PWSC(97-98)51
For discussion
on 15 October 1997

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS
SUBCOMMITTEE OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 703 - BUILDINGS
Education - Secondary
213ES-Secondary school in area 20, Fanling
214ES-First secondary school in area 16, Tuen Mun
215ES-Secondary school in area 7, Tai Po
216ES-Secondary school in Aldrich Bay reclamation, Shaukeiwan
218ES-Secondary school in Chai Wan Estate
219ES-Secondary school in area 14B, Shatin
220ES-Secondary school in area 3, Tin Shui Wai

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee to revise the project scope of seven new secondary schools under 213ES, 214ES, 215ES, 216ES, 218ES, 219ES and 220ES to allow provision of additional facilities, and to increase their project estimates from a total amount of $573.3 million by $44.1 million to $617.4 million in money-of-the-day prices.

PROBLEM

More facilities are required in secondary schools to help reduce floating classes, to facilitate learning through information technology (IT) and language learning, and to provide a better learning and teaching environment.

PROPOSAL

2.The Director of Architectural Services (D Arch S), with the support of the Secretary for Education and Manpower, proposes to expand the project scope of seven new secondary schools under 213ES, 214ES, 215ES, 216ES, 218ES, 219ES and 220ES to include four additional classrooms, a multi-media room and an additional staff room, and to increase the project estimates of these projects from a total amount of $573.3 million by $44.1 million to $617.4 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3.The individual project scopes of the seven secondary schools are based on the present standard design for secondary schools, which was adopted in 1995, and the present schedule of accommodation which consists the following -

1. Classroom Block
   1. 26 classrooms
      
   2. four staff rooms;
      
   3. three remedial teaching rooms;
      
   4. a guidance activity/interview room;
      
   5. two interview rooms;
      
   6. a computer room;
      
   7. a library;
      
   8. a staff common room;
      
   9. a student activity centre; and
      
   10. ancillary facilities.

2. Hall Block
   1. an assembly hall.

3. Special Room Block
   1. 12 special rooms (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Integrated Science (2), Home Economics (2), Music, Design & Technology (2), Geography, Arts & Craft)

4.For the reasons set out in paragraphs 8 to 11 below, we intend to add the following facilities to a standard design secondary school building as soon as practicable -

1. four additional classrooms;

2. a multi-media room;

3. a language room;

4. an additional staff room;

5. a conference room; and

6. a multi-purpose area.

5.D Arch S is now revising the standard design of secondary schools to include these additional facilities. He estimates that the earliest possible schools to adopt the new design in full will be those new secondary schools scheduled for completion in 2000. In view of the difficulties we have encountered in identifying additional school sites, D Arch S will endeavour to keep the site area of the revised design within the present standard of 6 950 square metres so as not to make reservation of school sites even more difficult in future.

6.Given the merits of the proposed facilities, we are keen to include as many of them as possible in new schools to be completed before 2000, provided doing so will not delay the completion date of the schools in question. In this regard, D Arch S confirms that it is possible to include the following facilities in the seven secondary schools under 213ES, 214ES, 215ES, 216ES, 218ES, 219ES and 220ES, without affecting their scheduled completion in 1999 -

1. four additional classrooms;

2. a multi-media room; and

3. an additional staff room.

The inclusion of these additional facilities will not require a substantial change to the present design and will not lead to an increase in the site area.

7.To make room for the additional classrooms, multi-media room and staff room, an extra floor will be built to the Classroom Block. The four additional classrooms will be accommodated on the third floor of the Classroom Block currently reserved for the school library. The multi-media room will be accommodated on the first floor of the Classroom Block currently reserved for the staff room. The displaced library and staff room, together with an additional staff room, will be accommodated on the extra floor. This proposed arrangement has been agreed by the Fire Services Department from the fire safety angle.

JUSTIFICATION

8.As regards paragraph 4(a) above, with four additional classrooms a 30-classroom secondary school will have rooms for all its classes. Hence, floating classes can be avoided.

9.As regards paragraph 4(b), we are promoting the use of IT in teaching and learning across the curricula. At present there is only one computer room in each standard secondary school and it is already fully utilised for the teaching of computer subjects. We need a multi-media room to allow teaching and learning of non-computer subjects through IT. Starting from the next school year, secondary schools will be given more IT facilities. The schools will have the discretion to configure the multi-media room with the additional IT facilities to best suit their needs.

10.As regards paragraph 4(c), there is now no language room in a standard secondary school for learning languages. The proposed language room is intended to provide a better environment for language learning, in particular spoken English and Putonghua, through listening comprehension, oral exercises and interactive exercise. The Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) is studying the use of multi-media technology in language learning. We will take SCOLAR's advice into consideration in proposing facilities for the language room in due course.

11.As regards paragraph 4(d), there are four staff rooms in a standard secondary school, with an average area of about 226 square metres. About 90 square metres (40%) of the space is required for providing room for circulation, and accommodating five computers for the School Administration and Management System (SAMS). The remaining area allows each of the 60 teachers a working space of about 2 square metres for marking homework, preparing teaching material etc. This is barely sufficient. The proposed additional staff room would allow more working space for teachers.

