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Start made on 52-storey office tower
The site was handed over by Government, con- tracts for piling and substructure were signed and construction plant was moved on to the site all in one day last month to herald the commencement of work on Hong Kong's 'golden site' - the 53,000 sq.ft. area to the west of Star Ferry terminal which Hongkong Land Investment & Agency Co. Ltd. bought in June for HK$258 million.
Substructure work for the 52-storey office tower will be carried out by Gammon (HK) Ltd. at a cost of HK$18.5 million. The final cost of the building is expected to be about HK$120 million. Tenders for the superstructure work will be called in the middle of next year.
Designed by Palmer and Turner, the 600 ft. high building will contain some 730,000 sq.ft. of commercial space. It will soar 300ft, above Hong- kong Land's other waterfront properties, the Man- darin Hotel and Union House, but will not marked- ly affect their views of the harbour because of its slender tower design.
Offices within the building will be a maximum of 35 ft. deep and there will be no columns. The building will be a reinforced concrete box, a fea- ture of the structural walls being a circular window treatment with mirrored glass which provides a vivid contrast to angular treatment of windows in nearby buildings.
The building will occupy only 20,000 sq. ft. of the site, the remainder being opened to the public as a landscaped plaza. A complex system of elevat- ed pedestrian walkways is planned by Government to link the new building with the first floor of Union House and the mezzanine floors of Alexan- dra House and Gloucester Building. The existing canopies which surround Alexandra House and Union House were designed to be capable of carry- ing pedestrian traffic.
The elevated covered walkways will be con- structed as an integral part of the new building and the first phase linking the new building with Union House will be completed within three years. The remaining links will be built in phases during the next three to five years.
Links will be provided to a high-level pro- menade to be constructed by Government between Star Ferry and the vehicular ferry terminals, and other walkways will link the present general post office site with the new GPO building to be erected near Blake Pier.
The new tower block will be completed in two stages. The first 17 floors will be occupied during the last quarter of 1972, with the remainder ready about a year later. The lettable area of each floor will range from 13,500 to 15,500 sq.ft., divisible
Model showing new tower block and pedestrian walkways to other Central buildings
Far East BUILDER, December 1970
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