February_1968 — Page 13

HONG KONG

יז

HE

AN EXERCISE IN INDUSTRIALISED

Hong Kong Housing Au- thority, whose pattern of deve- lopment is ideally suited to mass pro- duction of repetitive elements, had been studying industrialised building methods for some years when, in November 1963, it received an offer from a Hong Kong contractor to erect a seven-storey low-cost housing block by a new Japanese system.

In the autumn of 1963 the Authority's Fuk Loi Estate at Tsuen Wan was nearing completion. This consisted of four 16-storey blocks of flats and four pairs of seven-storey blocks, each pair forming a letter L on plan. Although built in two stages. both contracts had been carried out by one firm. Goodman Corp. (En- gineers & Builders) Ltd.

While Goodman were engaged on the later stages of this work they be- came interested in an industrialised building system known as 'Tilt-Up' and acquired the Hong Kong licence for it, in association with the Japanese firm of Taisei Construction Co, Ltd., Tokyo.

They then offered to build for the Authority a replica of the seven-storey L-shaped blocks in the Tilt-Up system, with accommodation in all respects similar to the blocks which were al- ready in existence.

The offer had some unique features:

The ceiling price to the Housing Authority would be the same as for the blocks already built. The contract would be on a re-mea- sured 'cost-plus' basis, with the contractor making available all costings, invoices, labour sheets etc., and with previously agreed rates for the use of plant, degree of profit, and so on.

Any cost of the work over and above the ceiling price to be car- ried by the contractor; any sav- ing to be divided equally between the contractor and the Authority. Despite an inherent dislike by most of us of cost-plus contracts, this was a very attractive offer and it was promptly accepted.

Briefly, as work got under way, the various responsibilities emerged as:

Engineering design undertaken by

Taisei, in Japan, using Housing Authority general building plans. These design costs were regard- ed as being within the ceiling price. Langdon & Every (Far East) were appointed quantity surveyors by the Authority, to draw up the form of contract, devise a method

Far East Architect & Builder February, 1968

CONSTRUCTION

by J.R. Firth, ARIBA, FRSA

Commissioner for Housing, Hong Kong Housing Authority

and

D.P.H. Liao, B. Arch, Dip. LD (Dunelm) Housing Architect

of cost control, and to analyse the various aspects of the con- tractor's operations.

Goodman to send members of the firm to Japan to see Tilt-Up building operations and to obtain experience in the casting yards. The objective at this stage was to find out the advantages or otherwise of an industrialised prefabricated building system of a type developed elsewhere, carried out in Hong Kong, under local conditions, with research into the economic and technical as- pects of such construction. The pro- ject was large enough to make a true comparison and small enough not to present too big a risk to either the contractor or to the Authority.

A formal application was made in December 1963 for the land grant and it was stressed that the object of the proposal, apart from the provision of more accommodation, was largely a matter of research, and permission to

go ahead was given in February

1964.

However the Japanese engineers who were preparing the structural de- sign and details in Tokyo, were un- familiar with the regulations and codes of practice used in Hong Kong and considerable time was required to pro- duce acceptable structural drawings which could be submitted to the Building Authority.

Finally firm plans were submitted to the Building Authority in Novem- ber 1964 and after some discussions and amendments, were approved in January 1965 with a proviso that a comprehensive load test should be carried out on completion of the structural work.

Some of the

pre-contract pro-

paper

*This feature is based on a presented last month to the Engineering Society of Hong Kong and is published by kind permission of the Society.

Boiler house

May 1966. Site and casting yard, with erection of panels in progress. is the pitched roof structure at right; behind this is the cement silo and concrete mixing plant. Steam curing beds, some covered and others open, are between the boiler house and the existing estate. Panels stacked ready for assembly are in the centre of the picture

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