Macau's newest mega resort complex has started recruiting for its construction management team amid tough competition, and it has already been successful in hiring key executives in construction and operation management. Macao Studio City's co-chief executive Ambrose Cheung said it would be an international search for the senior construction management team as not all the skills could be found in Macau. Mr Cheung said it was expected that some staff would move from other construction projects already under way in Macau. 'People are moving from job to job to improve their careers all the time,' Mr Cheung said. 'There is a lot of movement among professionals continually moving from one employer to another.' Phase one of the US$2.2billion project is expected to be completed by the end of 2010 and, at its peak, will employ 6,000 construction staff. Piling at the Cotai Strip site is almost complete and construction of the superstructure is expected to begin in the next few months. More than 5,000 precast concrete piles have been driven 45 metres into the ground, and 72 bore piles have been sunk 90 metres to form the base of the project. More than 260,000 cubic metres of concrete and 560,000 tonnes of steel will be used for the project. Mr Cheung said a major attraction of the project would be the landscape podium gardens, which would be the largest in Macau. The 21,000 square metre space will be used for weddings and special events, together with an 83,600 square metre luxury mall called The Mall at Studio City, jointly developed with Taubman Asia, providing retail space for international big name brands. This would create further job opportunities in the high-end retail industry. 'Over the past few months we have been focusing on the labour force. Together with our general contractors, we are all making preparations,' Mr Cheung said. 'We are looking at Macau first as we want to be a good corporate citizen. Outside of Macau, we will look to Hong Kong, China and some other places.' Mr Cheung said he expected Macau's 'extremely tight' labour market to ease a little in the coming year as several large jobs drew to an end. 'There is no doubt a lot of competition for construction managers, but MGM Grand Macau and Ponte 16 have been completed, and so some staff will be released back into the [available] construction talent pool,' he said. Macao Studio City is next to the Venetian resort, and is a resort complete with theatres and television production studios. It will include retail outlets, four hotels and a casino with 400 gaming tables. Visitors will be able to watch TV programmes being made, participate in reality and game shows produced on site and rub shoulders with celebrities at red carpet events such as movie premieres. Senior executives have already been recruited for the Ritz-Carlton, which will have 256 rooms, and the 965-room Marriott Hotel, both located at Macao Studio City. The development will also include the WMacao Studio City with 561 rooms and the 118-room Tang Hotel. Recruitment for thousands of hotel staff has already begun. With many job opportunities in Macau's gaming industry, Mr Cheung said the opening of Macao Studio City would provide young people with an alternative career path in performance and entertainment. 'This ease of employment can take away the motivation for young people to improve themselves and seek training in areas they have a real talent for,' Mr Cheung said. 'We are working to implement policies that will involve continued professional development of our staff.' The policies will involve offering staff the opportunity to rotate into different areas of operation to gain broader experience and training. This will involve retailers being trained in hotel operations and hospitality staff moving into sales and marketing. 'This is not an easy concept to put together, but we believe it will be a major attraction and offer people a real career plan,' Mr Cheung said. 'We do not want to compromise the talent pool due to the mega economic boom.' Despite stiff competition on the Cotai Strip, Mr Cheung said that he was increasingly comfortable about the success of the Macao Studio City development. 'This is going to be a different product we are putting into the Cotai,' he said. 'It is not like any of the others.'