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The BD Division organised the captioned visit on 18 March 2023. Over 25 building professionals joined. The main contractor for the project is Hip Hing Construction Co. Ltd.
Billed as “AN ICON AMONGST ICONS” in Central, Hong Kong, The Henderson was designed by the world-renowned Zaha Hadid Architects. Their innovative design echoes the structural forms and layering of a bauhinia bud about to blossom. The project has a 34-storey above-ground office tower with a five-storey basement car park using a “top-down” construction method to secure ground movement and minimise the impact to the sensitive structures surrounding it, particularly the six MTR operating tunnels and three Highways Department footbridges.
A bored-pile wall with double or triple layers of grouting was used to prevent the ingress of groundwater to the cofferdam. Over 500 high-precision sensors monitored the construction to ensure the structure was stable, ensuring a smooth subway operation.
Six inclined mega-columns and a one-sided core steel structure, together with the complex and double-curved façade glazing, were designed to bring a unique shape and volume to the office tower. The non-uniform footprint of each floor also increased the structural complexity and difficulties of the project.
The technical visit introduced the visitors to the articulation of this curved architectural form with its 16,000 tonnes of prefabricated steel and more than 60% cylindrical or double-curved glass panels.
The delivery of such unique architecture requires full and innovative Building Information Modelling (BIM) adoption. Therefore, BIM’s virtues, including interoperability, traceability, reliability and sustainability, were all tightly integrated into the project strategy to achieve the project objectives and deliverables.
On behalf of the BD Division, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Ir Mok Kwok Ho and Ir Tony Za from Hip Hing Construction Co. Ltd for facilitating this fruitful technical visit for our members and young engineers.
The AIRSIDE Commercial Development has recently been completed in the heart of the Kai Tak in Central Business District 2 (CBD2). The development is the latest landmark in the Kai Tak region and provides 1.9 million sq ft of mixed-use commercial space along with retail, leisure and public open space.
The BD Division organised a webinar on the planning, design and construction of the development on 22 February 2023. More than 420 participants joined, including members from different disciplines and parties from the industry and various institutions.
Ir John Lau, Associate at Arup Hong Kong and the structural and geotechnical manager for the project, was invited to deliver a presentation on the overall engineering approach for the project basement and superstructure, and the implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the project delivery.
The presentation started with an introduction to the development, with major project key challenges including a fast-track construction timeframe, varying geometries of the building and the retail atrium, the large and deep basement, movement control near the MTR station and the deep founding level for the long bored-pile foundation.
The design considerations, application and construction of the central concrete core system, sloping composite columns, post-tensioned concrete floors, transfer girders for the superstructure and the complex building geometries were all discussed in detail.
Ir Lau also illustrated the approach to optimising the critical path of the project, selection of the foundation and Excavation and Lateral Support (ELS) schemes and the semi-top-down construction method.
Towards the end of the presentation, Ir Lau discussed the integration of BIM in the project for the modelling to Level of Development (LoD) 350, drawing generation, real-time documentation and sharing of information of a single-truth, multi-discipline design coordination, clash detection, quantity take-off and as-built condition modelling.
The webinar deepened the participants’ knowledge of the technical challenges and engineering considerations for buildings with complex building geometries and deep basements, and feasible solutions for the project delivery of this landmark.
On behalf of the BD Division, we would like to convey our sincere gratitude to Ir Lau for facilitating the webinar.