June_1971 — Page 19

Service apartments transformed for

hotel extension

HONGKONG & SHANGHAI HOTELS, LTD.

owner

R. HAUSER ARAIA

architect

LEE, LEUNG & TSANG

structural engineers

J. ROGER PRESTON & PARTNERS

mechanical consultants

BRIDGEWATER & COULTON quantity surveyors

LAM WOO & CO.

general contractor

பார்

Bridge over Middle Road linking the Peninsula with Peninsula Court

Far East BUILDER, June 1971

PENINSULA COURT is a 14 year old building owned by The Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels, Ltd. and separated from the company's famous Peninsula Hotel by Middle Road. The ten-storey building was originally designed with service apartment accommodation and had total of 55 service flats and 25 service bedrooms.

In early 1969 the hotel company, anticipating an increase in luxury room demand, asked their consultants to determine whether it would be pos- sible to link Peninsula Court with the hotel by means of a bridge and at the same time to establish the cost of transforming the service flats to luxury hotel bedrooms.

Approval in principle for a bridge at second floor level was obtained from the Building Authority and the preliminary estimates indicated that the scheme was economically viable. In July, 1969 the consultants were instructed to prepare designs and details with a view to commencing the construction in October of the same year and completing the decoration by the beginning of the tourist season in March, 1970.

The first guests occupied the rede- corated rooms in early March, prepara- tion work thus having taken four months and the construction work four and a half months

a very credit- able performance, particularly as the construction period coincided with the start of the present building boom in Hong Kong and considerable problems in labour supply and wage disputes had to be overcome.

As shown in the drawings, each ser- vice apartment was reconstructed to form two double bedrooms. In addi- tion, service areas at the rear of the building were changed into single and double rooms giving a total accommo- dation of 15 suites, 100 double rooms and 10 single rooms. The rooms and

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