How one female engineer grew with the S’pore builder behind Gardens by the Bay and Jewel

Read more about Singapore’s Best Employers 2026 here.

Not long after joining construction firm Woh Hup in 2003, Ms Cong Zhengxia, then a design engineer, was ready to quit. 

Fresh from an international consultancy, she found the firm’s work culture “very local”, even outdated, and different from what she was used to. 

“I really wanted to resign,” she says. 

But instead, she raised her concerns with her bosses, and what followed would shape the course of her career.

“I told management I wanted bigger, more challenging projects and they gave me the opportunity,” she says.

Ms Cong’s timing was fortuitous. At the time, Woh Hup was beginning to take on more complex developments, and there was a growing need for engineers who could step up. 

She was put in charge of an upcoming extension for Jurong Point mall, a project that would involve complicated excavation works as the building is situated next to an MRT station.

That project, which lasted 36 months, was the turning point. Soon after, she became involved in increasingly complex developments such as private condominiums, Reflections at Keppel Bay and the Zaha Hadid-designed D’Leedon. 

Looking back, Ms Cong, now 57 and senior director of engineering (building), credits that early opportunity as a key reason she stayed with the company.

“They gave me the chance to challenge myself and grow,” she says. 

Ms Cong’s experience is an example of how Woh Hup encourages its staff to continuously experiment, learn and adapt. 

While working on projects, Ms Cong works closely with the drafting team, learning and troubleshooting problems.

And as projects became more sophisticated, so too did the expectations placed on its people and the support given to meet them.

One defining moment in Ms Cong’s career came during the development of Gardens by the Bay in 2009. Construction of the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest had stalled after the subcontractor responsible for the curved roof structure could not deliver a workable design. 

After nine months with little progress, her team proposed taking over the work themselves – a high-risk decision that would see them assume full responsibility for redesigning and executing one of the project’s most difficult components.

Woh Hup chairman Kim Yong deliberated over the decision. “He told us he could not sleep at night thinking about it,” Ms Cong recalls.

But in the end, he gave them the green light.

“When the company trusts you, you feel you must deliver. Whatever the problem, we believed we could solve it,” says Ms Cong.

The team reworked the design and successfully got the project back on track. More than a decade later, the domes stand as one of Singapore’s most recognisable landmarks.

For Ms Cong, that experience reinforced a key lesson that now continues to shape her leadership style: When people are trusted and supported, they rise to the challenge.

She admits it was not always like this. As a rookie leader, determined to prove herself, she would often push the junior engineers hard, expecting results, and by her own admission, sometimes she went too far.

“I put a lot of pressure on people, I just wanted the job done,” she says candidly. But as she moved into larger roles, senior leaders gave her feedback about her management style. 

“I realised I had to change, not everything is black and white, and people need room to make mistakes.”

Over time, she has learnt to listen more, collaborate and focus on building teams rather than simply driving them. 

As she matured in her role, Ms Cong also witnessed how the family-run company grew – from a modest construction outfit into a leading construction and civil engineering specialist. 

Likewise, Woh Hup’s culture has evolved, too, with greater emphasis on collaboration, communication and long-term development of its people.

“When I first joined the company, it was all about getting the job done,” says Ms Cong. “Now, there’s more balance.” 

Woh Hup’s emphasis on its people can be seen in initiatives such as policies to shorten the work week. The policy has been in place since Jan 2026, and prior to that, the company has also rolled out alternate Saturdays off for site-based staff and work from home for corporate functions since June 2022. 

Wellness initiatives such as fitness programmes and team-bonding activities have also become a fixture at Woh Hup. 

This has been especially beneficial for newer employees like Mr Lok Shen Jun, 33, a senior site engineer who joined Woh Hup in 2024. 

“When we have problems, we can seek other people’s help. Managers will give us advice and are generous with sharing their knowledge,” he says.

Despite being new, Mr Lok was entrusted with overseeing major portions of a residential project from its early stages. His responsibilities included supervising the on-site 3D concrete printing of structure components, the first application of its kind in Singapore – developed through a collaboration between Woh Hup and the National University of Singapore.

Mr Lok has also broadened his exposure to architectural works beyond his initial job scope while expanding his skill sets through structured development, including attending courses in project management and risk assessment.

“My manager has given me a direction for my career path and this has made me really excited to gain more knowledge to reach that goal faster,” says Mr Lok.

This combination of trust, professional growth opportunities and exposure to high-profile civil engineering projects is why Woh Hup is named one of Singapore’s Best Employers in 2026 in a list compiled by global research firm Statista in collaboration with The Straits Times.

As the company looks ahead to its 100th anniversary in 2027, Woh Hup’s next major milestone is the construction of Las Vegas Sands’ new ultra-luxury development (IR2) in Marina Bay.

For Ms Cong, being awarded this mega project represents how far the firm has come.

“I am most proud of our work on Jewel Changi Airport because it was such an international project and we achieved in meeting its very high requirements,” she says. 

“But being awarded IR2 is another level. I’m very glad I decided to stay all those years ago.”

Source : https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/jobs/woh-hup-how-engineer-grew-with-builder-behind-gardens-by-the-bay-jewel-singapore-best-employers-2026