One of the telescopic gangways
Designed as an entirely separate unit, the terminal building superstruc- ture, 1,025 ft. by 190 ft.. is carried on 320 precast segmented reinforced concrete cylinders of 6 ft. or 4 ft. 6 in. external diameter with 6 in. walls.
Providing a total of 850.000 sq. ft. of floor space, the 75 ft. high build- ing contains a transit shed on the ground floor; passenger concourses, shopping arcades and restaurants on the next two floors: and 1,200 vehicle car park on the next two
Marine deck
a
floors.
A superstructure for a neon sign bank and the plant room is locat- cd on the roof.
At the marine deck level, which is 14 ft. AD, an area of 312,500 sq. ft. is available, incorporating the bulk of the transit shed space together with, ad- jacent to the berths, 190,000 sq. ft. of platform for vehicles and equip- ment necessary for the fully mech- anised handling of cargo.
Another feature of the marine deck is a drive-in lane. This enables lor- ries carrying export cargo to drive
Shops, recreation areas and concourse
T
car parks
directly to loading equipment along- side the appropriate ship's berth. A sea front promenade along the pier and waving galleries for the public are other amenities.
Among the specialist supplies in- stalled by the main contractors were the berthing and fendering systems. The pier is fitted with large V-shaped rubber fenders, reinforced with steel plates and placed in alternate vertical and horizontal positions (Raykin fen- dering).
The knuckle end of the pier is fit- ted with pneumatic rubber tyres, 9 ft. 6 in. in diameter, installed in pairs within steel cases. These are the largest fendering units yet developed by Firestone-Burleigh, Ltd.
Another special marine feature is telescopic gangways, being supplied and installed by Babcock and Wilcox, Ltd.
The value of the whole project is about HK$72 million. Initially, the construction contract, awarded in 1963, was valued at some HK$32 mil- lion, but additional contracts brought this figure to over HK$40 million. The additional contracts included the award, early in 1965, for the manage- ment and co-ordination of sub-con- tractors responsible for the HK$9.6 million worth of architectural finishes, and for the installation, valued at HK$12 million of mechanical and electrical services including lifts and escalators, air conditioning and light- ing, fire services and plumbing.
Further work covered the construc- tion of the reinforced concrete ap- proach structure. This approach is a pedestrian access with a 27 ft. wide stairway, supplemented by an escala- tor leading from the adjacent Star Ferry.
Construction History
After a series of tests, the contrac- tors began permanent piling in De- cember, 1963. The halfway stage of these operations was reached by Oc- tober, 1964, with deck construction following closely behind. Pile driv. ing was carried out with the aid of a 20-ton pontoon derrick and 95 ft. pile frame.
North west elevation of the terminal seen from the harbour
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50
Far East Architect & Builder March, 1965