Founded in 1980, Ho & Partners Architects Engineers & Development Consultants Limited is one of the major multi-disciplinary architectural practices in Hong Kong. The practice’s profile covers various works located in Hong Kong, Macau, China, South-east Asia, India and Middle East countries. Ho & Partners was listed No. 47 in the “Top 200 Architectural Practices – Annual List 2004” by World Architecture Magazine.
The practice employs over 200 staff comprising 60 experienced architects and engineers. With such talent and its vast resources, Ho & Partners is highly competent to undertake design for projects of any scale and complexity from feasibility to fine details. The practice has a well established Central Design & QC Unit, a Design Research and Development Unit that serve its Architectural, Structural and E&M Engineering Departments. In addition to its own landscape design, interior design, model making and cost estimate service sections, providing comprehensive consultant services to clients from project inception to completion, the practice has set up its own internal Training and Audit Unit that is committed to the training of new and existing staff, the reviewing and upgrading of office administration, design process control and project management systems, and to monitor and improve work procedures at all levels.
The design research team specialises in collecting and analysing information assessing contemporary architectural trends locally and overseas, the latest building, environmental, engineering, and information technologies, as well as economic and social trends. It publishes internal research reports and monthly newsletters with the aim to disseminate information continuously on latest design and technological ideas to all staff. The over 20 strong Graphics and Study Model Team constitutes an integral part to the design process in providing 3-D visualizations and verifications from conceptual to detailed design with large scale study models and 3-D computer studies. The practice calls on its design directors and senior designers to pool their individual talent and experience in master planning, creative building design and construction technology and participate closely in the 3-D design process.
The practice is currently on the “Band 1” List of Architectural Consultants kept by the Architectural Services Department of the Hong Kong SAR government which entitled it to undertake projects of any size in Hong Kong. The practice’s Government and institutional clients include HK Architectural Services Department, HK Housing Authority, HK Housing Society, The Urban Redevelopment Authority, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, HK Hospital Authority, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Airport Authority, Mass Transit Railway Corporation and The Hong Kong Jockey Club etc.. Its private sector clients for residential / commercial and industrial projects include Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd., Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd., New World Development Co. Ltd., Hutchson Whampoa Ltd., Hang Lung Development Co., Henderson Group, Sino Group, Ltd., Far East Group, Lai Sun Group, China Merchants Group, China Overseas Group, Bank of China, Procter & Gamble Co. Ltd., ICI Swire, China Resources Group, Vanke (萬科), Dalin Wanda(大連萬達), China World Trade Corporation (世茂集團), Jiangsu Guoxin Real Estate (江蘇國信地產), Sichuan Cheng Hong (四川長虹), Shanghai Zhongfang (上海中房), Dahua Group (大華集團), Songdu Group(宋都集團), RK Properties Holdings Ltd. (路勁地產), Raycom Real Estate (融科智地), Lu Neng Group (魯能集團), City Land (城投置地) and Zhejiang Wildwind Group (浙江野風集團) etc.
Ho & Partners was the local consultant firm for the HK International Airport Terminal Building at Chep Lap Kok, and for the Kowloon MTR Airport Station - the largest railway station in Hong Kong. Since its beginning in 1980, the practice has designed and completed development projects in in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Middle East, South-East Asia and India amounting to over 60 million sq. meter of floor area and comprises of more than 500,000 residential units.
Ho & Partners is one of the first architectural firms outside China to undertake projects in the mainland as early as 1980. Today, the practice is well established in China and has mastered the local professional design and work practices, its regulatory framework and local construction methods. It has regularly joint venture with local design institutes on specific projects. In the mid 90’s, the company through an international competition won a full design and construction supervision contract for the largest housing project in Shenzhen, the Meilin Reservoir City project (about 800,000 sqm. GFA) which after completion was visited by former Premier Zhu Rong Ji and Premier Wen Jia Bao. This project has won a lot of awards including the Best Garden Estate by the United Nation’s planning & environmental section.
Ho & Partners has its headquarters in Hong Kong, and over the years has established branch offices in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing for more efficient and effective coordination and administration of projects. Ho & Partners fully exploits information and computer technology to eliminate distance and time barriers: through the practice’s project website and its intra-net system, it can achieve instant communication between staff and ensure smooth flow of design project information to any of its offices at any time with a high degree of control and efficiency.
