17
SABAH
NORTH BORNEO COLLEGE
ABAH COLLEGE, which is the Government secondary school in Jesselton, North Borneo, was opened recently by the Governor of
North Borneo, Sir William Goode.
It was built by the Union (Borneo) Co., a contracting firm managed by Mr. Colin Wu of Jesselton. The design was produced by the Architects' Branch of the North Borneo Public Works Department, under Mr. L. Jackson, M.I.C.E., M.I.W.E., the Director of Public Works. Owing to the low bearing capacity of the site, the building had to be designed to be of very light construction and to allow for differen- tial settlement.
The picture above shows the assembly hall, entrance and the administrative block. Windows in the assembly hall, entrance and admin- istrative block are by Crittals. Framework and design of the roof trusses in the classroom section to the right are by Arcon Ltd.
STANDARD MEASUREMENT
HE vast development of the building industry in Hong Kong during the past decade has created a wide spread realisation of the im- portance and usefulness of bills of quantities.
Local conditions have not justified the adoption of the English Standard Method of Measurement. which nevertheless has been followed in a general sense in Government and private practice and adapted mainly by including most labours with the relative items. Adaptation, however, has been completely arbitrary, de- pending upon the discretion or in- lination of the individual surveyor. The Services have for some while had their own "Rules of Measure- ment" for the Far East which is restricted in general use and applica- ion in Hong Kong.
Building contractors, while be coming more and more "B. Q. con- scious," have at the same time been faced with a growing diversity of methods of measurement which has not only been deleterious to scien- tific estimating but has in fact resulted in the occurrence of serious
errors.
A meeting of the Hong Kong and China branch of the Royal Institu- tion of Chartered Surveyors (quan- tity surveying section) appointed a sub-committee to consider ways and means of procedure in the introdur- tion of a local Standard Method of Measurement. The sub-committee was subsequently joined by represen- tatives of the local building industry to form a joint committee to prepare the First Edition of the Standard Method of Measurement of Building
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER—VOLUME 17, NUMBER 1
Works for use in Hong Kong."
This document has now been pre- pared and is available at a price of $7.50 per copy and $5 per copy for bona fide students.
There is no set date for the change over to the new S. M. M. but the joint committee
all hopes that departments and firms of quantity surveyors will adopt the new S. M. M. as soon as is practicable in the preparation of all future bills of quantities for building works in Hong Kong.
Copies of the document can be obtained from the honorary secre- tary, the Royal Institution of Char- tered Surveyors c/o Bridgemater & Coulton (H.K.) 502, On Lok Yuen Building, or from the Building Contractors' Association Ltd.
63
Page 65Page 66