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Paterson Street 27-storey block
Phase I of the project is expected to be com- pleted in March 1970, and phase II one year later. The total building cost, excluding the cost of land, will be about HK$20 million. Wong, Ng Ouyang and Associates are the architects.
Garden wanted on reclaimed land
Hongkong Land Investment & Agency Co. Ltd. is deeply concerned that the unobstructed harbour views enjoyed by the Mandarin Hotel may be par- tially lost when development takes place on land reclaimed from the harbour.
"The use to which the ground to be reclaimed between the Star and vehicular ferry piers is even- tually put is not only of direct interest to my com- pany but it is also of vital interest to the population of Hong Kong", the company's estate manager, Mr. W.D. Browne, told a meeting of the Town Planning Board last month.
He said there was a lamentable lack of open spaces in the Central District of the island which compared so badly with the facilities enjoyed in other cities throughout the world. Too intensive development of the reclaimed land would bring even more people into the district, thus further aggravat- ing an already unsatisfactory situation.
The area was very much an integral part of the civic centre, said Mr. Browne, and it would become even more so when new buildings had been erected on the reclamation. It would be unfortunate if the facade of a new building on the western limits of this centre were to be built, as indicated in the out- line zoning plan, at an angle unrelated to the main architectural grid of the city centre.
It would seem logical that the facade of any new commercial building should be in line with the eastern facade of the new St. George's Building and serviced by a road or pedestrian way which would
form a visual extension of Ice House Street. The south and east facades of the new post office build- ing might also be built on the same architectural grid.
To illustrate these theories, Mr. Browne tabled a revised layout of the area, conforming symetrically with existing buildings and allowing for a good-sized rectangular open space which could be set out on similar lines to the Statue Square Garden. In addi- tion to integrating the new area with the remainder of the civic centre this would, he said, also provide a valuable pedestrian concourse between the Star Ferry and the new buildings.
Taiwan contract for Swiss firm
The Swiss engineering company, Buhler Bros. Ltd., is to build a 40,000-ton grain silo and two pneumatic ship unloading gantries at the Port of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, which is in the third stage of a 12-year expansion programme.
The silo tract will be of steel, supplied from Japan, while all the reinforced concrete work for the machine tower will be carried out by a Tai- wanese company to drawings by Buhler. Equipment to be supplied by the Swiss firm includes: two
Unloading gantry for Kaohsiung
mobile pneumatic ship unloading gantries, each with a capacity of 220 tons per hour; chain con- veyors on the dock and connecting conveyors to the silo; weighing equipment; vertical and horizon- tal chain conveyors and bucket elevators in the silo; electrical installation; sacking-off equipment and a modern plant for discharging to motor vehicles.
Central Trust of China, Taipei, placed the order for the facility, which will be operated by the port authorities on completion in 1970.
Far East BUILDER, May 1969