DAVID DUMIGAN CLAMBERS up an iron ladder on to the windswept roof of Hong Kong's latest monument and pops his head up, almost literally, into the clouds. Billowing, dark tufts drift by overhead, so close you can almost touch them. High-rise blocks stretch into the distance beneath, like miniature sticklebricks, seemingly no longer worthy of the term 'skyscraper'; Hong Kong's most famous vantage point, the Peak Tower, is at eye level and, in the distance, is the blue-grey sea of Repulse Bay to the south and the rolling hills of Kowloon to the north.
It's a breathtaking sight. Standing 413 metres above the ground everything appears small. Except, that is for Dumigan, posing proudly at the summit of Two IFC, the city's tallest building and one of the highest in the world. 'We have created a landmark for the city,' he declares. 'Hong Kong wouldn't be Hong Kong without high-rise buildings.'
Wind tousles Dumigan's hair, but nothing appears to ruffle him as he climbs the building's lightning rod to be photographed. Unflappability is a quality Dumigan has needed these past eight years. He has overseen construction of a giant monolith dwarfed only by the 442-metre Sears Tower in Chicago and the 452-metre Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
The tallest building Dumigan had previously worked on was the 38-storey One IFC, which was completed in 1998 . 'It's very satisfying to see it completed,' says the Ulsterman who has lived in Hong Kong for 21 years. Not only is it completed, but it was built in three-and-a-half years, a schedule only made possible by meticulous planning.
Originally, Two IFC was envisaged as two 200-metre structures similar to One IFC, but in 1996 a consortium led by Sun Hung Kai Properties and Henderson Land Development - Central Waterfront Project Management, which Dumigan heads - won the right to build it and suggested 'plonking one on top of the other' to create an 88-storey landmark. Dumigan admits planning authorities took some convincing, but new plans included the doubling of the amount of open space for public use to 1.4 hectares and helped swing the decision their way. 'We persuaded them because we're a landmark building and also because we have so much open space. It was a trade-off,' says Dumigan.
Prospective tenants were asked what they wanted from such a building and the answer was clear: maximise the views. World-renowned architect Cesar Pelli designed a building with a concrete core, meaning just eight columns - or 'megacolumns' - were required on the periphery, far fewer than those at other world giants such as Sears Tower or Hong Kong's Central Plaza. 'The columns are 24 metres apart, so the views are relatively unobstructed,' Dumigan says.