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news.gov.hk  
 From Hong Kong's Information Services Department
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May 7, 2006
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Development
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Tamar project construction costs reasonable

 

Construction costs for the Government's Tamar project were reasonable and similar to those for other grade-A office buildings in the private market, Director of Architectural Services Yue Chi-hang said.

 

Mr Yue was speaking in response to recent public concern over the cost of the building project.

 

Speaking to news.gov.hk, Mr Yue said the overall capital outlay for the project was $4.8 billion at September, 2005 prices. Of this, $2.95 billion was set aside for the building, building services and fitting-out of the new Central Government Complex (CGC) and the Legislative Council Complex (LCC).

 

The remaining $1.85 billion would go towards two footbridges, a two-hectare Civic Place, basement construction, site formation, piling works, drainage and cooling water supply systems, furniture and equipment as well as sundry items, including IT infrastructure and cabling, and consultancy fees and contingencies.

Yue Chi-hang Different ways of calculating floor area
Value for money: Director of Architectural Services Yue Chi-hang explains the differences in construction floor area, gross floor area and net operating floor area.

Referring to differing calculations on the construction cost of the Tamar project, Mr Yue said there has been some misunderstandings and some people had the impression the $4.8 billion covered only building and fitting-out costs.

 

Cost calculation

He said that  $2.95 billion would go towards constructing a floor area of 201,910 square metres. The unit cost is about $14,500 per square metre.

 

"In line with Government practice, the figure includes the cost of office lighting, office partitioning and carpeting and other fitting-out items," Mr Yue explained.

 

"If we adopt the private market's practice and deduct the average unit fitting-out cost  from $14,500, the project's unit-construction cost should be about $11,600 per square metre. Compared with the average unit-construction cost of grade-A office buildings in the private market - about $13,000 per square metre - the unit-construction cost of the Tamar project is very reasonable," he said.

 

Area definitions

"There are different ways of defining a building's floor area, depending on the purposes intended. There is no single 'all-purpose' unit for denoting floor area," Mr Yue said.

 

NOFA - the net operating floor area - is a unique method the Government adopts to denote the net functional floor area available to occupants. Private developers seldom calculate in terms of NOFA.

 

The second definition, GFA - or gross floor area, is widely used in the building industry in Hong Kong. It includes NOFA plus other space in the buildings such as lift lobbies and lift shafts, staircases, light wells, corridors, pipe ducts, wall thickness, refuse collection rooms and toilets.

 

Meanwhile, CFA - or construction floor area - is used to denote the entire building and is the sum of GFA plus other spaces such as car parks, mechanical plant rooms and refuge floors.

 

Mr Yue said private developers calculated development density using GFA, and construction cost using CFA.

 

Space requirement estimates

The Government has critically reviewed the Government bureaux' and offices' space requirements at the CGC at Tamar. According to its latest estimates, the project's overall NOFA is 78,430 square metres and its CFA is 201,910 square metres.

 

Mr Yue said the project's NOFA-to-CFA ratio was 1 to 2.6, similar to other Government complexes.

 

Mr Yue said the Government would like to reduce the building bulk and foot-print above ground to provide more open spaces for the public. This intention will be made clear in the tender document  to encourage the tenderers  to come up with an optimum design.

 

The project has three major parts: the CGC, the LCC and the Civic Place.

 

The Government will seek funding approval for the project from the Legislative Council's Public Works Subcommittee in late May and Finance Committee at the end of June. The tender invitation is scheduled for the third quarter.