December_1966 — Page 37

TAIWAN HIGHWAY PROPOSAL

A PROJECT for constructing a four-lane highway from Taipei to Kaohsiung, where it will join the existing McArthur Highway to Keelung, is now being prepared by the Taiwan Highway Bureau.

The Taiwan Government is to apply for a loan from the Asia Development Bank to meet the cost of construc- tion, estimated at about NT$ 10 billion.

The highway will be built in several stages, first priority being given to a 26 kilometre link between Taipei and Hsinchu through Taoyuan. Cost of this section will be about NT$432 million and surveying and preliminary design has already been undertaken by the bureau.

CONTRACT FOR GOVT. BLOCK

HSIN CHONG & Co. Ltd. have been awarded a contract worth HK$1.629.900 for constructing the sub-structure of the 27-storey Government office block to be erected in Garden Road, Hong Kong.

the

Designed by Architectural Office of the Public Works Depart- ment. the block is the tallest yet planned by the Hong Kong Govern- ment. It will be 300 ft. high and will contain 228,000 sq. ft. of office accommodation.

The structure will be of reinforced concrete

with a central core hous-

ing the lifts, staircases, lavatories, switch

rooms

and other utility rooms.

an

Fin walls placed at angle of 45 degrees will surround the building. which will have no internal columns.

The block will rise above an open podium. below which will be a

Garden Road Offices

semi-basement for car parking and plant rooms.

SINGAPORE ESTATE EXTENSION

RED HILL Estate, Singapore, is to be extended to accom- modate about 12.000 more people in 2.500 flats costing M$10 million.

A spokesman for the Housing and Development Board said recently that the flats would be built on the site of former artisan quarters erected in 1953. The quarters had been demolished and piling was in progress. He said that construction work would start at the end of this month and be completed before 1968.

POWER STATION PROGRESS

THE foundation stone for Hong Kong Electric Co.'s new power station at Ap Lei Chau Island, near Aberdeen, was laid last month by the Governor, Sir David Trench.

Good progress is being maintained on the prepara- tion of the site which involves the removal of 1 million cu. yd. of rock. Blasting began in March 1965 and clearance work is expected to be complete by March 1967. Spoil from the site is being used to reclaim some 600,000 sq. ft. of land which is to be made available for development, and stone from the site is also being car- ried by barge to construct typhoon breakwaters east of Aberdeen Har- bour.

Artist's sketch of the completed Ap Lei Chau power station

Far East Architect & Builder December, 1966

Erection of the steel structure for the boiler and turbine houses began in August this year and already the structure of the first part of the station is a dominating feature on the western side of Aberdeen Harbour. work force of more than 400 men is currently engaged on the site.

A

The initial capital investment in the station will be about HK$120 million and the first 60,000 KW turbine and boiler is scheduled to be in operation early in 1968.

The station will be developed by stages over the next ten years as the increase in load demands. The eventual capacity will be in the region of 840,000 KW which, together with the output from the North Point Power Station of approximately 345.000 KW, will enable the Hongkong Electric Co. to meet the demands of the next 15-20 years.

ARCHITECTURE FACULTY NEEDED

MALAYSIA must have a faculty of architecture to cope with architectural staffing requirements in view of the current building boom.

Mr. Fong Ying Leong, chairman of the education committee of the Federation of Malaya Society of Archi- tects, said this last month on his return from a four-week tour of Britain in company with Mr. Yap Pow Veng. assistant director (buildings), PWD, West Malaysia, Mr. Chan Kong Yew, acting senior PWD architect, and Mr. Chen Voon Fee of the Malayan Architects Co-Partnership. Kuala Lumpur.

in

Mr. Fong described architectural education Britain as "very high" and said there was an adequate turn-out of officers to cope with building progress in the country. This was something that was lacking in Malaysia where there were not enough experts to maintain the present quality and speed of building progress.

He also called for the setting up of a building re- search department to study and recommend to Govern- ment and public various types of new materials and techniques on all aspects of building.

NEW PART-TIME COURSES

THE Hong Kong Technical College is to start three additional part-time evening short courses on building construction. The courses are run by the Department of Building, Surveying and Structural Engineering of the College.

—

Two of the courses "Matrix Method of Structural Analysis" and "Large Diameter Bored Piles"

are de- signed for students who have at least reached the standard of a Higher Certificate in Building of the Hong Kong Technical College or the equivalent. Instruction which will be held once a week, will be given in English.

The third course, “Concrete Practice", is designed for foremen or site supervising staff. Instruction will be given twice a week in Cantonese.

CONSULTANTS MOVE

HONG KONG consulting engineers, Peter Y.S. Pun and Associates. have moved their address from Cheong K. Building to 227-306 Gloucester Building. The practice. formerly known as Fraser. Bruce, Peter Pun and As- sociates, is presently engaged on new schools, flour mills at Kwun Tong and factories at Kwai Chung.

29