For discussion PWSC(96-97)82
on 18 December 1996

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 703 - BUILDINGS
Education - Territory/other
78ET - Skills opportunity school at Fung Tak Road, Diamond Hill
79ET - Skills opportunity school in area 3, Tuen Mun
82ET - Skills opportunity school in area 7, Tsing Yi

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 78ET, 79ET and 82ET to Category A at an estimated total cost of
$219.8 million in money-of-the-day prices for the construction of three skills opportunity schools in the territory.

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PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
78ET - Skills opportunity school at Fung Tak Road, Diamond Hill
79ET - Skills opportunity school in area 3, Tuen Mun
82ET - Skills opportunity school in area 7, Tsing Yi

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PROBLEM

The Director of Education (D of E) estimates that there is a shortfall of skills opportunity school places in the territory.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Architectural Services (D Arch S), with the support of the Secretary for Education and Manpower, proposes to upgrade the following projects to Category A at an estimated total cost of $219.8 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices -

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. Each skills opportunity school will comprise -

1. 15 classrooms;
2. nine or 11 workshops/special rooms¹ ;
3. a student activity centre;
4. two interview rooms;
5. two staff rooms;
6. a staff common room;
7. an assembly hall; and
8. ancillary facilities.

JUSTIFICATION

4. D of E estimates the territory-wide demand for skills opportunity school places to be 2 100. At present, there are three skills opportunity schools in Hong Kong, namely the C.C.C. Nim Tsi School (in Kowloon), the Fortress Hill Methodist School (in Hong Kong Island East) and the Yuen Long Catholic Secondary School (in Yuen Long), which provide a total of 900 places. We upgraded 56ET "A skills opportunity school at area 18, Fanling" to Category A in February 1996 which, upon completion in August 1997, will provide 300 places. The three additional schools we are now proposing will provide an extra 900 places to address the remaining shortfall. We will closely monitor the demand to decide whether additional skills opportunity schools need to be constructed in future.

5. Owing to a lack of in-house staff, D Arch S proposes to use consultants to undertake contract administration and site supervision for the construction stage of the three projects.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

6. We estimate the capital cost of 78ET, 79ET and 82ET to be $78.2 million, $71.2 million and $70.4 million respectively in MOD prices (see paragraph 7 below), made up as follows -

7. Subject to approval, we will phase the expenditure as follows -

8. We have derived the MOD estimates on the basis of the Government’s forecast of trend labour and construction prices for the period 1997 to 2000. We will tender the three projects under fixed-price lump-sum contracts because we can define the scope of works in advance, leaving little room for uncertainty.

9. We estimate the annually recurrent expenditure to be $18.7 million for each school.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

10. We consulted the following District Boards and they supported the projects -

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

11. The Director of Environmental Protection vetted the Preliminary Environmental Reviews (PERs) conducted by the consultants of D Arch S on 78ET in September 1995, and 82ET in August 1995. The findings of the PERs concluded that the proposed school under 78ET would not be subject to adverse environmental impact. For 82ET, the school would be subject to traffic noise impacts in excess of the standards in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines (HKPSG). We will therefore construct a 2.5-metres and a 3-metres high solid barrier wall along Ching Hong Road and Tsing Chin Street respectively, and will provide 11 classrooms on the upper floors of the school with well-gasketted 6mm thick single pane glass windows and air-conditioning at an estimated cost of $580,000. The costs of these works have been included in the project estimate.

12. The PER for 79ET was conducted in September 1995 and the consultants of D Arch S completed a Noise Impact Assessment in November 1996. The assessment concluded that with mitigation measures in place, the impact of road traffic noise on the proposed school can be reduced to an acceptable level in terms of HKPSG. We will therefore provide air-conditioning and openable, well-gasketted 6mm thick single pane glass windows in 31 rooms in the classroom block and the special room block at an estimated cost of $1 million. This cost has been included in the project estimate.

13. For short term construction impact, we will control noise, dust and site run-off nuisances during construction through the implementation of mitigation measures in the relevant contracts.

LAND ACQUISITION

14. All the three projects do not require land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

15. To cater for the needs of junior secondary students with learning difficulties, the Education Commission recommended in its Report No. 4 the setting up of skills opportunity schools. The targeted students, who form the bottom 0.9% of the ability range of the 12 to 14 age group, are those who are unable to benefit from the curriculum of mainstream schools even with intensive remedial support.

16. Skills opportunity schools provide students with a modified curriculum with emphasis on the training of basic academic skills and the enhancement of vocational awareness and readiness. The curriculum comprises about 60% academic subjects and 40% cultural and practical subjects. On completion of Secondary Three, students are prepared for post-school placement in a vocational setting such as skills centres under the Vocational Training Council.

17. Each skills opportunity school accommodates 15 classes from Secondary One to Secondary Three with an overall school capacity of 300 students. The small class size (20 students) enables teachers to provide intensive support for individual students. The schools also benefit from an enhanced school social worker provision at a ratio of one school social worker to 70 students.

18. We included 78ET and 79ET in Category B in November 1995, and 82ET in January 1996.

19. We have engaged consultants for the design and preparation of tender documents for 78ET, 79ET and 82ET at the cost of $3.22 million, $2.93 million and $3.2 million respectively, which we have charged to the block allocation Subhead 3100GX "Project feasibility studies, minor investigations and consultants' fees selected from items in Category D of the Public Works Programme". We plan to start construction works for the three projects in April 1997 for completion in August 1998.

(LL170)

1 -- There will be nine workshops/special rooms for 78ET, and 11 each for 79ET and 82ET. Variations in the number of workshops/special rooms depend on the requirements of the technical/practical subjects offered.
2 -- Piling is not necessary for 83ET as the rock level is close to the surface.

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Enclosure 1 to PWSC(96-97)82

78ET - Skills opportunity school at Fung Tak Road, Diamond Hill

Breakdown of the estimate for consultants’ fees

Notes

1. The multiplier factor of 3 is applied to the average MPS point to arrive at the full staff costs including the consultants’ overheads and profit, as the staff will be employed in the consultants’ offices. (At 1.4.95, MPS pt. 40 = $51,440 p.m. and MPS pt. 16 = $17,270 p.m.).

2. The figures given above are based on estimates prepared by the Director of Architectural Services. We will only know the actual man-months and fees when we have selected the consultants through the usual competitive lump sum fee bid system.

(LL170)

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Enclosure 2 to PWSC(96-97)82

79ET - Skills opportunity school in area 3, Tuen Mun

Breakdown of the estimate for consultants’ fees

Notes

1. The multiplier factor of 3 is applied to the average MPS point to arrive at the full staff costs including the consultants’ overheads and profit, as the staff will be employed in the consultants’ offices. (At 1.4.95, MPS pt. 40 = $51,440 p.m. and MPS pt. 16 = $17,270 p.m.).

2. The figures given above are based on estimates prepared by the Director of Architectural Services. We will only know the actual man-months and fees when we have selected the consultants through the usual competitive lump sum fee bid system.

(LL170)

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Enclosure 3 to PWSC(96-97)82

82ET - Skills opportunity school in area 7, Tsing Yi

Breakdown of the estimate for consultants’ fees

Notes

1. The multiplier factor of 3 is applied to the average MPS point to arrive at the full staff costs including the consultants’ overheads and profit, as the staff will be employed in the consultants’ offices. (At 1.4.95, MPS pt. 40 = $51,440 p.m. and MPS pt. 16 = $17,270 p.m.).

2. The figures given above are based on estimates prepared by the Director of Architectural Services. We will only know the actual man-months and fees when we have selected the consultants through the usual competitive lump sum fee bid system.

(LL170)

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