Vincent Tse spent the first 20 years of his career as a mechanical engineer, developing the air conditioning systems for some of the world’s tallest buildings. Then at the age of 56 he switched to vertical transportation. At the top of his career, admired by architects, clients and colleagues alike, he remains grounded, modest and full of humility.
 

Could you describe your career path?

I came to England from Hong Kong to study in mechanical engineering at Manchester Polytechnic. Graduating in 1977, I took a master’s degree in building services engineering at University of Manchester before returning to Hong Kong in 1978.

It was great timing as this was the start of a building boom, and from the beginning I was involved as an air conditioning engineer on large projects, gaining lots experience in tall building design. As my career progressed, I wanted to do something new and at the age of 56, I decided to learn about vertical transportation. This was the start of the second half of my career. 

I worked with the same firm for 40 years, first for Parsons Brinkerhoff and then, since 2014, for WSP when the two companies merged. This merger opened up a world of new possibility as, thanks to WSP’s global coverage, I was able to apply the experience gained on China’s very tall buildings to skyscraper projects all over the world – in USA, UK, Canada, Korea, Malaysia and the Middle-East.

What have been the highlights of your career?

I have been fortunate to work on some of the world’s largest and tallest buildings – I’ve rarely touched anything smaller than 2million sq ft, and I’ve found it extremely rewarding professionally. A few years ago, at a reception in New York, the CEO of KPF, one of the world’s leading buildings architects, introduced me as one of the world’s most famous elevator designers, alongside Jim Fortune (of Fortune Shepler Saling). This was a very proud moment, being celebrated alongside the world’s greatest VT expert for super-tall towers, considering I had been doing VT design for less than half my career at the time.

However, I always remind myself of the danger of self-pride. I remember that it’s not because I’m so brilliant at my job that I’ve been involved in great buildings, but because of opportunity. 

Remember that with pride often comes a fall. Your proudest moment can be the beginning of adversity because that’s when you start to make mistakes – you underestimate other people and you make adversaries among your colleagues. So I try to stay grounded and treat every project as my ‘best’.
 

What does you think is the secret to successful client relationships?

I have worked with leading architects and clients all over the world, and I go back to what I was just saying about pride. A tall building in America is very different from one in London or China. Every country has its own laws, regulations, culture and requirements and you have to respect all these differences. The secret is to be humble and always understand the needs of the client. 

Could you give us an example of where pride came before a fall? And what did you learn from it?

About 30 years ago, I was very pleased with myself. I’d been promoted, my salary doubled, and I was working on very big office buildings. Then my local church needed rebuilding. So I offered to do the air conditioning for them. I was very happy to use my talent for my church. Then came the worst moment of my life. Just two days before the church grand opening I found that our designs were wrong. We hadn’t taken the floodlights into consideration and the air conditioning capacity was only 65% of what was required for this small chapel, and the temperature was warm! Somehow – perhaps with help from above – we fixed the problem with only hours to spare, and when the church opened, no-one was the wiser. I was very upset to have made such a mistake; but after all that last minute effort I was also surprised not to receive any thanks or appreciation from any people for the air conditioning system, not even from the Pastor.

It took me a long time to get over this incident, and it made me reflect that we shouldn’t expect to be praised for our work. It should be enough that we are doing our best work, have the humility to own up to our mistakes, and put the needs of our colleagues and the client before our own.

You have been through many ups and downs in our industry, including global financial recessions and the Covid pandemic. As engineers, how can we best survive difficult times?

We learn through experience that we can’t change the world, or the market, our competitors or our clients. During my career I have enjoyed working with my colleagues, learning new technologies, working together to create the best, most efficient designs. But eventually, no matter how good you are, one day someone will be better than you, someone more adept, for example, at working with Artificial Intelligence and all the new technologies that will arrive to change the way we work. In these recent years I have found myself spending more and more time helping people overcome adversity. Even when times are hard, we must work together to confront the challenges, making the changes that are needed and supporting our colleagues. We must stay positive, open-minded and have the courage to push through the difficulties and learn from the experience. Don’t be afraid of adversity. See it through, and after the storm you will see the benefits. 
 

Finally, your hopes for the future?

The greatest fun is that we don’t know what the future will bring. I have been so fortunate throughout my career, and my greatest wish now is to support, advise and encourage the people I work with. 

So, as we look forward to the future, I urge my colleagues to be grateful for their talent and the opportunities that come along. Never stop learning and always focus on delivering on every project, whether large or small, to the very best of your own ability. And never, never allow yourself to be overtaken by your own ego.