to a design commission for an integrated, environmentally responsible 75,000-square-metre office development.
The experience has been positive, but challenging. In addition to managing the language, cultural, geographic and bureaucratic barriers, Cundall and Williams Boag have had to sell the long-term benefits of environmentally sustainable development to the profit-conscious developer.
The Challenge
Cundall’s Melbourne-based director, Caimin McCabe, says that the main task has been to get Chinese developers to approach building design differently. “In China, buildings are constructed in about one-third the time it takes in Australia. The look of the building is more important than the quality. So after about ten to fifteen years, their buildings can look thirty or forty years old.”
Educating the client has been a key challenge. The Chinese developer wanted to differentiate itself from other developers by demonstrating its pro-environmental credentials. But environmental sustainability is a new, poorly understood process in China.
And Cundall has had to learn about China too, including its unique design rules and building regulations. McCabe says, “Hangzhou has some unique planning issues. For example, 35% of the building site has to be landscaped and a building of this size must also include an air-raid shelter. Also it is difficult to price jobs as we have limited experience on how much things cost.”
The Solution
McCabe says the first challenge has been to stay positive. “Approaching China with a positive attitude has really helped. You hear lots of negative stories about working in China but our experience has been enjoyable.”
Second, allow plenty of time for discussion and education. Cundall and Williams Boag work collaboratively, integrating the engineering and architecture, which McCabe says is unusual in China. “It took a lot of discussion before the Chinese developer would agree to the building being angled 11 degrees to minimise and simplify the required external solar shading.”
Challenging fixed attitudes has been a challenge. McCabe says: “There have been times when we thought something was understood and realised at the next meeting that it needed to be explained again.”
Checking the credentials of the client is also important. Cundall was introduced to the Chinese developer by an Austrade representative for Hangzhou who was impressed with the environmental design work done by Williams Boag. But would the client pay the bills? Cundall talked with other foreign architects who had worked with the prospective client. The feedback was positive, with the proviso that payments could be slow by Australian standards.
Cundall broke up the project into discrete stages and required a 50% payment in advance of each stage; 50% on completion of the stage; and the next 50% for the following stage. There has been no substantial problem to date with payment.
To source building components, Cundall has worked with either the local Hangzhou design institute or experienced Australian suppliers such as the air-conditioning specialist Dadanco. The arrangement has worked well.
The Result
China has provided an opportunity for Cundall Australia to work on one of its largest, most complex projects. The experience has been so positive that some staff are interested in moving to China to access other opportunities. Cundall’s staff have enjoyed the experience of working with the Chinese and derive great satisfaction from sharing environmentally sustainable design ideas.
Cundall has been in the right place at the right time. The Hangzhou planning authority is demanding that new buildings meet energy targets. The Cundall and Williams Boag team expect to source more work in the region, helping Chinese developers meet these obligations and improving the environmental credibility of their buildings.