Chek Lap Kok Airport Hong Kong

Craig Covil

In 1990 the Hong Kong Government launched the Airport Core Programme to provide a new international airport together with nine associated projects at a total cost of over twenty billion US dollars, making it one of the world’s largest infrastructure developments. The completion of the New Hong Kong International Airport in only seven years and within budget is testament to Hong Kong’s remarkable record of delivering major construction projects.

The site preparation was the foundation to the airport project, supplying 1248 hectares of land, three-quarters of which were reclaimed from the sea in just two and a half years by a unique combination of dredging, mining and seawall operations. Forty thousand tonnes of explosives were used to reduce Chek Lap Kok Island from a height of 122 metres to only 6 metres above sea level, extensive reclamation work required the largest fleet of dredgers ever assembled. Site investigation and instrumentation was extensive and settlement was predicted and incorporated into the design and construction of the various facilities using an observational approach.

The presentation covered the site preparation, dredging works, seawall construction, land reclamation, blasting, bulk earthworks, geology, site investigation, settlement, instrumentation, ground treatment, construction aspects of the civil and structural elements of the airport facilities up until opening day operations.

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