news review
Runway extension contract worth HK$102 million
A contract for building the first stage of the Hong Kong airport runway extension was signed last month between the government and the suc- cessful tenderers, Kumiagai Gumi & Co. Ltd. The tender price was HK$102 million.
Kumiagai Gumi are a Japanese company with a base in Hong Kong which has successfully complet- ed several large government contracts in recent years. Its new contract covers the reclamation of an area in Kowloon Bay which involves the form- ing of some 2,600,000 sq. ft. of land contained by 1.25 miles of seawalls.
To do this and avoid heavy and dangerous set- tlement under the paved areas, some 2 million cu. yd. (2.5 million tons) of soft mud must be dredged from the sea bed to form a firm foundation. The total volumes of filling material required will amount to some 750,000 cu. yd. (1 million tons) of rock, and 5.5 million cu. yd. (8 million tons) of decomposed rock.
Filling material from borrow areas and mud dredged from the reclamation area will have to be transported by lorries and barges; an estimated 1.7 million lorry loads and 13,000 barge loads will be required for the job.
The new runway will have an overall length of 11,130 ft. At its narrowest section, the overall width of the reclamation at the top of the seawalls will be 830 ft., comprising the runway proper, a centre strip 200 ft. wide, grass strips 250 ft. and 260 ft. wide to the west and east of the runway proper and a 75 ft. wide taxiway with an adjacent 45 ft. wide surfaced strip to the crest of the east seawall.
Towards the seaward end of the runway there will be a by-pass area, and next to it a subsidiary fire station and a concrete jetty adjacent to the seawall.
Flats for university staff
A psychological problem in all large blocks of flats is the need to produce a sense of individual identity. In a new block to be erected on a site off Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong the usual monotony of the facade has been broken up by the use of bay windows which project in differing locations in in- dividual flats.
Far East BUILDER, November 1970
Pokfulam flats for HK University
The 12-storey building, located adjacent to the University Hall, will contain 48 flats for the staff of the Hong Kong University.
Planning has been based on use of the contours of an existing re-entrant valley. The flats are angled to follow the 500 ft. contour line, the angle used being related to the half-octagonal end of the uni- versity dining hall. The site slopes steeply and the block is designed to have maximum width - so ex- ploiting views for most main rooms and mini- mum depth to reduce site formation work. A major technical problem has been the need to re- provide a water conduit from Pokfulam reservoir which also follows the 500 ft. contour.
Trees in the valley are being retained and access to tree-covered walks is being provided for the occupants.
Plans have been prepared by Spence Robinson, architects and engineers, with Langdon Every & Seah acting as quantity surveyors. The building contract has been let to T.S. Wong & Co.
Building plans approved
The Hong Kong Building Authority approved 69 new building plans of all types in September and certified 48 completed buildings for occupa- tion.
Of the plans approved, 26 were on Hong Kong Island, 12 in Kowloon, 12 in New Kowloon and 22 in the New Territories. Buildings certified for occu- pation included four for domestic purposes, 11 for non-domestic use, and 23 for combined domestic and non-domestic use.
Largest ferro-cement barge
The largest ferro-cement barge ever built in Asia was recently launched in Thailand. The 350-ton capacity vessel was built by the Construction Marketing Co. for the Siam Cement Group.