European engineers based in Hong Kong are warning that now is the time for government departments, academics, business leaders and professionals to take swift action as the British standards will be phased out in 2010. Their views were driven home at the 'Hong Kong: New Millennium, New Standards' seminar at the Polytechnic University this week, attended by local engineers and construction company representatives.

Under the new European Norms, or standards, common guidelines have been hammered out between industry experts in Europe since the late 1980s. Details have been drawn up - or are being further developed - for the testing and use of steel, concrete and other infrastructure materials. The engineers not only argue that structural components, design and methods must meet a unified standard of safety and quality, but that the Eurocodes will also encourage innovation.

A Hong Kong government taskforce has already been set up to evaluate the impending Eurocodes, but there is concern among locally based European engineers that officials may be lagging their colleagues in the private sector.

'The major implications would be to open the door to many more design codes rather than just the British standard. In fact, that one code is a consensus active in between 10 to 15 countries and will become obsolete,' said Arnaud de Surville, an engineer who is president of the infrastructure committee of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Hong Kong.

He said the response from front-end companies working on infrastructure projects that had to keep abreast with the latest construction products and materials had been positive. 'It's just the government has been really slow ... it has created a taskforce to look at these implications and I am happy to see this. But I hope that academics here will also get more involved.

'Engineers have spent time and energy training their own staff in the codes. It's still very new for the government - in 2010 the BSI [British Standards Institution] codes will be phased out and replaced, except for those areas covered by the national annexes of the Eurocodes,' he said.

The national annexe to the Eurocodes allows engineers in individual EU states to adapt the norms to local requirements. For example, in the design of structures to endure snow loads in northern Europe, or combating the effect of hot weather on building materials in southern countries. The seminar heard that this provision of an annexe could be used by engineers in Hong Kong tackling such problems as slope maintenance to prevent landslips or drilling down through rock to ensure structures are stable.

Roger Frank, a professor in geotechnical engineering and a leading expert on Eurocodes, told the seminar innovation was encouraged within the new standards, while safety and economy were ensured.

Mr de Surville said some national standards, notably British, German and French, did not cover specific products while codes in other countries did. He said one example was the latest developments in the use of fibreglass to reinforce concrete - a method being used on MTR projects. Italy happens to lead the way in fibreglass standards while Britain lacks such codes.

C. M. Wong, spokesman for the buildings division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, said the codes were in an 'investigation phase' with the Construction Industry Council assessing the wide-ranging implications. He said certain codes had already been overhauled locally, while there were questions as to whether a 'blanket coverage' of Eurocode adoption was required.