Strategic development of the Central waterfront

This massive and complex marine and civil infrastructure project was an integral part of a high-profile project to reclaim almost 18 hectares of land from Hong Kong’s harbour and allow for the future strategic development of the Central waterfront.

The project involved the dredging of 900,000m3 of material and the construction of over 1 km of vertical wave-absorbing seawalls, ferry piers, a railway overrun tunnel, a dual three-lane road tunnel, a heliport, precast cooling water pumping stations and pipelines as well as drainage and other works.

Sedimentation pits lined both sides of the site to prevent polluted water from entering the harbour just 20 metres away while trucks drove through wheel washers before entering the city.

A key innovation was the use of precast caissons, weighing as much as 9,500 tonnes, which greatly reduced noise, waste and water pollution.

The precast components were made in China and delivered to Hong Kong by semi-submersible barge to be floated into position. We also employed the much quieter diamond-wire saw for cutting instead of traditional hydraulic breakers.

For the dual three-lane road tunnel, we placed about 450 diaphragm wall panels on either side up to 55m below the sea level. This was one of the largest quantities of diaphragm wall used in a single project in Hong Kong.

More than 3 million cubic metres of landfill, over 68,000 tonnes of steel reinforcement, over 400,000 m3 of concrete and more than 100,000 m3 of precast concrete were being used in the construction works.