Planning and Implementation of the Joint Cavern Development at Anderson Road Quarry Site

Hong Kong has a mountainous topography, and there is an acute shortage to meet the demand on readily available land. To accommodate suitable facilities in caverns, such that surface land can be reserved for the most deserving and beneficial uses, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is implementing two projects at the ex-quarry site at Anderson Road to construct the Public Works Central Laboratory (PWCL) and the Archives Centre (AC) in caverns. These projects have to be executed in a fast-track programme for completion within 5 years’ time. The urgency arises from the planned rezoning of the prime harbourfront land, where the existing PWCL is located, to residential and/or other beneficial uses. On the other hand, the storage capacities at existing achieves facilities have long been exhausted and there is a genuine need for new facility to house the valuable archives. Multipronged measures are thus adopted in the implementation programme in order to meet the challenged timeline. The two projects are packaged as a joint cavern development (JCD) that will provide synergy on the planning, design and construction. Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) is specified in the contract for building the facilities inside the caverns. In the light of the pioneer use of MiC method within caverns, involvement of potential contractors at the early stage of tendering process was arranged to enable practical construction solutions be incorporated in contract. Upon completion, the JCD will be ranked amongst other worldwide cavern projects of accommodating similar important facilities of such scale.