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- Tamar designs focus on green, energy themes
- Wraps come off four visions for Tamar
- Cheuk Nang earmarks HK$200m to develop Cheung Chau project
- Cheung Kong moves to beat curbs
1. Tamar designs focus on green, energy themes
Mimi Lau , The Standard 29 March 2007
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Green and energy-efficient - that is the theme of four design models unveiled Wednesday for the HK$5.2 billion Tamar redevelopment project.
The models provide an insight into what the government and Legislative Council complexes on the 4.2-hectare site will look like.
Members of the public have been invited to vote on their favorite design in the next two months, after which a report will be submitted to a special selection board to be chaired by Chief Secretary for Administration Rafael Hui Si-yan for a final decision.
The designs came from four pre-qualified bidders representing more than 100 commercial interests. In a bid to provide a long-term solution to the problem of acute shortage of office space, and to enhance the vibrancy of the waterfront and open the site to public access, the four designs have focused on renewable energy, greenery and energy-efficient services.
Design A - submitted by Gammon-Hip Hing Joint Venture - has a main building with an open space stretching to the waterfront, symbolizing openness and transparency of governance. The open-door design also allows plenty of ventilation and an unobstructed sea view.
It includes a lily pond flanking the Legislative Council's dining hall, a floating platform, a Legco garden, a Tamar Cafe and a sculptures corner.
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Design B - by DHK-CRCC Tamar Joint Venture - blends three fundamental fung shui concepts - heaven, earth and people.
The setup stresses a dignified, independent and prestigious design, reinforcing the openness and transparency of government. The main features include a flower garden, meandering paths under tree canopies, civic park pools and waterfalls. Design C - by Paul Y-Shui On Joint Venture - aims at giving Hong Kong an iconic architectural style by featuring interlocking and slanting projects in a dynamic and forward-looking world- class showcase.
It also aims to reinforce a sophisticated and cosmopolitan image of Hong Kong .
Its main features include a waterfront promenade, a Tamar park with a renewable-energy education garden, photovoltaic panels, green roofs and sky gardens.
Design D - by China State-Leighton-Yau Lee Joint Venture - splits the government and Legco complexes into two separate junk-sail and pearl- shaped buildings, engendering the need for both to work in harmony.
It aims to enhance efficiency, accessibility and openness of the civil service and legislators.
The main features include a pearl-shaped Legco library, a world-class promenade walk, a sky bridge, a fountain and a man-made beach.
Director of Administration Elizabeth Tse Man- yee said no promotional activities will be allowed during the design exhibition by the tenderers. |
2. Wraps come off four visions for Tamar
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 29 March 2007
Four proposals competing for the HK$5.2 billion contract to build the new government headquarters and Legislative Council buildings at Tamar went on display yesterday.
The designs and their titles emphasise openness and the people - despite being required to include a "water feature" or some means of keeping the public at bay.
Director of administration Elizabeth Tse Man-yee said the exhibition, at the Queensway Government Offices, would allow the public to take part in selecting a design, even though the tender exercise required confidentiality.
"All tender documents are confidential because they contain confidential business information. We made a special arrangement by asking the companies involved to decide what information they wanted to disclose and present them in a standard form, so the public will be able to participate," she said.
The government believed the public would comment on the design and aesthetic of the proposals based on information available.
"We don't think it is necessary for the public to go into the technical details of each proposal," she said.
The designs are from China State, Leighton and Yau Lee; the DHK-CRCC Tamar Joint Venture; a Gammon and Hip Hing joint venture; and another between Paul Y and Shui On.
Tamar will house a government complex, a building for the chief executive's office and the Executive Council, a new chamber for the Legislative Council and a building for lawmakers and the Legco secretariat.
Under the government's plan, the contract will be awarded this year and the project completed in 2010.
Visitors to the exhibition can fill in a comment card to express views, which will be presented to the special selection board headed by Chief Secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan, which ?ill consider the project consultant's analysis in assessing the submissions.
