Prepared by the Building Trades Industrial Committee, one of ten associated industrial com- mittees of the Industrial Training Advisory Com- mittee, the report is based on a manpower survey conducted from August 12 to 14, 1968.
It contains major proposals to meet the training requirements of workers at both technician and craftsman levels in the building and civil engineer- ing industry.
Because of the large number of casual workers in the building trades and because nearly all work is carried out on a sub-contract basis by temporary workers, the committee considers that organized apprenticeship training especially at the craft level, would be difficult to organize. It believes that some incentive should be provided to induce the main contractors and sub-contractors to undertake systematic training for their personnel and has recommended to government the establishment of a 'Construction Industry Contributory Training Scheme' along the lines of the levy/grant scheme under the United Kingdom Industrial Training Act, 1964.
The Building Trades Industrial Committee worked out, in early 1970, the basic principles of its proposals for a training scheme and these are now being considered by government.
The Senior Training Officer (Apprenticeship) of the Labour Department has assisted and encourag- ed employers to set up organized technician ap- prenticeship schemes in their establishments. As a result, an organized apprenticeship scheme for building technicians has been established in various construction firms and a part-time day-release course for these apprentices is being successfully run at the Morrison Hill Technical Institute.
The Building Trades Industrial Committee has now completed the work of preparing minimum standards and specifications for the twenty-six principal jobs at technician and craft levels in the building and civil engineering industry. These will be later published in the form of a reference manual for use by training centres, voluntary agen- cies and technical institutions in the preparation of training programmes for workers in the industry.
21-storey building on reclamation area
A 21-storey building is to be constructed on the Wanchai reclamation area, near Fenwick Street, Hong Kong to house the new telecommunications centre and associated offices of Cable & Wireless Ltd.
The whole of the 35,000 sq. ft. site will be covered by the first three floors of the building, and these will be surmounted by a tower block of 22,000 sq. ft. rising to a height of 350 ft.
The building has been designed by Mr. David Ho of Gammon (HK) Ltd. to accept large and heavy telecommunications equipment, the first 14
floors withstanding loads of 200 lb./sq. ft. and the higher floors 60 lb./sq. ft. Ceiling heights are also much greater than normal with 16ft. 6in. between floors up to the 6th floor and 13ft. 6in. between
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CABLE AND WIRELESS
Model of new building for Cable & Wireless
the higher floors. All floors will have 'computer flooring' and false ceilings.
Piling for the foundations began last October and completion of the initial stage to 15 storeys is expected in the middle of 1972. The electrical load is expected to rise to 6 million watts which will make Cable and Wireless the biggest single con- sumer of electricity on Hong Kong island.
S$200 million Singapore development
Plans for the development of 38 acres of land at Orchard Road, Singapore into a modern, multi- purpose complex of buildings were announced last month.
The developers, Orchard Square Development Corporation Pte. Ltd., said it would take about five years to complete the project at a cost of more than S$200 million. The land is being leased out by Ngee Ann Kongsi, one of Singapore's biggest pro- perty owners.
Orchard Square Development Corp., a Singa- pore-based company with a S$10 million capital, is jointly owned by English and Continental Property Ltd., Town and Commercial Property Co. Ltd., and the Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations all of London.
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A feature of the development will be a 1 mil- lion sq. ft. shopping centre on four floors linked by
Far East BUILDER, February 1971