TH WHILIHLE
ו.
View of the B station from the north
hall. Unsightly steel fire escape stairs at the end gables have been enclosed by a reinforced concrete frame filled with precast asbestos cement air blocks.
All roofs consist of precast hollow reinforced concrete units, topped with natural rock asphalt, 34 in. thick, laid in two coats and on top of roofing felt. Internal wall finishes are all fair faced brickwork, painted, with excep- tion of the walls to the administration block and the control room in the tur- bine hall. This finish was used to prevent the unsightly plaster damage
Central control room
which is liable to occur in industrial buildings of this type.
The basement floor of the turbine hall is finished with "Master plate" to withstand the heavy usage which occurs at this level, while the working floor of the turbine hall and all floors and staircase of the administration block are finished in mosaic tile.
Ceilings in turbine hall and ad- ministration block are suspended metal trays on steel hangers, with glass fibre insulation pads.
The new B power station is design-
ed for an ultimate installed capacity of 240 megawatts, comprising four 60 megawatt turbo-alternator sets and four equivalent size oil burning boil- ers, operating on the unit principle whereby a boiler, a turbo-alternator set and their principal auxiliaries are combined as a single operating unit. The initial stage, now in service, con- sists of two units with a combined
generating capacity of 120 megawatts.
Double Capacity
Work has already started on the second stage comprising two similar generating units which will double the existing capacity to a total of 240 megawatts by 1966.
The longer axis of the turbine house building runs from east to west and the boiler area is arranged along the south side of the main building fronting the sea. The turbo-alterna- tor sets are arranged transversely within the building, the north frontage of which is occupied by the trans- former annexe. The 66-kilovolt switchhouse is a separate building situated to the north of the turbine house and it is from here that the power generated is transmitted to the distribution network covering practic- ally the whole of Singapore Island.
Before construction of the founda- tions could commence, a section of hill, up to 100 ft. high, had to be re- moved. This operation involved the excavation of almost half a million cubic yards of hard clays, shales and sandstone rock, the bulk of which was removed from the site.
This operation, including the cut- ting and protection of the east bound- ary slope, occupied a period of six months. Further excavation to a maximum depth of 40 ft. below gen-
66
Far East Architect & Builder February, 1966