For discussion PWSC(97-98)7
on 23 April 1997

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 703 - BUILDINGS
Education - Secondary
202ES - Third secondary school in area 56, Tseung Kwan O
209ES - Two secondary schools in area 56, Tseung Kwan O

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of projects 202ES and 209ES to Category A at an estimated total cost of $246.9 million in money-of-the-day prices for the construction of three secondary schools in area 56, Tseung Kwan O.

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PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A comparison of the standard cost of a secondary school project with the estimated costs of the proposed school projects

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PROBLEM

There will be a shortfall of 271 secondary school classes in the territory by the year 1999.

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 $246.9 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices -

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The proposed schools will be standard design school buildings. Each school will have -

1. 26 classrooms;
2. 14 special rooms;
3. three remedial teaching rooms;
4. a guidance activity/interview room;
5. two interview rooms;
6. a staff common room;
7. a student activity centre;
8. an assembly hall; and
9. ancillary facilities.

JUSTIFICATION

4. The Director of Education forecasts that there will be a shortfall of 271 secondary school classes in the territory by the year 1999. Upon completion of project 211ES "Secondary school in area 31, Tin Shui Wai" in the year 1999, the shortfall will be reduced by 30 classes to 241 classes. As a temporary measure to meet the shortfall, we are adopting floating classes in secondary schools. In accordance with the Government policy to phase out floating classes in Secondary One to Secondary Five, we propose to construct three secondary schools in area 56, Tseung Kwan O to reduce the shortfall. We are planning more schools in the territory to meet the remaining shortfall.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

5. We estimate the capital costs of projects 202ES and 209ES to be $82.4 million and $164.5 million respectively in MOD prices (see paragraph 6 below), made up as follows -

A comparison of the standard cost of a secondary school with the project estimates of these three schools is at the Enclosure.

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

7. 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 2001. We will tender the works under a fixed-price lump-sum contract because we can clearly define the scope of works in advance, leaving little room for uncertainty.

8. We estimate the annually recurrent expenditure for each school to be $33.2 million. As the new schools will be aided schools, the individual sponsoring bodies will bear the costs of furniture and equipment, estimated at $5 million for each school.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

9. We consulted the Community Affairs Committee of the Sai Kung District Board in February 1997. The Committee supported the school projects.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

10. The Director of Environmental Protection vetted the Preliminary Environmental Reviews for project 209ES in January 1996 and conducted an Environmental Review for project 202ES in December 1996. The findings indicated that all the three proposed schools would be subject to traffic noise impacts in excess of the maximum levels allowed in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines, if no suitable mitigation measures are provided to the proposed schools. We will implement the following environmental mitigation measures and have included their costs in the project estimates -

11. For short term construction impacts, we will control noise, dust and site run-off nuisances during construction to comply with established guidelines/ standards through the implementation of mitigation measures required in the relevant contracts.

LAND ACQUISITION

12. The two projects do not require land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

13. We upgraded projects 202ES and 209ES to Category B in
May 1996.

14. We have completed site investigations for the two projects. We are finalising working drawings and tender documents using in-house staff resources. D Arch S plans to start the construction works in November 1997 for completion in August 1999.

Education and Manpower Branch
April 1997
(DD1098)

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Enclosure to PWSC(97-98)7

A comparison of the standard cost of a secondary school project with the estimated costs of the proposed school projects

*Assumptions for standard cost

1. No site formation work/geotechnical work is required as it is normally carried out under a separate engineering vote.

2. Piling cost is based on 130 nos. of steel H-piles of an average depth of 30 metres.

3. Site safety provisions of 2% of the estimated contract sum (excluding contingencies) is included in the building cost.

4. Costs for drainage and external works is for a standard school site area of 6 950 square metres built on a flat site. No diversion of existing utilities or noise mitigation measures are required.

5. No consultancy services are required.

6. Furniture and equipment cost is excluded as it is usually borne by the sponsoring body.

Notes

A. Piling cost for each school is based on 130 nos. of steel H-piles of an average depth of 40 metres.

B. Building cost is $1.8 million higher because we plan to adopt a new method of construction, the "system design", for these three schools (as well as two other primary schools under projects 187EP and 188EP to be considered vide PWSC(97-98)6). Under the "system design" construction method, we will require the use of steel formwork and prefabricated structural and non-structural elements, in place of timber formwork and other on-site construction activities. This approach has been employed by the Housing Authority (HA) in the past five years and has proven to be very successful. The use of "system design" building will minimise construction waste, improve the quality of construction, reduce labour on-site and, in the longer term, reduce construction time. Although suitably experienced contractors in adoting "system design" are available as a result of the HA projects, the number is still limited. The additional specification of "system design" in these school projects may lead to higher contract prices. We have therefore made an allowance of $1.8 million in the project estimate. The exact cost implications will depend on competitive tendering in the usual way.

C. For project 209ES, $0.2 million is required for each school for the provision of air-conditioning as noise mitigation measures.

D. The costs for drainage and external works is higher because the construction of solid boundary walls is required as noise mitigation measures.

(DD1098)

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