Sixty per cent of the score awarded to bidders will be based on three aspects - design and aesthetics; planning, sustainability and environment; and function and technical factors. Price accounts for the other 40 per cent.
The exhibition at Queensway will close on April 24. It will move to the Heritage Discovery Centre in Kowloon Park from April 28 to May 27. The public can also see the models at www.tamar.gov.hk .
Albert Lai Kwong-tak, engineer and Civic Party vice-chairman, said the exhibition was "unfair to the competitors and the public". He said the government should make public the technical aspect of the four proposals so professionals could assist people to interpret the designs.
"We cannot compare the basic parameters, such as height and size of the building, the size of the public open space.
"The government should also tell the public how it is going to manage each of the proposals because it will have an impact on how the people can use Tamar in the future, " Mr Lai said.
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Cheuk Nang earmarks HK$200m to develop Cheung Chau project
YVONNE LIU, SCMP 29 March 2007
Cheuk Nang (Holdings), a small developer owned by Cecil Chao Sze-tsung, plans to invest about HK$200 million to develop a site in Cheung Chau that it won in an auction on Tuesday.
Mr Chao yesterday said the investment included the land price of HK$96.5 million, construction costs and interests. The group could generate a "reasonable profit" with record high property prices in Cheung Chau, he added.
Under the firm's preliminary plan, the project, dubbed "New Villa Cecil", will develop two-storey villas with a private beach and a swimming pool. It also aims to provide such amenities as a yacht and a helicopter for the residents.
Surveyors said the average selling price of the project had to reach at least HK$3,500 per square foot, a level property agents said was difficult to achieve, to generate a reasonable profit.
Still, Mr Chao said he was confident given the limited supply of similar luxury projects.
He expects the project to attract foreign expatriates and rich people.
The development plan was unveiled as Cheuk Nang announced an underlying loss of HK$46 million for the six months to December, compared with a HK$82 million profit a year earlier, amid a lack of completed projects to be booked as earnings.
Net profit jumped 172 per cent to HK$265.55 million, mainly driven by a property revaluation gain of HK$312 million, and turnover soared 120 per cent to HK$30.15 million.
An interim dividend of 5.5 HK cents per share was declared, up 22.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, the company said it might raise as much as HK$61.2 million by granting one bonus warrant for owners of every 22 existing shares.
Warrant holders can pay HK$5.50 for each Cheuk Nang new share.
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Cheung Kong moves to beat curbs
YVONNE LIU , SCMP 29 March 2007
Cheung Kong (Holdings) has obtained approval for its redevelopment plans for Luso Apartments in Kowloon Tong, even though it has yet to gain total ownership of the site, as it rushed to avoid size restrictions being introduced to the low-density neighbourhood.
The city's second-largest developer by market capitalisation intends to use the 126,000 square foot site in Warwick Road , next to Beacon Hill School , to develop four 13-storey residential buildings, providing a gross floor area of 372,183 sqft, according to the plans approved by the Buildings Department last month but announced yesterday.
The developer hoped to avoid getting ensnared by the Planning Department's restrictions on building height and plot ratio in Kowloon Tong that already covered 22 sites ?n and around College Road , Broadcast Drive and Ede Road , but not the Luso Apartments, Knight Frank executive director Alnwick Chan Chi-hing said.
Cheung Kong had owned about 60 per cent of Luso Apartments since 2005, sources said.
However, the Li Ka-shing flagship had not been able to reach an agreement with the remaining flat owners, some of whom were rival major developers, property agents said.
But Mr Chan said the plans could still be shot down "if the Planning Department went ahead and imposed development control on the site".
The Lands Department might impose this if the developer applied for land lease modifications or changes to its plans.
The Buildings Department also said yesterday that Henderson Land Development had been approved to redevelop the adjacent National and Kam Kwok buildings in Wan Chai.
The developer bought 92 per cent of the two buildings for HK$825 million last year.
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