September_1965 — Page 4

Work is about to start on the first phase of this $M1.4 million development for the Maris Stella High School, Singapore. The new school will be built on five acres at Mount Vernon Road. It will include 25 classrooms, a science laboratory. gymnasium,

M$2 M. HOUSING PROJECT M$2/M.

A SINGAPORE estate company, Tan Seng Phee, Ltd.. is developing 34 acres of land at the junction of Lincoln Road and Thomson Road into a modern housing estate.

Thomson Court will comprise seven blocks of four- and five-storey buildings containing altogether 126 three- room flats. Ground formation work is nearing completion and piling will start soon.

The M$22 million project, the company's largest to date, is expected to be completed in ten months and be ready for occupation by next June. The estate will have its own garden, children's play-ground and private parking facilities.

The company has plans for similar projects in both Singapore and Malaya.

HOUSING COMMISSIONER HONOURED

MR. J.R. FIRTH, Commissioner for Housing, Hong Kong, has been awarded a silver medal by the Council of the Royal Society of Arts.

The award was made to Mr. Firth for a paper on "The Work of the Hong Kong Housing Authority' which he read at a meeting of the Commonwealth Sec- tion of the Royal Society of Arts in London in Decem- ber last year.

The medal. one of a group awarded annually by the Society for purposes ranging from Anglo-Ameri- can relations to the promo- tion of the arts and sciences, will be presented by Her Majesty the Queen or His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh at the inaugural meeting of the new session of the Society in November.

Mr. J.R. Firth

HELP FOR KOREAN CONTRACTORS

THE South Korean Ministry of Construction is working on measures to help contractors there engage in foreign exchange earning business abroad.

Korean contractors have been invited to participate in international bidding for highway and bridge construc- tion in the Philippines and Burma.

"Favourable measures" being considered by the Construction Ministry are to give contractors financial support, exemption of corporation tax and business tax. and both land and sea transportation of construction

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offices, indoor playground, assembly hall, and a large playing field. Places will be provided for about 2,000 students in two sessions. Under the first phase 15 classrooms, an office, laboratory and hall will be erected. The architect is Mr. Li Hock Hung.

equipment and materials.

Contractors may also be al- lowed to borrow Government equipment.

PLANS APPROVED IN JULY

THIRTY-NINE plans for new buildings of all types in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories were ap- proved by the Building Authority in July as compared with 65 in the previous month and 97 in the corresponding month in 1964.

tenement

During the same month, 96 completed buildings were certified for occupation. Of these, 22 were buildings, 21 were buildings for non-domestic purposes and 53 were for combined domestic and non-domestic purposes. In addition, the Building Authority approved the demolition of 113 buildings.

Cost of new building work in the Colony during the month of July was $81,738,612. Another $2,420,265 was spent on site formation work, according to statistics published in the Government Gazette.

New buildings of all types erected totalled 139, in- cluding eight factories and godowns, four offices and shops, 119 houses and flats and eight others.

BRICK OUTPUT INCREASES

HEAVY demand from the building industry, still buoyant in Singapore, is accelerating production of bricks to new heights.

Official statistics show that output during the first quarter of this year at over 21 million bricks, including cement bricks, surpassed output in any previous quarter. and if this level is maintained the year's total production should exceed 80 million bricks, the highest on record.

Last year, total production reached over 77 million bricks, up 4.8 million bricks over the previous year's figure. Since 1960, the industry has made a net gain of 32.9 million bricks in output.

Meanwhile, production of broken granite and sawn lumber is also soaring, the former reaching over 1 million cu. yd. last year against 865,285 cu. yd. in 1963, and the latter registering 252,338 tons of 50 cu. ft. against 215,867

tons.

TRAINING BUILDING TRADESMEN

A PLEA for Hong Kong construction companies to employ trainees from the Practical Training Centre for Building Tradesmen was made last month by Mr. Wong Tin-sung, chairman of the centre.

Mr. Wong explained that the centre, at Block BB. Wong Tau Hom Estate, Kowloon, was sponsored by the Hong Kong Building Contractors' Association and the Chinese Young Men's Christian Association.

All ex- penditures were met by the two associations.

Far East Architect & Builder September, 1965