THE HONG KONG AND FAR EAST BUILDER
35
GROUP
OF
UNUSUAL
INDUSTRIAL
BUILDINGS
KADER INDUSTRIAL CANIA
A view of the building from
The entrance drive-way of the corner which will eventually be
the main staircase.
It is, usually, the aim of those who direct businesses and industries to endeavour to locate themselves as close to the centre of a city as is possible, even at the cost of very high land values. The city of Victoria, confined to the narrow strip on the south side of the island of Hong Kong between the sea and the steep hills rising a few hundred yards inland, has become extremely congested due to this tendency, and land values have risen to very high figures,
For a number of years a few industries have been located a few miles from the centre of the city between Causeway Bay and Taikoo and apparently have not suffered by reason of this separation.
The huge post-war increase in the population of Hong Kong has at last forced further development in this direc- tion. It is suitable for both residential and industrial development and one of the latest firm to appreciate and take advantage of the great possibilities of this area is the Kader Industrial Company Limited, with whom are asso- ciated the Midland Telephone Company as joint owners of the property.
The Midland Telephone Company will manufacture telephone instrument parts in Shanghai. The manufactur- ing of the casing in plastics and the assembly of the com- pleted units will be carried out in this new factory. The Kader Industrial Company also manufacture plastics of all descriptions, such as basins, bowls, etc., and also a complete range of electrical and architectural fittings.
The directors of this company and Mr. K. Smith- Mitchell have made an effort to provide a really modern factory which is both efficient as a factory and pleasant and comfortable for those who work in it.
The company produces thermo-plastic articlesof synthe- tic resins and in certain of the processes cooling is neces- sary. The directors felt that having to include refrigera- tion plant in their scheme they might just as well have a really large plant and sell the surplus capacity. Con- sequently the whole of the ground floor space is taken up with an ice-making plant, a deep-freezing chamber, a cold chamber, two large chilled rooms and an ice storage room. The ice produced will be from purified and filtered water and will therefore be attractive in appearance and safe for human consumption. The plant is being erected and in- stalled by the company's own engineers,
There are two buildings at present, the main block and, at the rear, the condensing tower for the refrigerating plant. This tower has been carefully designed to give a pleasing appearance and besides carrying out its main function, houses on the ground floor a workshop for manu- facturing the dies etc. used in the plastic manufacturing processes, and on the first floor, quarters for about fifteen of the senior working staff.
The main block presents more the appearance of a modern office or residence rather than of a factory. In the final scheme, which will not be completed for another year, all the buildings comprising the complete enterprise will be in the form of a hollow square. The office entrance will be in one corner of the front, the freight entrance and exit will be in the other front corner, the motor truck traffic passing round the hollow square picking up or dropping loads at various loading and unloading points and finally out of the main entrance. The architect has arranged this building in such a way that the raw material from the moment it is delivered to the store room, passes through the various stages of manufacture, finishing, inspection, packing and shipment in a continuous flow, horizontally and vertically, without doubling back on itself. Goods are moved ver- tically by means of electric lifts.
The rooms seem rather low for the Hong Kong climate but the intention is to install air-conditioning at a later date. The main manufacturing room, containing Fellows Leominster Injection Moulding machines, has a floor of red quarry tiles, the walls and pillars being covered up to four feet high with white glazed tiles and white painted above,
An impression one receives in this factory is the feel- ing of space and comfort. Another strong impression we received was of the generous width of staircases and of easy, shallow risers. The architect tells us that he design- ed these with the possibility of power failure in mind and the resulting necessity for carrying materials up and down stairs by man-power.
Looking down on the existing buildings in the North Point district from the heights above with a view of the open courtyard which will eventually be surrounded by new buildings.