12.As regards paragraph 4(e), there is now no conference room in a standard secondary school but meetings of different sizes are held frequently throughout a school year. Currently these meetings are held in the school library. Such an arrangement affects the usual activities of the library, and reduces the students' access to the library. This arrangement is extremely unsatisfactory. On the other hand, with the promotion of school-based management and home-school co-operation, we expect more staff meetings and meetings of parents-teachers associations and alumni associations to be held in future. These can involve a large number of participants. The proposed conference room would provide a proper venue for the existing activities and support school-based management and home-school co-operation. It could also be used for activities such as workshops/seminars on staff development. We propose to have a conference room large enough to hold meetings for up to 60 participants as meetings of 35 to 60 participants would be held frequently. However, to allow flexibility in the use of the conference room and to maximise its use, we will provide a folding partition to split the conference room into smaller conference rooms when necessary.

13.As regards paragraph 4(f), there is now inadequate space for students to have lunch and for conducting physical education classes, out-of-classroom and recess activities during inclement weather. At present, most schools require Secondary One to Three students to have lunch in school, and many Secondary Four to Seven students choose to stay in school for lunch. We estimate that about 65% of the students (750) would choose to have lunch in school if there is a proper venue. The proposed multi-purpose area will provide a central place for students to have lunch in school and facilitate communication among the students. The multi-purpose area would in effect increase the area of the covered playground, and schools can organise more activities such as concerts, performance and exhibitions for thematic studies.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

14.The approved and revised project estimates at December 1996 prices for the seven projects are as follows -

15.The approved and revised project estimates for these projects in MOD prices are as follows -

A comparison of the detailed cost breakdown of the approved and revised project estimates in December 1996 prices for each of the seven projects is at the Enclosure.

16.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 fixed-price lump sum contracts because we can clearly define the scope of works in advance, leaving little room for uncertainty.

17.We estimate the annually recurrent expenditure for each secondary school to be $33.5 million. As the new schools will be operated as aided schools, the individual sponsoring bodies will bear the costs of furniture and equipment, estimated at $6.8 million for each secondary school.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

18.The relevant District Boards had been consulted before these projects were upgraded to Category A. There was no objection to the projects. We expect the public to welcome our present proposal to provide additional facilities and consider another round of public consultation unnecessary.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

19.For all project items, facilities on the extra floor (i.e. seventh floor) of the Classroom Block would be subject to traffic noise impact in excess of the maximum allowable levels stipulated in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines. We will implement noise mitigation measures as follows -

20.We will control noise, dust and site run-off nuisances during construction to comply with established standards/guidelines through the implementation of mitigation measures in the relevant works contracts.

LAND ACQUISITION

21.The proposed revision of approved project scopes and the increase in the approved project estimates does not require land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

22.Finance Committee approved the upgrading of the seven projects to Category A in June 1997. We have completed site investigations and are finalising the working drawings and tender documents for the seven projects. We plan to start the construction works for the seven projects in January 1998 for completion in August 1999.

Education and Manpower Bureau
October 1997

(LL257)

---

Enclosure to PWSC(97-98)51

Comparison of the approved and revised
project estimates

(1)The approved cost estimates of the seven projects are as follows -

(2)The revised cost estimates of the seven projects are as follows-

(3)As regards (a), the increases are for additional piles required for one extra floor on the Classroom Block.

(4)As regards (b), the increases are for the additional structural, builder's and fitting-out works required for the construction of four additional classrooms on the third floor and the new multi-media room on the first floor of the Classroom Block where the library and the staff room are originally designed to be located and the subsequent shifting of the library and the staff room to the additional floor on the rooftop of the building, where the additional staff room is also provided.

(5)As regards (c), the increases are for the additional building services works required for the construction of four additional classrooms on the third floor and the new multi-media room on the first floor of the Classroom Block where the library and the staff room are originally designed to be located and the subsequent shifting of the library and the staff room to the additional floor on the rooftop of the building, where the additional staff room is also provided.

(6)As regards (e), the increases are for the proportional increase of contingencies in relation to the revised cost of the building works.

(7)Subject to approval, we will phase the expenditure in December 1996 prices and in MOD prices respectively as follows-

	$ million(at December 1996 prices)
Year	213ES	214ES	215ES	216ES	218ES	219ES	220ES	Total
1997-98	3.4	2.1	1.2	4.1	1.8	1.8	1.8	16.2
1998-99	35.8	36.6	32.3	46.4	35.4	35.8	33.5	255.8
1999-2000	20.9	28.6	25.1	33.1	27.6	29.3	28.2	192.8
2000-01	5.4	6.0	5.3	7.6	5.8	6.0	5.7	41.8
	65.5	73.3	63.9	91.2	70.6	72.9	69.2	506.6

	$ million(at December 1996 prices)*
Year	213ES	214ES	215ES	216ES	218ES	219ES	220ES	Total
1997-98	3.6	2.2	1.3	4.4	1.9	1.9	1.9	17.2
1998-99	41.7	42.6	37.6	54.0	41.2	41.7	39.0	297.8
1999-2000	26.5	36.3	31.8	42.0	35.0	37.2	35.8	244.6
2000-01	7.5	8.3	7.3	10.5	8.0	8.3	7.9	57.8
	79.3	89.4	78.0	110.9	86.1	89.1	84.6	617.4

Note

*We have derived the MOD estimates on the basis of the following price adjustment factors-

Year	Price adjustment factor
1997-98	1.06750
1998-99	1.16358
1999-2000	1.26830
2000-01	1.38244

(LL257)