Demolition of Wan Chai West Preliminary Treatment WorksWhole Project Award |
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Project Team
Client: Drainage Services Department (DSD), The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Designer: Bestkind International Engineering Ltd
Contractor: Bestkind International Engineering Ltd
CEEQUAL Advisor to DSD: URS (now AECOM)
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Project summary
This project achieved Hong Kong’s first CEEQUAL “Excellent” Whole Team Award.
The Wan Chai West Preliminary Treatment Works (WCWPTW) was built approximately 25 years ago and did not have sufficient site area to enable upgrading to cope with the increasing sewage flows generated by new developments in the Wan Chai district. Its location at the harbourfront of Hong Kong’s famous Victoria Harbour in Wan Chai was also no longer compatible with the surrounding area and future developments (including reclamation along the harbourfront). Moreover, the WCWPTW site is located within the proposed construction works site of a railway project of MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) - “Shatin to Central Link” (SCL). As such, the existing WCWPTW was decommissioned in 2013, after successful diversion of the sewage flow of WCWPTW to the upgraded Wan Chai East Preliminary Treatment Works. The demolition works by Drainage Services Department, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was commenced in May 2013 and completed in April 2014. The vacant site has been handed over to the District Land Offices of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and subsequently to MTRCL to enable their SCL works. The demolition project comprised the following: |
Completed demolition of Wan Chai West Preliminary Treatment Works (WCWPTW), with the green boundary wall retained (foreground) |
(i) Demolition of all superstructures and some of the underground structures (e.g. screw pump troughs, screen channels, grit traps, etc), within WCWPTW
(ii) Disposal of all obsolete E&M facilities within WCWPTW
(iii) Abandonment of disused pipes and drains associated with WCWPTW
Location of Wan Chai West Preliminary Treatment Works (WCWPTW) on Victoria Harbourfront
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Wan Chai West Preliminary Treatment Works
Challenges faced and Achievements
Physical Resources - Use and Management
The project was able to re-use a significant volume (over 90%) of materials from the demolition of the buildings and structures on the site as backfill of underground pipes and tanks, and levelling of the vacant site. Re-use of materials on-site also enabled the project team to take appropriate measures to reduce the off-site vehicle movements associated with the works.
During the early CEEQUAL stages, it was identified that retention of the site’s boundary wall during the demolition works would be an effective barrier in minimising the potentially adverse demolition impacts, such as dust, noise and visual impacts. Additionally, retaining the boundary wall upon handover to MTRCL for the construction of the SCL provided added value to help mitigate adverse impacts during their construction works.
Demolition of WCWPTW in Progress (foreground), utilising demolition materials as backfill
To what extent did the use of CEEQUAL influence your project?
The CEEQUAL assessment has provided an opportunity for the project team to measure and improve the sustainability of the project. The project team found CEEQUAL to be a comprehensive guide to achieve sustainability. It covers all aspects of sustainability development, for example, social issues and public engagement, project management issues, land use, cultural heritage, biodiversity, and water/resources management. With an assessment scheme comprised of over 200 questions, CEEQUAL can be regarded as a thorough checklist for the project team to follow to in order to make the project more sustainable.
Because of the CEEQUAL scheme, the client, designer and contractor worked as a team towards a common goal - to explore all possible ways to improve the sustainability performance of the project. The contractor changed its traditional mindset that the works should only follow the specification and drawings for the implementation of the works. They suggested sensible and achievable targets such as re-use of a significant volume of demolition materials and retain on site whatever is beneficial for the environment as much as possible, as mentioned in the previous section.
CEEQUAL presents and creates opportunities to inspire and achieve cultural changes on moving towards high sustainability performance, through changes in the mindsets of individuals and whole project team.
With the Permanent Secretary for Development (Works), Mr WAI Chi-sing (fourth left), as witness, the Deputy Director of Drainage Services, Mr MAK Ka-wai (sixth left), the Assistant Director/Projects & Development, Mr CHENG Hung-leung (seventh left), the Chief Engineer/Consultants Management, Mr KWOK Ping-keung (first left), the Chief Engineer/Sewerage Projects, Mr WONG Sui-kan (second left), and representatives of the project team of “Demolition of Wan Chai West Preliminary Treatment Works” received an Excellent CEEQUAL Award, presented by CEEQUAL Chief Executive, Roger Venables (eighth left).