2015-07-18
Hip Hing wins HK$4.33 billion design and build contract for West Kowloon Government Offices
Hip Hing Joint Venture has been awarded a HK$4.33 billion contract by the Architectural Services Department for the construction of the West Kowloon Government Offices.
Located in Yau Ma Tei, the West Kowloon Government Offices consists of two office towers with two-storey basements for the accommodation of various government departments, namely Buildings Department, Transport Department, Civil Engineering and Development Department, Lands Department, Government Property Agency , Social Welfare Department, Department of Health, and Leisure and Cultural Services Department , as well as art display and exhibition areas. The construction floor area is approximately 91,825 sqm. The project will commence in late July 2015 and is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2018.
The West Kowloon Government Offices combines aesthetic design with green building concepts. Its twin towers are orientated in parallel, to align with the existing vista from Yau Ma Tei district to Victoria Harbour, serving as a new gateway and landmark to the district. The orientation also corresponds to the prevailing wind direction to minimize the impact of the wall effect. Besides, the greening initiatives throughout the development have transformed the whole project into a green utopia. The sky gardens at the lift transfer floors and roof landscape help lowering heat absorption and indoor temperature, thus driving for energy conservation.
Apart from environmental protection, the project design also emphasises on interaction with the community. For instance, a podium-free approach is adopted to free up the ground floor space for landscaping and event spaces, to express a sense of transparency and vitality at the pedestrian level. And a fence-less design is adopted to strike the balance between adequate security control and a continuous and porous periphery for allowing pedestrians to flow effortlessly to the main functional spaces.
During the construction process, Hip Hing will uphold the highest safety standards and be considerate to the neighborhood. In order to minimize nuisances and disturbances to adjacent schools near Hoi Ting Road, construction vehicles will access the site by way of Hoi Wang Road instead of Hoi Ting Road. The site logistics for such single point of access and egress has to be systematically planned by the project team to tackle the high traffic circulation demand during the foundation, excavation and superstructure stages.
