A New Paradigm of Cavern Development

Hong Kong (HK), one of the most densely populated cities in the world, is characterized by a rugged hilly topography that covers about 60% of the land area. Nonetheless, this natural condition provides a good potential for rock cavern development as an alternative source of land supply. To unleash the potential of these ‘hidden’ land resources, a territory-wide Cavern Master Plan with an Explanatory Statement and Information Note was published by the HKSAR Government in 2017 as a planning tool to guide and facilitate the wider application of cavern development in HK. To prepare for the future development of HK, with technological improvement, the cavern development protocol has been evolved and enhanced. This paper discusses the enhancement of rock cavern development including the planning strategy as well as the engineering solutions to create synergy through better integrating cavern development with the surface and subsurface developments as well as the wider district and territorial planning strategy to ensure optimal use of land resources.