コ
AAA A
JA U A TE
N THE absence of any effective solu- tion to Hong Kong's swelling pedes- trian traffic, it is heartening to find private enterprise making an imag- inative move to answer the problem.
Two-level circulation, a feature of the long-term development plan for eastern central district, has been brought to the central area in the form of a pedestrian footbridge to link the Mandarin Hotel and the nearly completed Prince's Building - both owned by the Hong Kong Land Investment and Agency Co. Ltd.
The link, at first floor level, is being built over Chater Road, one of central Hong Kong's busiest
PRINCE'S
BUILDING
ICE
STATUE
HOUSE
CHATER
ROAD
SQUARE
PLAN OF BRIDGE
ST.
MANDARIN HOTEL
thoroughfares. It will be 76 ft. long. 13 ft. 6 in. high and 13 ft. wide.
Its main value will be in providing easy, sheltered access between the two-floor shopping arcades in both buildings. Tourists will thus be able to sleep, eat and shop in Hong Kong without actually breathing its un- diluted air.
The bridge the first of its kind in Hong Kong and one of the very few in the Far East was tentatively planned some years ago when the Mandarin was being built. It will be finished in a month or so, in time for the opening of Prince's Building. Both building and bridge are designed by Palmer and Turner.
Erection
The basic problem of such a bridge crossing a main road was in its erection. The difference in levels between the two buildings led to the bridge being hung from two substan- tial girders.
These top girders were designed in steel with concrete casings, as was the lower deck of the bridge, which is suspended by means of high tensile steel rods inside square rolled hollow steel mullions. The complet- ed bridge will be mainly clad in marble with stainless steel windows. The final cost is expected to be about HK$400,000.
The two 76 ft. long compound steel girders weighing 15 tons each, were shipped from Britain and landed on the waterfront at Gloucester Road. This posed a transport problem, but with the co-operation of Police and the Roads Office, the girders were moved without hitch into
Chater Road on the night of January 1. A mobile crane with a 21-ton capacity then set about lifting and positioning the two girders -
watch-
ed at a distance by a doubting crowd. The job was completed during the next morning.
enabled
Excellent co-ordination the remainder of the bridge struc- ture, steel work, high tensile steel hangers and mullions, and a protec- tive screen of steel scaffolding be finished late at night on January 3. The whole basic erection took less than 48 hours.
to
The concreting of the deck and roof of the bridge and the many other kindred operations, is now well under way.
Consultants and Contractors
Architects: Palmer and Turner Engineer in Charge: N. T. Philcox
AMIČE, MIStructE.
Structural Consultants: W. V. Zinn & Associates (London).
Main Contractor: Sung Foo Kee Steel Work: Supplied by Dorman Long and erected by Gammon (H.K.) Ltd.
Scaffolding: Supplied and erected by Acrow Engineers (Asia) Ltd.
SECTION A-A
B
SECTION B-B
ELEVATION OF BRIDGE
Far East Architect & Builder February, 1965
Mobile crane positions girders between the buildings
53