and two Cornish boilers. These will re- quire 1000 gallons of fresh water per hour when working at full load and it is esti- mated that a further 1500 gals/hr will be required for other Works uses.
A deep bore hole is being drilled to meet this requirement, the bore will be 8" dia and it is anticipated that it will produce 3000 gallons of fresh water per hour at a depth of approximately 350 ft. Buildings.
to the existing Ma lau Kok holder, has Colony entails that the distribution system been supplied by Samuel Cutler & Sons must continually expand and the Company
mind. an engineer on site to has several plans in Ltd., who have
One, which supervise the erection. The holder is of is to be implemented towards the end of the column guided type especially streng- this year, is the extension of the high thened to withstand winds of typhoon pressure gas system through the North force and it has three lifts each 24 deep. Point area and on as far as Quarry Bay. will make adequate gas supplies The steel tank is 97-6 in diameter and This
areas previously untouched 1,162,000 gallons of 25' deep, and it will hold approximately available to
water. The total and greatly improve supply of gas in the loading on the foundation is 0.75 tons/sq. Causeway Bay area. On the Kowloon ft. Initially the holder site was part side, it is hoped that gas supplies can be covered by a small hill and the remainder extended both in the direction of Laichi- was found to be on the edge of an old kok and towards the Kun Tong develop- quarry which had been backfilled. After ment site to serve factories in these areas. the site had been levelled, soil tests in-
depths between 0-15 ft. As piling was not considered practical the area of the foundation was excavated down to granite level and then completely backfilled with large plum concrete the RCC holder slab being constructed over this area. As the efficient operation of the holder de- Pends on the slab being truly level, con- siderable attention was given to this mat- ter and the final maximum variation in
Although it difficult to house in an attractive manner, various items of Plant which compose a modern Gas Works, con- siderable attention has been given to the aesthetic appearance of the buildings and dicated that a rock bed existed at varying in due course of time result in decreased
a pleasing result has been obtained. The
Retort House, CWG Plant Building and
Boiler House are of structural steel con. struction clad with asbestos sheeting and are roofed with Robertson's Protecte l Metal Sheeting; the steel structures are of exceptionally heavy design to withstand the worst possible typhoon conditions. All other buildings are constructed in rein- forced concrete and brick. As the site con- sists of reclaimed land, piled foundations were used for the larger buildings. The loads on the building frame and retort Distribution. setting staunchions vary between 20 and 120 tons and are supported on
90 "VIBRO" concrete piles to depths of 25 to 65 ft.
level on a circle of over 100 feet diameter was less than 3/16".
The new works at Ma Tau Kok should
operating costs and the Company would make every effort to pass on such reduc- tinos to its consumers.
This idea
Centralization of supply would further help to reduce the costs and in this connection the possibility of concentrating all manufacture in one gasworks is being investigated. was first considered by the Gas Company in 1934/35 when the Ma Tau Kok site events prevented this scheme being put was first acquired but the course of world
into effect at that time. The expansion of Hongkong now justifies reconsideration The scheme would involve
The Company has at present five of the idea. gasholders giving a total storage capacity of 1,250,000 cuft and there is a total of
miles of 161
the distribution main in The offices, stores, laboratory, drawing network. Gas is supplier at levels vary- office, machine and fitting shops are locating from sea level to 1400 ft, governors ed at the north side of the Works, being used to ensure correct pressure adjoining to To Kwa Wan Road.
necessary
оп
all levels.
Gas Sales.
The laboratory will be adequately equipped and organised to provide the technical information the prime materials and by-products and for day to day routine testing. There will also be a test room situated centrally in the Works for testing the gases; three Sigma Recording Calorimeters will con- tinuously record the calorific value of the Coal Gas, Water Gas and Mixed Gas and a continuous sample of each of the three 1946 gases will be taken and subjected to a 1947 complete analysis daily.
at
There are approximately 8,800 gas con- sumers and the increase in gas sales from 1946-1955 is shown in the following figures The growth of the Company has however been limited in recent years by the avail able production plant to meet the demand
Hong Kong Kowloon Total
Sales cuft. Sales - cuft. Sales - cuft 65,870,800 47,557,400 113,428,200 128,317,500
92,026,000 220,343.500
Year.
the laying of a cross harbour main so that gas used on the Island would be manu- factured at Ma Tau Kok, but whether such an arrangement would require the closing down of the West Point Works ог not is still a matter of uncertainty For reasons of safety, a standby plant on the Island would be desirable in case of damage to such a cross harbour main as is envisaged, but much more investigation of capital and operating costs is necessary a final decision can be reached. before These plans are mentioned mainly to show that the Gas Company is vigorously in- vestigating every possibility of. firstly, providing efficient gas service to all people in the Colony and, secondly, to provide it at the lowest possible cost.
M4 TAU KOK WORKS
1948 166,436,200 121,032,300 287,468,500 The Vibro Piling Co., Ltd. Retort House
Piling.
tion Co. Ltd. Franki Diling for C.W.G. Plant, C.W.G. Holder, Boiler Plant.
Gas will be pumped from the new Works 1949 225,552,200 167.755.400 393,307,600 to the outskirts of the distribution net- 1950 270,749,200 220,665,400 491,414,600 The Hong Kong Engineering & Construc- work and the Compressor House has been 1951 297,890,900 255.592,800 553.483.700 designed to house one 40,000 cuft/hr and 1952 309,733,000 263,478,100 573.211,100 two 75,000 cuft hr gas compressors. The 1953 317.393,600 267,337.900 584,731,500 1954 313,873,000 270,943,600 584,816,600 building will also house the district
1955
† 587.012,500 governors and a time office and watch-
† Corrected for delayed billing. man's room.
Future Development.
Most of the prime movers have been arranged for electric motor drives and provision has been made against failure of electricity supply by the installation of a standby 50 KVA Deisel Alternator set. This is only of sufficient size to meet the minimum electrical requirements necessary to keep the Works operating. in certain cases alternative steam drives provide this protection. The Alternator will be located with the main Works Electrical Switch Board in a building adjoining the com pressor house,
The Company is now undertaking an active policy of expansion and develop ment of its consumer load. The work may be divided into three categories, namely: filling in
Chang Sung Construction Co. Compressor House, Meter House and Messroom Bldg. Transformer House etc. Shanghai Yick Sung Const. Co. General site formation and excavation for new Gas Holder.
Tsene Bros. Bldg. Cont. Drainage and
Office Building.
Erection of Carbonizing Plant, Ancillary Plant Purifiers,
Lee Tung Wo. gaps or making up deficiencies in the present distribution sys- tem; extending the present distribution Pang Yee. Erection of new Gas Holder, system; and encouraging the use of gas Hong Kong Rolling Mills Ltd. Supply for industrial purposes.
and erection of steel for Boiler House and CWG plant.
The terrain
of Hong Kong is very difficult from a gas engineer's point of view and although the distribution All workmen and their families receive system is very extensive for the size of free medical treatment and a clinic has the Company there are still several gaps been provided in a large two storey build- in the existing system which are now be ing which will also accommodate the ing systematically filled up SO that everyone will have the facilities of gas supply.
workmen's messroom and showers. New 450,000 Cuft Gas Holder.
The new gas holder, similar in design
The rapid building development of the
74
William Jacks & Co., Ltd. Supply and erection of asbestos sheeting for Re- tort House, Boiler House and CWG Plant.
British General Electric Co. Ltd. Supply of switch gear, and all electrical in- stallation
Davie. Boag & Co., Ltd. Supply of
Robertson's Patent Metal Sheeting.