Bouygues Construction is to build a new office tower in Hong Kong worth more than €200 million
Dragages Hong Kong, a subsidiary of Bouygues Construction, has won a design-build contract valued at around 2 billion Hong Kong dollars (roughly €207 million) for a new office tower called the Trade and Industry Tower.
This 22-storey building, which offers roughly 67,000 m2 of floor area, will house various government agencies, primarily departments of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Works are just getting under way. They will last a little over two and a half years (33 months), with completion scheduled for 2014. At peak periods, approximately 1,200 people will be active onsite.
The tower will implement high environmental standards and will seek to qualify for LEED gold certification (1). The project will incorporate some of the latest energy-efficiency technologies, paying particular attention to renewable energy technologies, with the installation of photovoltaic panels, thermal solar panels, natural lighting throughout the building thanks to daylight suntubes (2), solar chimneys, etc. In addition, the building will be connected to the District Cooling System (under construction) for air-conditioning.
Landscaping is a crucial part of the project. The ground floor, the roof and an elevated walkway will incorporate greenery, and vertical greening will be used for part of the facade of the tower. In all, more than 30% of the total site area will be planted.
The project is located in the former Kai Tak airport district, where Dragages Hong Kong is currently building a major cruise terminal, designed by Norman Foster. Other current company projects in Hong Kong include the construction of several underground structures, and the handover of a building that will house the headquarters of the Civil Aviation Department is under way.
(1) The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the North American high-performance green building certification system. The rating criteria include energy, water use and heating efficiency, the use of local building materials and the reuse of any surplus. Buildings can achieve four levels: certified, silver, gold or platinum.
(2) A "suntube" system makes it possible to transport natural sunlight into windowless rooms.