No_7_July_1969 — Page 5

news review

Telephone exchange ready soon

The largest telephone exchange in the Republic of Singapore, with provision for 50,000 lines, is now under construction on a site at Killiney Road.

A seven-storey building, it has a reinforced con- crete structure with a column grid of 24 ft. x 24 ft. The floor is constructed with 4 ft. square precast concrete troughs with in-situ reinforced concrete ribs and 2 in. topping. The ceiling will be left fair face. Towers for lifts, circulation and lavatories will also be fair face, and all external cladding will be precast concrete panels at 4 ft. centres.

Ground, fourth and fifth floors of the building will consist of the sales department, accounts de- partment, library, canteen, etc. On the first, second and third floors will be the telephone exchange. Part of the ground floor will be the main distribu-

Telephone exchange under construction

tion frame room with the cable chamber im- mediately below. The lower ground floor will provide for general storage areas and air-handling plant room.

Consultants are: architects Design Partnership (in succession to Malayan Architects Co-partner- ship); structural engineer - Dr. Y.S. Lau; mechani- - Dr. Y.S. Lau; mechani- cal and electrical engineers Preece-Cardew and Rider; and quantity surveyors - Contract Services

Group. Woh Hup (Pte.) Ltd. is the general con- tractor. The building is due for completion in October this year.

Tube plans hold up dockyard scheme

Large development of the old Naval Dockyard land, Hong Kong, will not be possible for another year until more detailed views of the mass transit consultants' underground railway proposals are in hand.

Mr. J.J. Robson, director of public works, said last month that the railway lines would not prevent development in the future but it was not possible to proceed with large development until the final alignments had been agreed.

He said that the Town Planning Board would shortly be submitting its revised draft plan for approval. This envisaged the use of the old dock- yard land south of Harcourt Road largely for commercial, residential and open space purposes. An area of some four acres west of Cotton Tree Drive was zoned for commercial use and an area of nine acres east of Cotton Tree Drive was zoned for commercial/residential uses. Five acres of open space was proposed for the easterly section.

A site on Murray Road had been selected for a multi-storey car park which would be completed for use by the time the cross-harbour tunnel was built.

An aid to metric conversion

Regions likely to follow Britain's lead in con- verting to the metric system of measurement will be interested in a new booklet which has proved popular with the design side of the construction industry there.

'Think Metric', published by H.M. Stationery Office (at £5 per 100 excluding postage) suggests a simple method whereby the tedious conversion from imperial to metric sizes can be avoided.

The technique recommended is to build up a series of mental images whereby metric sizes and units can be directly related to recognisable lengths, shapes and performance. Unless this is done, the leaflet states, the designer will find himself la- boriously converting imperial to metric tons on almost every occasion. Such conversion must not be adopted as a method of learning to think metric except as an initial process for determining the metric equivalents of imperial units, or for setting up recognition points. The leaflet tabulates exam- ples of key recognition points.

Air-conditioning award

The Jardine Engineering Corporation Ltd. has been awarded a contract to supply and install air conditioning equipment in the 15-storey office block of the Yau Ma Tei slipway complex, Kow- loon, Hong Kong. The contract is worth HK$2 m. Two 400 h.p. York centrifugal systems will be installed, utilising sea water for cooling purposes.

Far East BUILDER July 1969

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