5.12. The demand for hotel accommodation clearly has yet to be satisfied since during the year plans for no less than five new hotel projects, embracing 4,157 bedrooms, were approved. Further, work commenced in June on a 1,793 bedroom hotel on the former open-air car-park site at the junction of Nathan Road and Salisbury Road, completion of which is scheduled for the end of 1973, and two hotels, containing a total of 258 bedrooms, were certified for occupation on Hong Kong Island, together with a further seven blocks, containing 224 bedrooms, of the Pei Pa Chau Island Hotel complex.
5.13. A number of noteworthy private development projects were commenced during the year, including a 52-storey office building adjoining the Star Ferry concourse on Hong Kong Island, which on completion, it is claimed, will be the tallest building in the East; the extension of the Upper Peak Tram Station to provide additional tourist amenities; a 375-bed hospital at Sau Mau Ping and the second of two power generating station buildings on Tsing Yi Island. Completed buildings included the current tallest building in the Colony, a 32-storey circular apartment building in the Mid-Levels; a 350-bed hospital at Lo Fu Ngam; a container terminal at Kwun Tong; the first of the two power generating stations on Tsing Yi Island, which was opened by His Excellency the Governor; a 'jumbo jet' hangar at Kai Tak International Airport; and the Housing Authority's Ping Shek Estate comprising five 28-storey buildings containing shops at ground floor level and domestic units above, two 8-storey buildings containing car-ports at ground floor level, shops at first floor level and domestic units above, a 28-stall single storey market centre building and a 3-storey restaurant/plaza block. Noteworthy proposals included a new bank building in Central District, the main feature of which will be a 16-storey circular tower block.
5.14. On the structural side, reinforced concrete construction continued to be favoured, including in respect of the 52-storey building referred to in the preceding paragraph. The slip-form method of construction was exploited in the erection of shear walls, it proving to be most efficient in connection with the erection of the 32-storey Mid-Level apartment building mentioned earlier. Both in-situ and pre-cast pre-stressed concrete construction gained in popularity, it being adopted in a power switch station on Hong Kong Island, the Upper Peak Tram Station, a factory in Tsuen Wan, an educational building in Ma Liu Shui, and a bank building in Tsim Sha Tsui, to quote but a few examples.
58