The HKUST Planning Committee was formed in 1986. One of the body’s major tasks was to oversee the building of a campus for the new university. In January 1987, the Planning Committee selected Tai Po Tsai in Clear Water Bay as the site for the campus.

Following dissolution of the Planning Committee and the establishment of the University Council in April 1988, the work of the Planning Committee’s Campus Project Sub-Committee, responsible for all matters related to construction, was taken up by the Council’s Campus Project Management Committee.

Site preparation work started in 1988 and was completed in early 1990. In 1989, the final design for Phase I construction work was completed, contractors selected, and construction got underway. This phase was completed in 1991. In 1990, Phase II began, with construction finished in early 1993.

After the project team overseeing campus construction was disbanded in late 1993, its functions were assumed by the University’s Estates Management Office.